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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

The Magnetar Trade: How One Hedge Fund Helped Keep the Bubble Going

The hedge fund helped create mortgage-based securities, pushed for risky things to go inside them and then bet against the investments, resulting in billions in losses for investors and ultimately making the financial crisis worse. It’s a story of the perverse incentives and reckless behavior that characterized the last days of the boom.

by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein,

Additional Detail from Magnetar Response

by Jake Bernstein,

Graphic: The Timeline of Magnetar's Deals

How did Magnetar's deals in subprime mortgage securities compare to the overall market's?

by Jake Bernstein, Jesse Eisinger and Krista Kjellman Schmidt,

SEC Just Now Seeking Key Information On Meltdown

by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger,

Not Everybody Loses on Bank Failure Friday

by Jake Bernstein,

Bank Failure Friday Roars Back: Six Banks Fail, Costing FDIC $2.4 Billion

by Jake Bernstein,

Number of Banks on FDIC's 'Problem List' Soars

by Jake Bernstein,

Slow Bank Failure Friday

by Jake Bernstein,

Bank Failure Friday Fells a 'Healthy Bank' Bailout Recipient

by Jake Bernstein,

Bank Failure Century Mark Overshadowed By Six More

by Jake Bernstein,