Ellis Simani
I am a data reporter at ProPublica.
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Contact me on Signal with tips or if you have documents to share. I have experience working with large, complex and sensitive datasets.
What I Cover
My work pairs quantitative analysis with traditional investigative reporting techniques. I often cover stories at the intersection of money and power. I am interested in data and documents that reveal abuse or fraud.
My Background
My recent work has interrogated the ways that nonprofit organizations raise and spend their money. I’ve also investigated the stock trading of the wealthiest Americans. In “The Inside Edge,” my colleagues and I revealed several investment advantages that enable top executives and other well-connected investors to make trades with remarkable timing.
I worked with a team of reporters on “The Secret IRS Files,” which investigated systemic inequities in the U.S. tax system that allow the ultrawealthy to avoid paying federal income taxes. The series won a number of awards, including the Selden Ring and the Barlett & Steele Award.
I’ve also covered issues related to housing and debt for ProPublica, with a particular focus on evictions. Before joining ProPublica in 2019, I worked on the Los Angeles Times’ data visualization desk.
Wealthy Executives Make Millions Trading Competitors’ Stock With Remarkable Timing
Never-before-seen IRS records show that CEOs are sometimes making multimillion-dollar bets on the stocks of direct competitors and partners — and doing so with exquisite timing.
The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes
Owners like Steve Ballmer can take the kinds of deductions on team assets — everything from media deals to player contracts — that industrialists take on factory equipment.
Texas Lawmakers Want a Charter School Network to Stop Paying Its Superintendent Nearly $900K. The School Board Says No.
The rebuke from lawmakers and charter school leaders came after an investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Salvador Cavazos, who oversees fewer than 1,000 students, is among the most well-paid superintendents in the country.
This Charter School Superintendent Makes $870,000. He Leads a District With 1,000 Students.
On paper, Salvador Cavazos earns less than $300,000 to run Valere Public Schools, a small Texas charter network. But taxpayers likely aren’t aware that in reality, his total pay makes him one of the country’s highest-earning superintendents.
For Decades, Calls for Reform to Idaho’s Troubled Coroner System Have Gone Unanswered
Idaho’s patchwork of 44 coroner’s offices leaves grief-stricken parents without answers in their children’s deaths and creates disparities in coroners’ investigations.
How a Network of Nonprofits Enriches Fundraisers While Spending Almost Nothing on Its Stated Causes
ProPublica identified a group of connected political nonprofits — with names like American Breast Cancer Coalition and National Coalition for Disabled Veterans — that appear to be funneling more than 90% of donations to fundraisers.
Sports Team Owners Face New Scrutiny From IRS Over Tax Avoidance
A new campaign by the tax agency comes after ProPublica revealed how billionaires generate what can be hundreds of millions in tax savings by purchasing professional sports teams.
A Top Mutual Fund Executive Made Millions for Himself Trading the Same Stocks His Giant Fund Was Trading
Confidential IRS data reveals that David Hoeft, chief investment officer of mutual fund giant Dodge & Cox, was one of many investment managers who bought and sold the same stocks their company was trading.
How Warren Buffett Privately Traded in Stocks That Berkshire Hathaway Was Buying and Selling
Buffett has long said such trading would be a conflict of interest, and Berkshire policies prohibit it. But confidential records show that, on at least three occasions, he sold millions of dollars of shares in stocks that Berkshire was trading.
The Biotech Edge: How Executives and Well-Connected Investors Make Exquisitely Timed Trades in Health Care Stocks
Secret IRS records reveal dozens of highly fortuitous biotech and health care trades.
How These Ultrawealthy Politicians Avoided Paying Taxes
IRS records reveal how Gov. Jim Justice, Gov. Jared Polis, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other wealthy political figures slashed their taxes using strategies unavailable to most of their constituents.
There’s Only One State Where Falling Behind on Rent Could Mean Jail Time. That Could Change.
Only Arkansas permits criminal consequences for nonpayment of rent — and it has enforced the law during the pandemic. Now, after ProPublica investigated the practice, some legislators want to revoke the statute.