The Huffington Post Investigative Fund - An Independent Nonprofit Journalism Venture

UPDATE: Wall Street Bonus Tax Fails in Senate

Ben Protess — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:51:00 +0000

The Wall Street bonus tax did not survive today in Congress. But its backers insist it may not be altogether dead.

Democratic Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Barbara Boxer of California had proposed a one-time 50 percent tax on bonuses of more than $400,000 awarded by the 13 firms receiving the most federal bailout money. Targeted firms included JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs. Read more »

Another Wall Street Bonus Tax Falters in Congress

Ben Protess — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:53:37 +0000

Bill Faces Industry Opposition and Skepticism from New York Senators

Editor's Note: The bonus tax failed Tuesday. See full story.

Few topics have generated as much political heat between Main Street and Wall Street as the billions of dollars in bonuses handed out at financial companies that received federal bailouts. But Washington’s efforts to claim some of that money for taxpayers continue to falter.

The latest attempt is a measure authored by Democratic Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Barbara Boxer of California. It would impose a one-time 50 percent tax on 2009 bonuses of more than $400,000 paid by the 13 firms receiving the most federal bailout money.

The plan appears to be crumbling amid opposition from two financial industry-lobbying powerhouses and hesitation among moderate Democrats and key New York politicians, including Sen. Charles Schumer. It has little chance of surviving a procedural vote expected late Tuesday, according to legislative aides and industry lobbyists. Read more »

Consumer Complaints Soar on Mortgage 'Rescue' Schemes

Ben Protess — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:42:42 +0000

VIDEO: FTC Consumer Chief To Fraudsters: 'I Want to Put You in Jail'

As many Americans sank deeper into financial trouble last year, a record number reported that they fell victim to schemes seeking to profit from their misfortune, according to a federal report released Wednesday. Read more »

HARD TIMES PROFITEERS: Help Us Investigate 'Signs of Deception'

Ben Protess — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:36:53 +0000

Article Lede:

Drive through most any city in America and the offers will leap out at you: "Repair Your Credit!" "Modify Your Loan!" "Sell Your House Quick!"

The creators of these signs -- Hard Times Profiteers, as we at the Huffington Post Investigative Fund have dubbed them -- are moving to capitalize on the financial troubles of others. They are posting advertisements on walls, street lamps and bus shelters. The ads range from handwritten cardboard cutouts to printed plastic signs. Read more »

Help Us Investigate: Abuses in Student Debt Industry

Ben Protess — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:59:10 +0000

We at the Investigative Fund are partnering with a team of graduate students at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University. The topic of their investigation is the student lending and debt collection industry, and they are asking for your help: Read more »

VIDEO: Senate Deal on Consumer Agency in Doubt

Ben Protess — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:28:53 +0000

Has President Obama’s plan to create a new consumer financial protection agency died on Capitol Hill? That may turn on whether two key senators can make a deal.

Over the last several months, the Investigative Fund has been tracking the agency's topsy turvy journey through Congress. The House in December narrowly approved a bill that would create an independent agency – the CFPA -- to oversee and write rules for consumer credit products such as mortgages and credit cards. Now the Senate Banking Committee is working on its own version of financial regulatory reform. Read more »

Congressman to AIG: Show Us Your E-mail

Ben Protess — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:09:19 +0000

You might imagine that by now the public would know every last cause and consequence of the government’s $180 billion bailout of insurance giant American International Group. Read more »

What's Still Hidden in AIG's Files?

Ben Protess — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:26:14 +0000

Company Trustees, Lawmakers Resist Calls for More Disclosure

As federal hearings into the cause of the financial crisis got underway this week, attention has focused on one key outstanding question: Whether the giant insurer American International Group committed fraud in the run-up to its $182 billion bailout. Read more »

Our Joint Project on the Student Lending Industry

Ben Protess — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:12:52 +0000

In collaboration with Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, we published two articles today about the nonprofit student lending industry.

Students from the Stabile Center, part of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York, investigated and wrote the stories. We at the Investigative Fund oversaw the reporting process and edited the work.

The pieces are the first to result from an ongoing project with the Stabile program that will focus on the relationships between financial companies and universities. Read more »

Dodd’s Departure Could Endanger Potential Consumer Agency

Ben Protess — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:18:06 +0000

It’s the question buzzing around Washington and Wall Street this week: Will Sen. Christopher Dodd’s sudden retirement announcement further jeopardize his already thorny task of overhauling the nation’s financial regulatory system?

At risk in particular, some Capitol Hill observers say, may be a proposal to create a new consumer protection agency that President Obama has characterized as a must for financial reform. Read more »

Update: A Guide to Financial Regulatory Reform Proposals

Ben Protess — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:36:26 +0000

Now that the House has passed Rep. Barney Frank’s overhaul of U.S. financial regulations, we’ve decided to update our handy chart that details the bill’s approach to key problem areas in the financial system.

In the days before the House voted last Friday, leading Democrats tinkered with the bill, ultimately producing some significant changes. Read more »

Barney Frank vs. the Credit Raters

Ben Protess — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:02:37 +0000

Financial Services Chair Got Tough Measures Passed, Some Want Tougher

After deftly dodging federal regulation for years, the nation’s top credit rating companies now must get past the formidable Barney Frank.

Last week, as the U.S. House debated the Wall Street reform package crafted largely by Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat quietly slipped regulations into the bill that would force the most significant overhaul of the credit rating industry to date. Read more »

Follow Up: SEC and Justice Looking Into Credit Raters

Ben Protess — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:30:42 +0000

Two federal agencies have acknowledged that they are investigating whether the nation’s top credit rating companies committed fraud in the run-up to the financial crisis.

Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division and the U.S. Justice Department said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday that the raters are under examination for awarding inflated grades to toxic investments at the center of the financial crisis. The raters are already facing investigations from state attorneys general in California, Ohio and Connecticut. Read more »

Courts Examine Credit Raters' 'Intimate' Relationship With Bankers

Ben Protess — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:51:52 +0000

Documents Provide Window Into Raters' Role in Structured Finance

Editor’s Note: This is the last of three articles by the Investigative Fund on the credit rating companies.

A decade ago, the nation’s largest credit-rating companies developed a new line of business that boosted their profits and sent them on a hiring spree. They began rating complex investments that featured large packages of bonds sometimes based on subprime mortgages. Read more »

How Credit Raters Fended Off Oversight From Congress and SEC

Ben Protess — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:49:16 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three articles by the Investigative Fund on the credit rating companies. Read the first article here.

When the nation’s top credit rating companies came under attack in Washington in recent years, Charles E. Schumer often emerged as their strongest ally. Read more »

Under Attack, Credit Raters Turn to the First Amendment

Ben Protess — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:57:50 +0000

Editor's note: This is the first of three articles by the Investigative Fund on the credit rating companies.

For two decades, the nation’s top credit rating agencies have managed to fend off a crackdown from Washington by relying on a surprising ally – the First Amendment. Read more »

Top Derivatives Regulator: 'We Haven’t Filled the Gaps'

Ben Protess — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:06:27 +0000

Gary Gensler, the top regulator of the commodities markets, sees the U.S. financial system still “vulnerable” to the murky world of privately negotiated derivatives.

As chairman of the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Gensler wants to comprehensively oversee the trading of these complex financial contracts for the first time.
Read more »

Anatomy of an Attack Ad

Ben Protess — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:40:38 +0000

How Dick Morris Is Making Seniors Feverish About Health Care Reform

Standing in a medical exam room, a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat stares solemnly into the camera and warns that President Obama’s health care plan “will hurt our seniors” and “end Medicare as we know it.” Two networks, NBC and ABC, declined to run the 30-second ad, but it has probably reached millions of people on Fox, CBS and local stations as well as on the Web. Read more »

Report: SEC Watchdog Investigating Bank of America Fine

Ben Protess — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:51:53 +0000

If you’ve been following Bank of America’s contradictory statements about whether it tracks its spending of $45 billion in taxpayer dollars, Bloomberg has a story today that might interest you. The gist is that the Security and Exchange Commission’s internal watchdog is examining the way the commission is handling investigations of banks, including Bank of America, that have received bailout funds. Read more »

Government Bans Robocalls? Not So Much

Ben Protess — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:37:37 +0000

It’s dinnertime, the phone rings and it might be someone important. Instead, you hear a recorded voice: “Congratulations! You’ve been pre-approved for a new mortgage!”

The good news is that after years of complaints from consumers, the Federal Trade Commission has now banned telemarketing pitches known as robocalls unless consumers pre-approve of them in writing. The bad news: You might still be badgered by mortgage lenders and some other telemarketers.
Read more »

Congressman Still Awaits Answer from Bank of America on Bailout

Ben Protess — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:00:31 +0000

Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, has told Congress and the Treasury Department that it can’t track how it spends $45 billion in taxpayer funds.
Read more »

Treasury and Bailout IG Settle One Dispute, But Others Remain

Ben Protess — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:45:42 +0000

The Treasury Department may have backed down from a squabble over the independence of the agency that Congress set up as watchdog of the government’s $700 billion bailout. But Treasury remains at odds with the watchdog over another key oversight issue: whether to track how bailed-out banks are spending their taxpayer dollars.
Read more »

Drop in FDIC Fund a Problem, But Not Panic Worthy

Ben Protess — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:19:06 +0000

You may have seen the startling news yesterday: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported that its insurance fund, which essentially protects bank deposits from disappearing, dropped to its lowest level in nearly 16 years. Read more »

FDIC Softens its Proposed Rules for Buying Banks

Ben Protess — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:24:35 +0000

As we expected, the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. today approved controversial rules that will govern how risk-taking private equity firms can snatch up failing banks. Read more »

Interrogation Guidelines Were Reality for Iraqi General

Ben Protess — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:51:27 +0000

Now that the CIA’s secret guidelines for interrogating suspected al-Qaeda operatives have been made public, the world has a better understanding of the bureaucratic side of the debate over detainee abuse under the Bush administration. Read more »

Judge Keeps Heat on Bank of America and SEC

Ben Protess — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:09:19 +0000

We reported yesterday that Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, told conflicting stories to lawmakers, regulators and a federal judge about whether it tracks its spending of $45 billion in bailout funds.

Now we’re looking at the demands of the federal judge who was told one of those stories and will decide a $33-million court settlement between the SEC and Bank of America over executive payouts. Read more »

From Bank of America, Two Different Stories About Tracking Bailout Funds

Ben Protess — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Is Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, tracking how it spends $45 billion in taxpayer funds?

That depends on which Bank of America statement you believe.

The bank told the Treasury Department in May that it couldn’t follow the money it received through the government’s $700 billion bailout program because those funds “are part of our operating capital” and “cannot effectively be segregated.” Read more »

Huff Fund on TV

Ben Protess — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:06:11 +0000

Huffington Post Investigative Fund reporter Danielle Ivory appeared this morning on the TV program “Democracy Now” to discuss her investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to inform the public that some drinking water in four states is laced with high levels of the weed-killer atrazine. Read more »

Will FDIC Go Soft on Private Firms Buying Failed Banks?

Ben Protess — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:36:48 +0000

As we noted last week, with bank failures at their highest level in 17 years, the FDIC’s insurance fund, which protects bank deposits from disappearing, is in danger of disappearing itself.

So far this year, the FDIC has shut down 81 banks, shrinking the insurance fund to $13 billion, down from $52.8 billion a year ago. Read more »

Could the FDIC Fund Go Broke?

Ben Protess — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:18:09 +0000

The shiny FDIC sticker posted at your bank may be reassuring that someone in Washington is protecting your money. But that’s assuming the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has enough money in its own bank to protect you. Read more »

Once a Toothless Regulator, CFTC Now Wants Obama’s Derivatives Bill Strengthened

Ben Protess — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:29:25 +0000

A major regulator of financial derivatives is flexing some newfound muscle in the wake of the economic meltdown.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, wants Congress to strengthen the Obama administration’s legislative plan for overseeing the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, according to CFTC documents we obtained. Read more »

DNA Testing of Detained Immigrants Easier Said Than Done

Ben Protess — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:45:08 +0000

This story was co-published with ProPublica

Seven months after the federal government gave final approval to a controversial plan to collect DNA samples from undocumented immigrants, the program has yet to launch. Read more »

California Crime Lab Escapes Budget Cuts

Ben Protess — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:06:55 +0000

This post was co-published with ProPublica.

Good financial news out of California is rare these days, but one key crime-fighting agency has emerged from the state's recent budget slashing unscathed: the state crime lab. Read more »

Despite Promises, Some Rape Victims Stuck Paying Exam Bills

Ben Protess — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:22:21 +0000

This report was co-published with ProPublica

When a woman is raped, police turn to scientific evidence-semen, blood and tissue samples-to identify her attacker. The evidence is collected through a medical exam of the victim, who is not supposed to pay for this crime-solving process. Read more »

Obama Punting on Fannie, Freddie Could Prove Costly

Ben Protess — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:29:40 +0000

Facing an array of more immediate financial problems, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac towards the bottom of his to-do list, even as they continue to amass billions of dollars in losses on the government's tab.

But some finance experts and lawmakers argue that time is wasting as the taxpayer's burden grows. Read more »

Toothless Regulator Looks to Take a Bite Out of Derivatives

Ben Protess — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:31:01 +0000

When President Obama unveiled his regulatory overhaul plan last week, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, dodged a bullet. Read more »

Cali Budget Cuts Could Cause 'Public Safety Emergency'

Ben Protess — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:53:53 +0000

This report was co-published with ProPublica. Read more »