Business
Racing company profited off subsidies from city of San Diego
An investigation by The San Diego Union-Tribune has found that Elite Racing, a marathon promotion company, has received subsidies from the city of San Diego. According to the article, “The subsidies stem from a nonprofit charity that San Diego-based Elite Racing created that co-hosts the event. It allows the company to cash in on a…
Read MoreFinancial crisis strikes small community banks
An investigation by Jake Bernstein and A.C. Thompson of ProPublica explores how small community banks around the country are failing after years of profiting off commercial real estate and development loans. Silver State Bank of Nevada was closed by the FDIC in September. “The bank made its biggest bets not on home mortgages, but on…
Read MoreDocuments reveal decisions that led to bank’s demise
Less than a week after Washington state’s Bank of Clark County failed, The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.) used public records and inside sources to uncover the decisions that sent this financial institution into what one insider called the bank’s “death spiral.” Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. documents, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council documents and county land records…
Read MoreDocuments detail complaints that FDA managers are too lenient with industry
Internal Food and Drug Administration documents indicate that an FDA official overruled agency scientists and approved the sale of an imaging device for breast cancer after receiving a phone call from a Connecticut congressman. The legislator’s call and its effect on what is supposed to be a science-based approval process is only one of many…
Read MoreCitigroup bailed out subprime lender
A report by John Gittelsohn of the Orange Country Register details how Daniel Sadek, a subprime mortgage lender, was bailed out by Citigroup. Sadek was the founder of Quick Loan Funding which wrote over $4 billion in subprime loans before its demise in 2007. Citigroup, recipient of the largest federal bank bailout, offered Sadek modified…
Read MoreAIG’s role in financial crisis explored
In the latest installment of The Washington Post’s look at the ways in which Wall Street innovation outpaced Washington regulation, Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Brady Dennis look at the role played by American International Group (AIG). They find that many of the most compelling aspects of the economic cataclysm can be seen through the story…
Read MoreThe art of mortgage fraud
In final installment of the The Miami Herald‘s Borrowers Betrayed series, reporters Jack Dolan, Matthew Haggman and Rob Barry show the anatomy of a massive mortgage fraud network in Florida that generated $550 million in loans during the housing boom years, and the failure of state regulators to stop one of its lead brokers.
Read MoreThe murky world of online gambling
A joint project by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes explores the world of online gambling. The industry clears $18 billion annually, but exists in murky legal territory. One group of online poker players had to take it upon themselves to unearth a $20 million cheating scam. But they could not turn to U.S. officials…
Read MoreIndia: Driven to compete
Steve Eder of The Toledo Blade reports that the embattled U.S. auto industry is facing yet another threat — India. In a three-part series, The Blade shows how India’s automakers are ramping up plans to sell their cars globally. The project, which included interviews with auto executives, parts suppliers, engineers, politicians and peasants in India’s…
Read MoreMortgage crisis fueled by financiers’ lack of liability
While reckless mortgage lending threatened the American economy, the Bush administration, Congress, free marketers and industry lobbyists protected the responsible parties from both civil liability and government investigations. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Eric Nalder reveals in a series “Green Light for Greed” a little-known battle where Wall Street financiers and lenders were protected from civil liability…
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