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.
Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners
The taxpayer-owned mortgage giant made investments that profited if borrowers stayed stuck in high-interest loans while making it harder for them to get out of those loans.
From CEO to Candidate, Romney Flip-Flops on Debt
Under Romney, Bain Capital used debt liberally to generate high returns. Now, when the U.S. can borrow at low rates, his own leveraged buyout logic should dictate that the government borrow more -- not less.
Needed: A Cure for a Severe Case of Trialphobia
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been scared to bring big banks to trial for wrongdoing that helped cause the financial crisis. But that strategy fails to hold the big banks accountable and weakens the SEC's negotiating position.
Wall Street Is Already Occupied
A secret confederacy of Occupy Wall Street sympathizers is criticizing the financial industry for becoming a machine to enrich itself, fleecing customers and exacerbating inequality.
Crony Capitalism? Hank Paulson’s Extraordinary Meeting
Bloomberg story shows that while we still haven’t had a full accounting of the financial crisis, we did have a Treasury Secretary sharing what amounts to inside information with a few elite Wall Street traders. Here are some questions that demand answers.
Dodd-Frank’s Derivatives Reforms: Clear as Mud
The financial reform law’s fixes for the derivatives market may work. But they may not. Nobody really knows.
Why the SEC Won’t Hunt Big Dogs
After the CDO conflagration, the SEC has wrung measly settlements from banks and charged only two bankers, both low-level, while letting their bosses scamper away. That needs to change.
Did Citi Get a Sweet Deal? Bank Claims SEC Settlement on One CDO Clears It on All Others
A $285 million SEC settlement appears to wipe the slate clean on Citi's multi-billion-dollar CDO business.
A Rogue to the Rescue: UBS Scandal Reinforces Need for Strict Volcker Rule
As a draft of the Volcker rule has made the rounds in the last several weeks, it has alternatively caused fits of despair and cries of exultation. And that’s just among the proponents of the regulation.