The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "$25 million" ...
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Inside Pfizer's Palace Coup
The inside story of the abrupt downfall of the leader of one of the world's largest and most important companies. Named CEO of Pfizer at the age of 51, this man was a brilliant litigator who harbored ambitions to join Barack Obama's cabinet or launch his own political career. Instead, he found himself out a job, the target of a sophisticated palace coup. He departed with a $25 million severance package, even as the company's stock declined 36% under his watch.
Tags: Obama; Pfizer; CEO; Barack Obama
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Saving Millions to Cost Billions
The executives who run the local power plant in St. Petersburg said from the start that their customers should help pay a $2.5 billion repair bill at their nuclear plant because no one could have predicted or prevented the disaster that crippled the facility and shut it down. But the Tampa Bay Times revealed gaping holes in that argument. Porgress received multiple warnings from employees and contractors about their approach to the project. An internal report obtained by Tampa Bay Times even warned the utility against self managing such an ambitious construction effort.
Tags: St. Petersburg; Tampa Bay Times; Repair Bill; Utility
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"Urban League Gets Mixed Grades On Crenshaw Area Overhaul"
This series attempts to provide a "midway progress report" for a major, $25 million effort by the Los Angeles Urban League to "address academic problems at Crenshaw High School," and several other "social ills" that bother the neighborhood that surrounds the campus. Reporters interviewed members of the community, school and local law enforcement in an effort to report on the progress of the program. They found the Urban League's Neighborhoods@Work program "met some goals and fell short of others."
Tags: Los Angeles Urban League; Crenshaw High; LAPD; L.A. Unified School District; L.A. City Attorney's Office; California Public Records Act; records request
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"Coaches' Salaries 2009: College Football Special Report"
The average pay for college football coaches has increased 46 percent in the last three years. Amid a floundering economy, cutbacks have spread across higher education budgets, but college football coaches continue to see a rise in their salaries. In 2009, 25 coaches made at least $2 million, which is double that of their salaries just two years ago.
Tags: Pete Carroll; Bob Stoops; Urban Meyer; college football; coach salaries; Nick Saban; NCAA; Gary Pinkel; Mizzou; Missouri Tigers; Tiger football; David Yost; Brent Pease
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Charity Paid Leaders $2.5M
Angel Food Ministries Inc. is a charity that distributes discount groceries to people in need. However, the founding Georgian family received $2.5 million in pay to operate the organization. Questions surrounding whether the charity is completely legitimate surfaced when further investigation revealed insider loan activity in the charity as well.
Tags: Angel Food Ministries; groceries; charity; 2.5 million; pay; family; insider loans; leaders; organization; operation; Georgia;
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Wasting Away
Washington, D.C. suffers from the highest rate of AIDS cases in the nation. While the health department awarded more than $25 million to nonprofit agencies to deliver services to ailing AIDS patients, many rendered substandard or no services at all.
Tags: AIDS; disease; Washington, D.C.; nonprofit; $25 million; Health Department; Debra Rowe;
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The Real Estate Meltdown
"Did Appraisers Juice the Market?" showed how appraisers overstated home values. Using disciplinary records and interviews, Shanklin and McClure found appraisers who exaggerated condo sizes, appraised homes without seeing them and stated that condos were worth the $240,000 sales price even though the price was padded with $40,000 of incentives. The "Subprime Mess" package was based on more than 2 million records and showed how unconventional loans moved from low-income, inner city neighborhoods to the burgeoning suburbs. "How Investors Helped Overheat the Market" explored the role of investors in Central Florida's real estate meltdown by analyzing hundreds of data records and found that sales of non owner-occupied homes grew from 25 percent of all local residential sales in 2002 to 70 percent in 2006.
Tags: real estate; investors; lenders; purchase prices; subprime loans; adjustable-rate loans; high-interest loans; housing scam; vacant housing; condo conversion; development; property values
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Inside National Grid's Secretive $25 Million
The reporters exposed a secret fund controlled by local power company National Grid. An add-on charge to each customer's monthly bill built a $25 million slush fund for two utility officials to spend on favored economic development projects.
Tags: electric company; utility fee; energy; rates; no-bid contract; favoritism
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The Law Firm of Hubris Hypocrisy and Greed
The law firm of Milberg Weiss had presented itself "as a champion of the little guy" in filing securities class-action lawsuits. But the firm "has been indicted for allegedly paying three plaintiffs $11.4 million in illegal kickbacks in about 180 cases spanning 25 years - and then repeatedly lying about it to the courts." Fortune tells the story of the investigation into this firm's indiscretions, with a discussion of how the money changed hands, and the reaction to the indictment.
Tags: Milberg Weiss; Mel Weiss; Bill Lerach; Seymour the Head; illegal kickbacks; securities class-action lawsuits
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Rise and Fall
Spurred by real estate mogul Solomon Dwek bouncing a $25 million check at a drive-through bank window, the Asbury Park Press investigates Dwek's dealings, and finds that his business may not be as financially stable as it is presented to be. The Press found that Dwek committed mortgage fraud, as forensic experts analyzed signatures on land records, and said Dwek "likely signed the names of other people to $9 million in loans he obtained." His wife had mortgages on three properties she did not own. Dwek, who was arrested by the FBI in the wake of the bounced check, was also found to have received $179 million in loans and investments from banks, mortgage lenders and investors.
Tags: Solomon Dwek; mortgage fraud; false bank loans; federal bank fraud; real estate