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 "Brazil" ...
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The Mafia of Public Job Competitions
The story shows that investigations for fraud in public job competitions have been carried out in every Brazilian state. Required to join municipal, state and federal institutions, the competitions should be meant to choose the best applicants. However, only those appointed by politicians, and people who pay for a given position, are approved. Making use of a hidden camera, the reporter caught off-guard seven companies that fraud competitions and still approve only applicants appointed by mayors and other officials. Some sell the positions directly to the applicants.
Tags: international; job; fraud; Brazil; politicians; mayors
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Councilmen on Tourism
With the help of a hidden camera, this RBS-TV/Globo TV investigation of city council members in seven Brazilian states shows how many politicians were skipping taxpayer-funded seminars and classes to vacation instead.
Tags: Brazil; politician; taxpayer; tourism; council
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Councilmen on Tourism
The RBS-TV news crew followed city council members from seven Brazilian states as they attended 6 training courses over 40 days. They found that many of them enjoyed tourist day trips instead of the courses they were supposed to be attending. They also found that the politicians could purchase certificates of completion even when they did not attend the courses.
Tags: Brazil; city government; city council; fraud; tax dollars; abuse of power;
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The Cloning Scam
"It is estimated that 37 thousand stolen vehicles are cloned every year in Brazil." To do so, they must use fake documents to pass car inspections, which allow them to receive counterfeit plates. To reveal all this activity, the reporter had to befriend these people and act as one of the gangs involved in the cloning scam. Also, the reporter learned how these criminal acts work and what it takes to pull this all off.
Tags: car cloning; Paraguay; gangs; drugs; criminal commerce; police; con; rip-off; inspections; cars
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Plundering the Amazon
In "Plundering the Amazon," the reporters expose illegal land destruction of the Brazilian rain forest by well-known companies such as Alcoa and Cargill. These companies are destroying land without federal permits and in "violation of Brazilian law."
Tags: Alcoa; Cargill; rain forest; rainforest; Brazil; Brazilian; JBS SA; global warming; environmental; jungle
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Slaves in Amazon Forced to Make Material Used in Cars
In Brazil, Peru and Bolivia hundreds of thousands of unemployed men and women are being recruited for slavery. The workers for the slave-camps make charcoal, while being forced to live without housing, electricity or plumbing, and without pay.
Tags: slave labor; Amazon; South America; labor camps; malaria; tuberculosis; Whirlpool; Nucor; Latin America; Ford; General Motors; Nissan; Toyota; car companies
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Crossroads of Crime
"In a two part series, Trish Regan investigated counterfeiting (Part I) and terrorist fundraising (Part II) in the wild-west jungle town of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Although Ciudad del Este is largely unknown to Americans, intelligence officers regard the region as a lawless frontier, which is perhaps the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere. Located deep in the heart of South America and known as the tri-border region because it borders Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, Ciudad del Este has become a safe haven for counterfeiters and terrorist organizations."
Tags: terrorism; money; fundraising; counterfeit; South America; Middle East; Hezbollah;
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Councilmen on Tourism Spree
Local councilmen in Brazil were collecting per diems paid out to enable politicians to attend qualification courses presented in other countries. Using a hidden camera, the reporter passed himself off as a politician as the others admitted they were only signing up for these courses to collect the money while skipping the classes and taking a vacation. As a result of the investigation, many city councils in the southern Brazil state of Rio Grande do Sul cut back the payments.
Tags: per diems; councilmen; Brazil; goverment; politicians
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The Mafia of Illegal Immigration in England
The authors investigated the falsification of documents and the marriages of convenience organized by an international gang to allow Brazilians to stay and work in England.
Tags: mafia; Brazil; illegal immigration; England; false documents; international crime; marriages of convenience
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Modern Day Slavery
This series of investigations revealed that in the last four years, officials have prosecuted five cases of slavery in Southwest Florida and that an estimated 20 to 50 thousand people a year are smuggled into the U.S. as indentured servants. These "slaves" are abused or mistreated and many women are forced into prostitution. Some women are tricked into coming into America under the illusion that they are being recruited as models.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; slavery; migrant farm; indentured servants; human traffickers; U.S. Attorney's office; Cuba; Brazil; labor