The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "central bank" ...
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New York Times: Princelings
The “Princelings” series looked at the business dealings of the relatives of China’s senior leaders, and how they were able, in some cases, to amass billions of dollars worth of shares in public and private companies. The Times gave a detailed account of the wealth accumulated by the family of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and the relatives of former Central Bank chief Dai Xianglong. The investigation found that much of the wealth was hidden behind layers of private companies, suggesting the wealth was intentionally disguised or hidden from the public. No media outlet had ever offered such a detailed account of the wealth of a family of a senior leader. The Times also found evidence that the family of the prime minister and the former Central Banker received pre-IPO shares of Ping An Insurance after those two senior officials were aggressively lobbied by executives at Ping An and their bankers. The lobbyists had sought special approval or licenses for Ping. The departments the two officials oversaw eventually gave the approval, The Times found.
Tags: Chinese politicians; China's senior leaders; business dealings
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The Fed's Trillion-Dollar Secret
"Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve under the FOI Act, seeking disclosure of its loans to banks during the financial crisis. The central bank fought the release of the data for more than two years, during which time congress and the courts both weighed in on Bloomberg's side."
Tags: FOIA; Federal Reserve; foreign banking; central bank
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Quest for Transparency
The investigations in the series come after Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve in 2008, seeking to force the disclosure of details related to the central bank's emergency assistance programs. After a lower court found in Bloomberg's favor, the Federal Reserve released a list of securities used to produce the stories.
Tags: Bloomberg; the Fed; Federal Reserve; securities; central bank; FOIA
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Sabotaging the System
This story includes the “first confirmed account of a successful cyber attack against an electric utility company, resulting in major blackouts that lasted for days”. The electric grid not only supplies electricity but also keeps water, telephones, trains, and air traffic control up and running. Also in the U.S., government agencies, defense contractors, and banks are hacked everyday by foreign spy agencies.
Tags: National Intelligence; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); cyber security; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); computers; technology
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Broken Promises
JPMorgan Chase has become the central focus of what is now the largest-ever criminal investigation of the $2.6 trillion municipal bond market. This report shows how JPMorgan Chase convinced school districts, counties and cities to use so-called interest-reat swps, complex derivatives that were supposed to provide low-cost financing to the public. Instead, taxpayers lost millions of dollars as JPMorgan reaped profits.
Tags: finances; banks; corruption; scams; overcharging; municipal bond market;
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Toxic Debt
"In 2007, the financial world came unhinged. A rise in late mortgage payments triggered hedge fund blowups, massive Wall Street write-offs, ousted CEOs, Congressional hearings, and intervention by central bankers and finance ministers. In a series of exclusive and prescient stories, Bloomberg exposed the ties that connected unregulated mortgage brokers, fee-hungry Wall Street banks, conflicted credit rating companies, and the managers of money market funds and public pension plans."
Tags: mortgage payments; Wall Street; brokers; banks; credit rating firms
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The Ratings Charade
This investigative piece exposed the central role played by rating companies in the subprime scandal. Ratings firms collaborated with banks o create the very mortgage-backed securities they would then turn around and evaluate. And the credit raters were paid three times as much in fees for this work as they got for grading bonds.
Tags: predatory lending; finance; ratings; credit; mortgages
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When Dry is Wet
By convincing lawmakers that it is the answer to saving the nation's weltands, the mitigation bankers of Florida have taken tens of millions of taxpayers dollars. The wetland the Florida banks were claiming to save were actually dry, and they sold credits to developers who were wiping out wetlands up to 80 miles away.
Tags: wetlands; nature; fraud; bank; Lake Louisa Wetland Mitigation Bank; Central Florida
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How Much do Brokers Have to Hide? Chances are, your money isn't in banks --it's in brokerage accounts. And the people you're counting on to watch over it may not have your best interests at heart.
The article explains the inner workings of the stock market in such a way that also exposes a horrific amount of shady and fraudulent deals being carried out.
Tags: securities industry; SEC; National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD); fraud; Central Registration Depository
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Retirement Wrinkle: Employers Win Big With a Pension Shift; Employees Often Lose
The Journal reports how employees lose pension money while companies profit from a new pension system. "The switch to cash-balance pension plans ... is the biggest development in the pension world for years, so big that some consultants call it revolutionary. Certainly, many call it lucrative; one says such a pension plan ought to be thought of as a profit center. Not since companies dipped into pension funds in the 1980s to finance leveraged buyouts have corporate treasurers been so abuzz over a pension technique."
Tags: finance; employment benefits; banking; Central & South West Corp. (CSW)