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 "tax-exempt bonds" ...
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Broken Promises
Tax-exempt deals that provided $7 billion in bonds for low-income housing or inner-city schools turned out to be another way for banks and advisers to make money. Bloomberg investigates situations such as a deal in which JPMorgan Chase and Co. and American International Group "pocketed fees, along with their advisers, totaling $12 million." AIG and CDR of Beverly Hills actually had a deal "in which the financial firms made more money and faced less risk if none of the $220 million in bond funds was used by the public. None of it was." There were 70 other such deals across the country in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. The investigation also includes similar situations of schools being neglected while insurance companies, banks and advisers profit.
Tags: school bonds; Wall Street; JPMorgan Chase and Co.; American International Group; Bank of America; housing bonds
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A Billion - Dollar Bet
This investigation showed how Baltimore developer David S. Cordish used tax-free municipal bonds to build two glitzy casino complexes for the Seminole Tribe in Florida. Tax-exempt bonds are supposed to be issued only for "essential government functions" and private developers are barred from benefiting from them. But, those regulations were being ignored, until these Sun reporters brought the deal into the spotlight.
Tags: real estate; development; gambling; bonds; IRS; Internal Revenue Service; Auditors
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Moving out of Reach
This investigative report follows the results of the 1986 Census Bureau survey conducted about housing conditions in Orange County. Using CAR, Campbell's analysis revealed that "nearly a quarter million residents of Orange County--one family in nine--spend at least half their income on housing," which significantly exceeds the federal governent-recommended limit. This investigation also looked at te increase in tax-exempt bonds for luxury apartmet, despite a shortage of low-cost rental properties in the county.
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Under the Influence
A Camas Magazine investigative series "chronicles the ongoing controversy of a public/private partnership so faulty that it seriously threatens the fiscal, political and civic health" of Spokane. The partnership, known as River Park Square, was the developer of an upscale shopping mall. The stories reveal that the private party in the partnership - Spokane's most powerful family, the Cowleses, owners of the Spokane Review and the local NBC station - covered up the faults of the project by abusing media power. The construction of the shopping mall was financed "with a $23 million loan from the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agency and $32 million of tax-exempt bonds secured by city parking meter revenues and a limited pledge of general fund revenue." The result: today the new mall is almost empty and facing bankruptcy, and the city and the taxpayers are losing money.
Tags: BOOK; SERIES; city government; business; Securities Exchange Commission (SEC); stocks and bonds; litigation; lawyers; litigation; IRS; tax rules violations; real estate; land development; poverty; Washington public records law
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No title (id: 9731)
The Bond Buyer reveals that a municipal bond offer by Columbus, Ohio, is fraught with difficulties involving the IRS and its tax-exempt status; causes the withdrawal of the offer and the potential lose of millions, Oct. 21 - Dec. 22, 1993.
Tags: NY OH Pierog 11 pages
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No title (id: 7360)
Bond Buyer focuses on a Kansas City, Mo., real estate developer who acquired 21 nursing homes with $80 million in tax-exempt bonds; his business tactics caused a default and the entire operation collapsed, Jan. 10 - Aug. 23, 1990.
Tags: NY Doran
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"Doomed Deals: How Gereed Betrayed St. Lous's Hopes" and other titles... it is a series
Bond Buyer investigates a $474 million tax-exempt bond deal to reconstruct an impoverished East St. Louis, Ill., financial players earned immense profits while no projects were ever built, significant abuse in the municipal bond market, Oct. 18, 1991.
Tags: NY Stevens
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Field of Dreams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells the story of the botched renaissance of East St. Louis; one of the poorest cities in the nation, it is burdened with huge debt, steep property taxes, dwindling city services and high crime; the city issued $473 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds for building three projects--a luxury apartment complex, recycling plant and port--but construction never began, and bond money was returned to investors.
Tags: Bond money; Officer; Open Record Act
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No title (id: 5701)
Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) examines the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency; discovers the agency's director and former director had abused the agency's power to authorize tax-exempt bond issues and made large personal profits through self-dealing and sham transactions, Aug. 21, 28 and Oct. 29, 1988.
Tags: None