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 "troubled assets" ...
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Probate Court: A Troubled System
The investigation exposed a corrupt system within Arizona's probate courts that permitted lawyers and for-profit fiduciary businesses to take advantage of the welfare of vulnerable adults. The Arizona Republic found that in many cases, lawyers appointed to protect the welfare of incapacitated adults were actually paying themselves enormous fees out of their assets of these individuals. Judges, state regulators, and social service agencies violated court orders, disregarded procedure, and failed to keep this from happening.
Tags: probate courts; legal system; court corruption; elderly; welfare
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Banktracker
Banktracker is a project built to assess the financial health of every bank and credit union in the United States, and to disclose the information. The Troubled Asset Ratio serves as a measurement for bank safety.
Tags: banks; credit unions; safety; troubled assets; United States; financial health; benchmark; banktracker;
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Offshore Assets. How Floating Hospital used Medicaid to steer course toward profit. As a ship, New York clinic got fat reimbursements, then expanded on land. Contracts and lovers in suit.
According to the article, "The Floating Hospital traces its origins to the 1860s when a group of New York Times editors decided that ailing newsboys would benefit from a dose of fresh sea air. Today, the 187-foot, four-deck vessel, usually moored near the southern tip of Manhattan island, provides health care to the uninsured and to people on Medicaid. Dogged by financial troubles in the early 1990s and wanting to reach more of the indigent, it developed a plan to become a year-round clinic, and in the process, was able to wangle a large Medicaid reimbursement because of substantial capital costs for the ship."
Tags: M
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The Return of the Wall Street Vulture
The Business Week reports on "the Great American Fire Sale" on Wall Street where troubled companies and their assets are sold at bargain prices. The story analyses the various strategies of the so-called vultures - investors who risk "billions to buy up the wreckage of the U.S. economic bust." The main conclusion is that the vultures play an important role in cutting "the deadwood" out and helping the economy resume its rapid growth. The report includes a list of the largest companies that have filed for bankruptcy since January, 2000, and their assets.
Tags: business; bankruptcy; lawyers; investment firms; restructuring; unemployment; profits; executives; CEOs; debt; leveraged buyouts
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A Royal Fall: When Eagan-based Royal Conservatories hit financial trouble, the owners pinned their hopes on a man they thought was a seasoned executive. But his resume - and even his name - turned out to be a lie.
Moore explains how ex-convict Charles Suntheimer, a.k.a. Charles Schuler, brought the small company he was hired to turn around to bankruptcy. Among other lies, Suntheimer told his employers at Royal Conservatories that he was a medical doctor with an additional PhD from Harvard, and a participant in the FBI's witness protection program. "The company had hired Schuler even though few of his references checked out." Royal Conservatories fired him in May 2000 after his background was revealed, but it was too late to revive the company. When the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2000, it had $42,503 in assets and $1.5 million in liabilities. The story of the company's demise illustrates how "hiring an unknown quantity can prove to be fatal -- especially for a struggling small business where internal controls are lax and the need to resuscitate the company immediate."
Tags: business fraud; Charles Suntheimer; Association of Certified Fraud Examiners; Royal Conservatories
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Boss Thy Neighbor: Homeowner associations are an increasingly prevalent -- and troubled -- form of local government
In 1970, there were 10,000 homeowners associations. Today, there are 230,000 of them, collecting "around $34 billion in dues to manage billions of dollars in communal assets." Along with this growth has come a backlash from people who consider housing covenants and other hallmarks of homeowners associations an affront to their property rights and personal liberties. Other critics say that these associations, wielding many of the powers of local government, drive neighbors apart instead of bring them together. In one case, an elderly man in Nevada was fined for leaving his lawn half-mowed while seeking relief from the desert sun. But don't expect city and local government to usurp these associations of their powers: "city officials across the country compel builders to set them up in an effort to make new developments pay more of their own way."
Tags: homeowner associations; city government; housing covenant; Nevada