Resource Center

Stories

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 "conflicts of interest" ...

  • ArmorGroup Conflict of Interest

    The Inspector General and his brother have a relationship where one helps the other and vice versa. The Inspector General was supposed to police the security contract at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, but was protecting is brother an executive at ArmorGroup. ArmorGroup is the company accused of wrongdoing and has continuously gotten away with it.

    Tags: Howard Krongard; Board of Directors; corruption; Kubal; State Department; watchdog; war contractor; complaint; scandal

    By Sharyl Attkisson; Chris Scholl; Allyson Ross Taylor; Matt Tureck; Bill Piersol; Ward Sloane; Rick Kaplan

    CBS News

    2009

  • USA Inc.: The State of Capitalism

    The investigation delves into the hidden details surrounding the government's unprecedented intervention into business and the economy, specifically in regards to conflicts of interest at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and drastic actions taken by government officials to persuade and reward banks.

    Tags: federal reserve; new york; banking; capitalism; bailout; government; united states; industry; intervention; regulation;

    By n/a

    Wall Street Journal (New York)

    2009

  • Deconstructing Gus

    "Deconstructing Gus" chronicles an opposition campaign's fight to block the nomination of Gus Puryear to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Gus Puryear was general counsel to America's largest for-profit prison company. Major findings of the article expose Puryear's conflicts of interest, lack of qualifications, and shady ties which ultimately prevented his nomination.

    Tags: Corrections Corporation of America; Gus Puryear; Prison Legal News; nomination; District Court; Tennessee; Alex Friedman; opposition campaign

    By Alex Friedman; Paul Wright

    Prison Legal News (PLN)

    2009

  • Chemical Fallout

    "The reporters exposed inept government programs that favor chemical makers over the needs of the public. They detailed conflicts of interest among regulators and uncovered new hidden threats for consumers. The newspaper tested common household plastics billed as "microwave safe" and found toxic levels of chemicals leaching from every item tested."

    Tags: chemicals; toxins; public safety; government protection; bisphenol A; Environmental Protection Agency; Food and Drug Administration;

    By Susanne Rust; Meg Kissinger

    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

    2008

  • The Redevelopment Investigation

    This investigation came in several installments throughout the year. The city of San Diego, unlike any other government in California, operates two redevelopment agencies outside of the traditional City Hall structure and with little oversight, running them as separate nonprofit corporations with their own presidents, boards, offices and identities. An investigation into those two public agencies, which have combined annual budgets of nearly $300 million, uncovered a rogue system of forgotten government, which was underscored by a clandestine bonus system. The president of one agency used to pay herself and her aides more than $1 million over 5 years and numerous conflicts of interests between developers and top officials.

    Tags: San Diego; city government; corruption; redevelopment agencies; new media; nonprofit corporations

    By Will Carless; Rob Davis; Andrew Donohue

    voiceofsandiego.org

    2008

  • Tollway Junket

    "The North Texas Tollway Authority, a public entity, sent 5 representatives on an all-expenses paid trip to Vienna, Austria to attend the International Bridge, Tunnel and Tollway Association's annual meeting. The trip cost tollway users more than $42,000 dollars and our hidden cameras revealed some representatives dining on five star meals, catered by companies with multi-million dollar construction contracts."

    Tags: North Texas Tollway Authority; transportation; roads; toll roads; Texas; conflict of interest; funding; hidden camera; budget; public;

    By Bennett Cunningham; Stuart Boslow; Manuel Villela; Joshua Brown; Aaron Wische

    KTVT-TV (Dallas)

    2007

  • Who's in the Driver's Seat at Motor Vehicles

    The online traffic school, lowestpricetrafficschool.com, had exclusive advertisement in Florida's Official Driver's Handbook through the Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department. The traffic school was also in charge of printing the booklet, offering it free on line but charging taxpayers for shipping. WTVT found that Fred Dickinson's, the executive director of the DHSMV, wife was a lobbyist for the National Safety Commission which operates the traffic school. She later resigned her position when Gov. Jeb Bush criticized the Dickinsons for the conflict of interest.

    Tags: motor vehicles; conflict of interest; state government; National Safety Commission; Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles; traffic schools; lobbying; Fred Dickinson; Sherry Dickinson; driver's handbook

    By Doug Smith; Lisa Blegen; Craig Davisson

    WTVT-TV (Tampa, Fla.)

    2007

  • Conflicted Justice

    The series found "major problems with a little-known but significant aspect of indigent defense in Nevada. When two or more indigent defendants are charge in the same case, each defendant's testimony might implicate another. To avoid conflicts of interest that would occur if co-defendants were represented by a county public defender, that office represents only one, and private lawyers are hired by judges to represent the rest. Alan Maimon's reporting revealed that some conflict attorneys claimed to work more than 24 hours in a single day. Some spent excessive time on certain cases that paid a higher hourly rate, and tended to hastily offer guilty pleas on cases that did not pay as well."

    Tags: courts; legal; justice; conflict attorneys; criminal defense; court corruption; lawyers; civil defense

    By Alan Maimon

    Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nev.)

    2007

  • Dianne Feinstein Series

    U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein was the chair of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee from 2001 to 2005, and during that time she micromanaged $1.5 billion in construction projects around the world that were contracted to her husbands companies.

    Tags: MILCON; Daddy Warbucks; CBRE Richard Ellis; Michael Klein; Perini; URS; conflict of interest; senator; appropriations

    By Peter Byrne

    North Bay Bohemian (Santa Rosa, CA)

    2007

  • Gateways

    Hagey found that Jamie Beletz and Mel Curtiss, the leaders of Gateways for Youth and Families, "could be jeopardizing the tax-exempt status" of Gateways. The two leaders had "conflict of interest and alleged instances of personal financial gain."

    Tags: city hall; business; profit; tax returns

    By Jason Hagey

    News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

    2007