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Jake Bernstein

Jake Bernstein was a business and financial reporter for ProPublica.

Jake Bernstein was a business reporter for ProPublica. He was featured in the Best Business Writing in 2012 and 2013.

In April 2011, Bernstein and colleague Jesse Eisinger were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a series of stories on questionable Wall Street practices that helped make the financial crisis the worst since the Great Depression.

Prior to joining ProPublica, Bernstein worked at The Texas Observer, an investigative biweekly, for six years, and as its executive editor from 2004 to 2008. Bernstein began his career in Central America, where for several years he reported on efforts to end longstanding civil conflicts. He served as a staff writer for the Pasadena [Texas] Citizen and then for the Miami New Times. His work has received numerous state-level and national journalism awards, and The Texas Observer, under his leadership, was named Best Political Magazine of 2005 by Utne Reader. Bernstein is co-author of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency (2006).

The Wall Street Money Machine

SEC Investigating Citigroup Mortgage Deal

The SEC is investigating whether in the run-up to the financial crisis Citi acted improperly as it created and marketed a $1 billion CDO.

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

The Wall Street Money Machine

SEC Investigating Deal Between JPMorgan and Hedge Fund Magnetar

The SEC is investigating whether JPMorgan adequately disclosed to investors that the hedge fund Magnetar influenced a deal it was also betting against.

by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein,

The Wall Street Money Machine

Magnetar Responds to Our April Story—And Our Response

by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein,

The Wall Street Money Machine

Magnetar Deals at Center of New Lawsuit

A European-based investment fund and a French bank are battling it out in New York state court over complex securities created at the behest of the hedge fund Magnetar

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

The Wall Street Money Machine

Which CDOs and Banks Had Deals With the Most Cross-ownership?

See which CDOs exchanged pieces with other CDOs through our interactive feature that reveals the incestuous nature of Wall Street’s CDO business.

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

A Q&A About Our Investigation on Banks’ Self-Dealing

by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein,

About Our Data

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

The Wall Street Money Machine

A Bank's Best Customer: Its Own CDOs

by Krista Kjellman Schmidt, Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

The Wall Street Money Machine

Chart: A Bank's Best Customers

In the last two years of the boom, CDOs created by one bank commonly purchased slices of other CDOs created by the same bank.

by Krista Kjellman Schmidt, Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

The Wall Street Money Machine

Banks' Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis

As investors left the market in the run-up to the meltdown, Wall Street created fake demand, increasing their bonuses — and ultimately making the crisis worse.

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,