Jesse Eisinger
Jesse Eisinger is a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica. In April 2011, he and a colleague won 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.
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Jesse Eisinger is a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica. He is the author of the “The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives.”
In April 2011, he and a colleague won 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. He was the lead reporter on the “Secret IRS Files” series that exposed the tax avoidance strategies of the ultrawealthy. The series won several prizes, including the Selden Ring in 2022. He also won the 2015 Gerald Loeb Award for commentary.
He was the editor on the “Friends of the Court” series, which revealed how a small group of politically influential billionaires wooed justices with lavish gifts and travel; it won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2024.
He serves on the advisory board of the University of California, Berkeley’s Financial Fraud Institute. And he was a consultant on season 3 of the HBO series “Succession.”
His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, NewYorker.com, The Washington Post, The Baffler and The American Prospect and on NPR and “This American Life.” Before joining ProPublica, he was the Wall Street editor of Conde Nast Portfolio and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, covering markets and finance.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the journalist Sarah Ellison, and their daughters.
From Big State a Call for Small Banks
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas issues a blistering indictment of our financial system and calls for breaking up the Too Big To Fail banks.
Fannie and Freddie: Slashing Mortgages Is Good Business
Adding an explosive new dimension to a politically charged debate on how to solve the housing crisis, the mortgage giants say that reducing the amount of money troubled homeowners owe wouldn't just keep families in their homes, it would also save Freddie and Fannie money.
Congress's Genius Jobs Plan — for Fraudsters, Shills, and Wall St. Analysts
The so-called JOBS Act, which has support from the White House and Republicans, could help stock market scammers get their mojo back.
Fed Shrugged Off Warnings, Let Banks Pay Shareholders Billions
In late 2010, a major regulator warned the Federal Reserve: Banks are not healthy enough to increase dividends, and the economy could implode again. But in its biggest decision since the financial crisis, the Fed overrode that advice and let banks return more than $30 billion to shareholders. Here’s the inside story.
How to Kill the Volcker Rule: Just Add Fat
Bank lobbyists couldn't kill the Volcker Rule, intended to stop banks from risking taxpayer money on risky speculation. So they're getting Congress and regulators to render it morbidly obese and bedridden.
Senators Slam Freddie on Bets Against Homeowners
There is increasing scrutiny in Washington on Freddie's risky investments.
The SOX Win: How Financial Regulation Can Work
The Sarbanes Oxley law, also known as SOX, cleaned up corporate accounting. It provides hope for how the new financial regulatory law, Dodd-Frank, could work.
Senator Demands Answers from Freddie Mac’s Regulator
Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., today sent a series of questions to Freddie’s regulator, highlighting how much remains unknown about the mortgage giant’s controversial bets against American homeowners.
Freddie Mac’s Regulator Says Trades Were Shut Down Because They Were “Risky”
In aletter to Senator Robert Casey, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said ithalted mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s controversial trades because they required specializedrisk management.
Bets Against Homeowners Must Stop, Freddie Mac Was Told
After an examination by its regulator, Freddie agreed not to make new investments that profited from homeowners staying trapped in high interest-rate mortgages. But Freddie has kept billions worth of those investments.