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 "unethical business" ...
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Kirby Investigation
The Kirby Vacuum has been around for decades and the selling tactics and tricks have been the same since the beginning. The salespeople go door-to-door, where they normally sell to elderly consumers and involve high pressure pitches. The investigation reveals that the salespeople normally won’t leave until they sign a contract and many stay for hours upon hours till the contract is signed. Further, many people have filed complaints with various agencies, complaining of the selling tactics used by these salespeople and yet nothing has been resolved.
Tags: households; homeowners; machine; salesmen; company; business; distributors; carpet; cleaning; nationwide; unethical
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Auto Glass Kickbacks
Target 8 investigators found auto glass companies in Michigan offering gift cards or cash to insurance companies in exchange for referrals. Target 8 uncovered the kickbacks to be valued at 50, 75, and 100 dollars per job. Auto glass companies get this money back from insurance companies by billing for services not provided.
Tags: auto glass companies; referrals; insurance company; kickbacks; windshield; unethical business
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Captive Clientele
This investigation looks at how some financial companies used unethical, misleading sales tactics to sell costly insurance and investment products to young military recruits. These companies use their military and Congressional connections to keep their business growing while gaining access to military bases. "And although the Pentagon has been warned about these exploitive practices for decades, it has done almost nothing to prevent them."
Tags: mutual funds; insurance; campaign contributions; General Accountability Office
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The Energy Crunch
San Francisco Chronicle follows the controversies surrounding the energy crisis in California over a 10-month period. The package of stories examines the political manipulations relating to the talks between the energy companies and the state and federal regulators. Some of the articles also look at how the energy deregulation approach has been applied in other states and with what results. One of the findings is that "despite the huge run-up in prices and revenues, only a handful of regulators today can say whether the energy wholesalers are engaged in brazenly illegal price-fixing, merely unethical market manipulation or just good business." The investigation exposes "the veil of official secrecy that allows the companies to bid on lucrative energy deals behind closed doors."
Tags: California Public Utilities Commission; San Diego Gas & Electric; Enron Corp.; consumers; taxpayers; wholesale costs; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; bankruptcy; Edison; El Paso Natural Gas; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; power plants; blackouts; electricity; Duke Energy Corp.; California Power Exchange; economy; business; market; SoCalGas; Mexico; Pennsylvania; Nevada; deregulation; nuclear power; coal; environment; Green Mountain Energy
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Big Dreams ... Shattered Dreams
"'Big Dreams, Inc.,' a Minneapolis travel agency, was selling trips to the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii as well as other winter getaways. The deals were widely advertised on Twin City radio stations. Thousands of people bought them. KMSP-TV discovered the company owner was running a business that thrived on unethical and illegal behavior. He committed mail fraud, wrote more than a million dollars in bad checks, was wanted in Las Vegas for running a similar travel scam there and left a trail of unpaid bills that totaled in the hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; con artist; crime; fraud
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Hard Sell: H.J. Meyers' Stock Machine
This four-part series revealed how stock brokerage H.J Meyers & Co. uses misleading, high-pressure telephone sales to peddle small, risky stocks to naive investors. Specifically, it showed how managers force young brokers to make inappropriate stock sales; how brokers regularly lied about a stock's prospects, knew little about what they sold and didn't let customers sell falling stocks; that managers routinely threatened jobs and livelihoods; that key executives learned the business at First Jersey Securities, a notorious penny-stock firm that defrauded investors in the '70s and '80s; that companies Meyers has taken public share a web of unethical financial and personal ties; that the firm used the Boston stock exchange and other regional exchanges to get tiny stocks on the market; and that state and federal securities regulators were investigating.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 9375)
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison) reports on unethical and possibly illegal business practices of Joe Checota, a candidate for the U.S. Senate; Checota used his company, American Medical Buildings, to give no-interest loans, buy expensive personal items and pay large fees to outside investment ventures; SEC has investigated several of his businesses for securities law violations, June - October 1992.
Tags: WI Hall Seppa
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No title (id: 2526)
Philadelphia Magazine does expose on Philadelphia bankruptcy courts, which reek of cronyism and favoritism, unethical and illegal business practices, November 1977. Mallowe
Tags: None