Ben Protess's picture

Ben Protess

Staff Reporter

Profile

Ben Protess previously reported for ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization based in New York. His articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Politico. Protess also has worked with the investigative unit of CBS News in Chicago and as an investigative reporter for the North Lawndale Community News. He graduated from Northwestern University and received his master's in journalism from Columbia University’s investigative reporting fellowship program.
» bprotess [at] huffpostfund [dot] org (E-mail Ben Protess) or follow him on Twitter

Stories by Ben Protess

Details of Bank and College Deals Spur Reaction

Investigative fund's credit card story inspires a congressman, a one-woman protest and some citizen journalism

By Ben Protess14 July 2010

Follow-up: Baltimore Lawmakers Seek Overhaul of Tax Lien Sale

It’s too late to help Vicki Valentine—the Baltimore woman who lost her family’s mortgage-free home over an unpaid water bill of $362—but city officials are trying to prevent others from suffering...

By Fred Schulte, Ben Protess and Lagan Sebert
7 July 2010

As Student Credit Card Debt Rises, Banks Quietly Reward Schools

Large and elite universities are earning millions of dollars quietly selling the names and addresses of students and graduates to credit card companies while allowing the companies special access to school events. Schools earn royalty payments that multiply as students use their cards and accumulate debt.  By Ben Protess

By Ben Protess8 June 2010

The Other Foreclosure Menace

Her mortgage paid off, a woman loses her home over a small water bill. Amid the economic downturn, it's happening in Baltimore and other cities where big banks, brokerage houses, and other investors buy the right to collect paltry municipal debts from citizens.  By Fred Schulte, Lagan Sebert & Ben Protess

By Fred Schulte, Ben Protess and Lagan Sebert
18 May 2010

Yielding to Wall Street, Raters 'Drink the Kool-Aid'

In the lead up to the financial meltdown, Wall Street firms routinely exerted influence on the nation’s largest credit rating companies— which judge the quality and safety of bonds—and the...

By Ben Protess22 April 2010