Bribe, Inc., an investigative documentary into the hidden world of global corporate corruption, has received an Emmy nomination for Best Business Documentary – a recognition that arrives as the film’s urgent subject matter is more relevant than ever.
Nearly a decade in the making, Bribe, Inc. uncovers one of the largest corporate bribery scandals in modern history – a story that had previously eluded public attention, despite its staggering scale. At its center is Unaoil, a Monaco-based company that operated as a global middleman, helping multinationals like Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, KBR, and Samsung secure billions of dollars in oil contracts through the systematic bribery of government officials across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.
Told through four central figures – investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, UK law enforcement veteran Tom Martin, anti-corruption crusader Alexandra Addison, and a courageous whistleblower who risked his life to expose the scheme – the film unfolds with the pace and tension of a political thriller. A cryptic classified ad in Le Figaro. A clandestine meeting in Marseille. A hard drive containing more than 300,000 files written in deliberate code: a “holiday” was a million-dollar bribe… “Spaghetti House” referred to Italian oil giant Eni… government officials were given cryptic names like “Lighthouse,” “Captain,” and “Big Cheese.”
The Emmy nomination recognizes both the film’s meticulous journalism and its cinematic ambition. From Monaco’s luxury to Iraq’s devastation, Bribe, Inc. traces the human cost of corporate malfeasance – crumbling infrastructure, failed hospitals, and democracies undermined by stolen public resources. The film exposed how the family behind the company secretly negotiated with the US Department of Justice, trading evidence against their corporate clients for immunity – ultimately triggering the firing of the UK’s lead prosecutor and a political scandal spanning parliamentary hearings and international jurisdictional conflicts.
“In more than thirty years of investigative reporting, I had never seen anything like this,” said Peter Klein, the producer and director of the documentary. “In my past work, I focused on uncovering big, global crimes – illegal logging, unregulated fishing, biowarfare, terrorism,” said Klein, a former CBS News 60 Minutes producer and former executive editor of investigations at NBC News. “What so many of these illicit activities have in common is the crime hiding in plain sight: corruption.”
The nomination arrives at a pivotal moment. Shortly after taking office in his second term last year, President Trump issued an executive order temporarily pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law enacted in 1977 to prevent American companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials. The administration argued the law’s enforcement hurt US competitiveness, but critics warned the move signals a retreat from ethical business standards and undermines global anti-corruption efforts.
Bribe, Inc. traces the origins of US-led anti-corruption legislation, and makes a sophisticated argument that corruption functions not as individual criminality, but as a protected system in which powerful actors negotiate the terms of their own accountability.
Variety called the film’s revelations “explosive.” The Guardian described it as “filled with the kind of cloak-and-dagger developments one associates with potboilers and airport novels.” Daily Mail called it the “greatest exposé of bribery and corruption in modern history.”
This feature-length documentary had its US streaming premiere on World Anti-Corruption Day, December 9th, 2025, on Jolt.Film, where it is available for streaming on the prestige documentary platform. The film’s world theatrical premiere was at the Beverly Hills Film Festival, and had its Canadian theatrical premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival cinema.
Bribe, Inc. was produced out of Klein’s studio in Vancouver, Canada, co-produced by Calyn Shaw, and reported by Australian investigative journalist Nick McKenzie. Claire Ward was director of photography, lead editors were Kim Frank and Mike Jackson. Oscar Beardmore-Gray was associate producer, and editorial consultants were Sam Eifling and Willem Marx. Score by Salvador Ferreras and Peter Klein. The voice of the whistleblower was portrayed by William B. Davis (“The Smoking Man”). Line production by Kate Kroll, and executive producer was Mark Miller.
Funding support from Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office, Film Incentive BC, Creative BC, as well as TRACE Foundation, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and the Global Reporting Centre.
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