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In "Schools Flunk Finance" (March 2008), reporters Martin Z. Braun and William Selway revealed how JPMorgan had deceived school districts in Pennsylvania by promising them free money if they entered into swaps deals. In Erie, for example, a banker said all the district had to do was sign a contract, and JPMorgan would give $750,000. The bank didn't disclose the exact terms of the contract or its fee. Three years after the schools took the upfront money, Erie paid $2.9 million to JPMorgan to get out of the rapidly souring swaps deal. After their reporting in Pennsylvania, Braun and Selway went back to Jefferson County, Ala. In "The Fleecing of Alabama: The Bills Come Due" (July 2008), the reporters found that Jefferson County was nearly broke because it couldn't make its monthly payments to JPMorgan. In "JPMorgan's Muni Morass" (December 2008), Braun and Selway exposed more cases in which the bank victimized taxpayers in states and municipalities.