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 "insider loans" ...
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Inside Fannie Mae
Internal documents obtained by the Free Press showed that contrary to Fannie Mae's public statements that it was doing everything possible to help struggling borrowers keep their hopes, it was quietly denying homeowners' requests to modify their loans if they were more than 12 months behind in their payments.
Tags: Fannie May; borrow; homeowner; foreclosure
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World of Trouble
This story is a “rare account of the forces that created the U.S. housing bubble and tore the world economy to pieces”. The major finding of the story was executives inside one of the largest lending companies, deliberately ignored warnings from their front line salesmen. This company was loaning money to people who would not be able to pay them back and later was victim to “more than 30 billion dollars of bad loans”.
Tags: World Savings and Loan; Golden West Financial; Wachovia; bank; mortgage; industry; Paul Bishop; homeowners
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"Inside the Collapse"
Kerry Killinger, former CEO of Washington Mutual, refused to take blame for the bank's collapse. Instead, he cited the faltering housing market and "credit crisis." An investigation by The Seattle Times reveals Killinger and his employees used "reckless" and "predatory practices," like encouraging high-risk loans, to increase the bank's profits. The greed-fueled decisions eventually led to the bank's collapse.
Tags: WaMu; Kerry Killinger; Lehman Brothers; Washington Mutual; Countrywide Financial
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Durham insider loans pile up
Tim Durham “is one of Indiana’s highest-profile businesspeople” and appeared to be rising to the top of the super rich. But behind his image, a story of deception and lies is revealed. After an investigation of his company, Fair Finance Co., revealed this deception and he was accused of securities fraud. Also, he was alleged to be using a Ponzi scheme, “using money from new investors to pay off previous purchasers of investment certificates”. Now, Durham and his company face a number of lawsuits.
Tags: financial; finances; economy; Ohio; securities regulators; business; wealth; investors
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Inside the Financial Fiasco
In this series, it describes the underlying causes of the economic crisis. At the center of the problem were "stated-income loans, mortgages where the lenders never bothered to verify borrowers' incomes". Another cause to the crisis is the country's extraordinary amount of consumer debt. Also, now that we are in tough economic times scams are put together to target those in financial trouble and scamming them out of more money.
Tags: crisis; economy; financial; mortgage industry; investment banks; debt; banking; families; interest rates; credit; business
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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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Holding GSEs to Accounting Standards
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the nation's fourth and fifth largest financial services companies. They hold a combined $1.5 trillion in loans and mortgage-backed securities on their books and guarantee payment on another combined $2.4 trillion in MBS held by other investors. Both the Federal Reserve and Bush Administration think the companies have grown too big, too fast and worry that they could upend the broader markets if their interest-rate hedges are wrong and there's a sudden and unexpected rate shift in the opposite direction. Kopecki broke the news that Fannie's accounting woes stretched far beyond those the government-sponsored enterprise previously disclosed. Kopecki also chronicled the problems with two Federal Home Loan Bank System board members suspected with using non-public information to sell large stakes of the Bank's stock.
Tags: GSE; government-sponsored enterprises; financial services companies; insider trading; loans; mortage-backed securities; accounting
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Insider Connections: A multibillion-dollar public pension fund can be a ready source of financing--if you know the right people.
This story details and explains the scandal behind the 2,200 acre PebbleCreek Golf Resort, a new planned retirement community in Goodyear. The resort is controversial because it was funded by a $10 million loan from the retirement trust funds of Arizona's firefighters, police officers, judges, elected officials and prison guards.
Tags: scandal; pension; retirement funds; controversial; trust funds; loans; funding
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ImClone Systems
An investigation by The Street.com revealed questions over ImClone Systems handling of its drug Erbitux, long before an early morning raid in June 2002 that ended with the company's CEO, Sam Waksal, handcuffed by police. In late 2001, The Street.com reported on a sweetheart loan that went to Waksal during negotiations with Bristol-Myers. It also reported that something was amiss with the Erbitux application two weeks before the Food and Drug Administration rejected the application. Throughout 2002, while others focused on the insider trading scandal involving Waksal and Martha Stewart, The Street.com remained focused on ImClone and "the trouble it was having getting Erbitux back on track.
Tags: ImClone Systems; Sam Waksal; insider trading; biotech; financial; Food and Drug Administration; Erbitux; online; CD
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Treasury Leak Exposed
A Dow Jones investigation reveals that a private consultant has attended supposedly press-only briefings at the Treasury Department and, during the news embargo time set by the Treasury, has told clients that the government is about to cancel bond auctions. The stories report on how the inside and possibly illegal knowledge has "wildly" affected the price of a key government bond well ahead of the news release. The series resulted in tightening up of the Treasury Department's news disseminating policy. The SEC opened an investigation.
Tags: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); press conferences; finance; interest rates; consumer loans; Golden Sachs