The Huffington Post Investigative Fund - An Independent Nonprofit Journalism Venture

Investigation with Impact

Keith Epstein — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:30:31 +0000

Last week we published another exclusive report on a little-known subject that really matters - and about which Washington has been anything but aggressive. Read more »

Investigative Reporting Gets Noticed - and Matters

Keith Epstein — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:34:32 +0000

It’s not every day that a reporter gets to cover a big, headline-generating congressional hearing that involves facts and themes he helped to disclose as a result of his own determined digging. For months, David Heath has doggedly pursued stories for us and The Seattle Times on the largest bank failure in U.S. history, Washington Mutual. Read more »

Mine Tragedies: Why They Recur -- and How You Can Help Us Investigate

Keith Epstein — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:36:34 +0000

A candlelight vigil held in Oak Hill, W. Va., on Wednesday April/AP Photo by Jon C. Hancock Read more »

Payday Battle in Arizona

Keith Epstein — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:28:41 +0000

One of the first orders of business for influential payday lending lobbyists in Washington is to undo the industry’s potential subjugation to the federal government, as Senate Banking Committee chair Christopher Dodd urges in his blueprint for financial reform. Read more »

In Details of Dodd Bill, Some Loopholes and Unanswered Questions

Keith Epstein — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:45:29 +0000

Effects Unclear on Consumer Bureau, Payday Lenders and Credit Raters

The fine print in the sweeping overhaul of the U.S. financial system proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd reveals loopholes, ambiguities and unanswered questions about some key players – among them a new consumer protection bureau, credit-rating companies and payday lenders. Read more »

Another Disturbing Finding in Lehman Bros. Report

Keith Epstein — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:07:36 +0000

The careless if not deceptive antics of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. involved more than withholding information from its board and the now-infamous “Repo 105” accounting maneuver, which moved $50 billion in assets off the firm’s books to mask the depth of its debt. Read more »

Update: Payday Lobby Turns to the Senate

Keith Epstein — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:12:39 +0000

Fresh signs surfaced today of the influential payday loan industry's muscle in Washington, where lenders' attempts to stay out of the reach of federal regulators may be bearing fruit in the U.S. Senate.

As the Investigative Fund reported last week, the industry is spending record sums -- about as much on lobbying in 2009 by JP Morgan Chase & Co. Read more »

Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big to Fight Regulation

Keith Epstein — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:05:20 +0000

Industry Steps Up Lobbying as Senate Grapples With Financial Reform

The influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession, is pouring record sums into lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations – and getting results. Read more »

FDIC Chief Got Bank of America Loans While Working On Its Rescue

Keith Epstein — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:14:17 +0000

Agency Grants Sheila Bair Retroactive Ethics Waiver on Mortgages

Sheila Bair, one of the chief regulators overseeing Bank of America’s federal rescue, took out two mortgages worth more than $1 million from the banking giant last summer during ongoing negotiations about the bank’s bailout and its repayment.

In the weeks between the closings on her two mortgage loans, Bair met with Bank of America’s chief negotiator in the bailout talks. Read more »

How One Bank Failure Illustrates Lapses by Regulators

Keith Epstein — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:25:41 +0000

Overseers of Florida Bank Noted Risky Lending But Failed to Act

Even by the distorted standards of the national housing bubble, north central Florida was a hot market. Between 2004 and 2006 new houses and property markers spread across cow pastures and horse farms, their values soaring so fast that bankers and builders could hardly believe their good timing, or keep up with the workload. Read more »

Federal Regulator Gets Derivatives Advice From Industry Insiders

Keith Epstein — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:15:36 +0000

Advisory Group to Commodities Commission Dominated by Finance Lobbyists, Execs

Like many federal agencies contemplating reform these days, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission is hearing a lot from the industry it regulates.

But executives and lobbyists don’t always have to knock on the commission’s door. Some are already inside. Read more »

When Banks Fail, So Do Those Promised CD Rates

Keith Epstein — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:21:36 +0000

FDIC Allows New Owners to Slash Interest Payments on Deposits

Norma Jean Scott, a 63-year-old Alabama retiree, thought she was being prudent three years ago when she stashed her $100,000 retirement nest egg in a pair of certificates of deposit. Her bank, CapitalSouth, promised her 5.7 percent interest for five years.

“I thought that was in concrete,” she said, “and backed by my government.”

But then CapitalSouth collapsed and the government brokered a deal to sell its business to another institution -- Louisiana-based IberiaBank.

The bank’s new owner promptly cut Scott’s interest rate – to 1.6 percent. Read more »