The Museum of Political Corruption, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, and Government Law Center at Albany Law School Present:

The Mechanics of Complicity

Lecture by Asha Rangappa

Wednesday, April 16, 2025
7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

ETEC, State University of New York at Albany

Registration

How do people get away with bad behavior without being held accountable? Typically, the conduct of bad actors in any organization isn’t a secret; in fact, usually it was enabled by a supporting cast of characters who were complicit through action or inaction, and helped shield them from accountability.

In this thought-provoking talk, Asha Rangappa shows how we can think of these complicit actors as the human "scaffolding" who allow corruption to take root and misconduct to flourish at the top. Using case studies across different sectors — including the Theranos scandal, the CIA torture program, Harvey Weinstein, the Minneapolis police department, Facebook, and even Vladimir Putin, among others — Rangappa analyzes the incentives, fears, and goals of the cast of characters who are invariably a part of any corrupt system.

Rangappa’s presentation offers lessons for managers and policymakers to develop norms, codes of conduct and oversight mechanisms that can prevent corruption and misconduct from taking root and empower those in a position to stop it.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

About the Speaker

Asha Rangappa is a Senior Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a former Associate Dean at Yale Law School.

Prior to her current position, Rangappa served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. Her work involved assessing threats to national security, conducting classified investigations on suspected foreign agents and performing undercover work. While in the FBI, Rangappa gained experience in electronic surveillance, interview and interrogation techniques, firearms and the use of deadly force. She has taught National Security Law and related courses at Yale University, Wesleyan University, and University of New Haven.

Rangappa graduated cum laude from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study constitutional reform in Bogotá, Colombia. She received her law degree from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Juan R. Torruella on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is admitted to the State Bar of New York (2003) and Connecticut (2003).

Rangappa has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post among others, and has been a legal and national security analyst for CNN, as well as appearing on NPR, BBC, and several other major television networks. She is currently a legal contributor for ABC News, an editor for Just Security, and a contributor for former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s legal newsletter, CAFE Insider. She is a life member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a fellow with the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP), and a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project.