Use It or Lose It: How Blue Cities Scrambled to Blow $350 Billion in COVID Relief Before the Deadline
With the December 31, 2024 obligation deadline looming, municipalities across the country raced to commit billions in American Rescue Plan funds — some on legitimate projects, many on wish-list items…
Patriot Preppers and the Freeze-Dried Fraud: Inside the Survivalist Food Scam Industry
An investigation into how survivalist food companies exploit political fear to sell overpriced, nutritionally deficient products to Americans convinced that societal collapse is imminent. Marketing the Apocalypse The emergency food…
Freedom Coins and Empty Wallets: The Politically Themed Crypto Scams That Drained Conservative Investors
Blockchain ledger analysis and SEC enforcement records reveal how politically themed cryptocurrencies — marketed to conservative investors as patriotic alternatives to the financial establishment — functioned as textbook pump-and-dump schemes.…
The Great ESG Vanishing Act: How Wall Street Dropped the Label While Keeping the Agenda
A systematic analysis of corporate earnings calls and fund marketing reveals that the term “ESG” is disappearing from Wall Street’s vocabulary — even as the underlying investment practices it describes…
Follow the Money: The Foundation Grants and Dark Money Behind Spring 2024’s Campus Encampments
Grant databases, IRS 990 filings, and foundation records reveal a financial network connecting major progressive donors to the student organizations that orchestrated university disruptions across the country. The tents weren’t…
Tehran’s Phantom Armada: Inside Iran’s Expanding Ghost Fleet of Sanctions-Busting Oil Tankers
Maritime tracking data and Panamanian registry records reveal how Iran has assembled a shadow fleet of aging tankers — flying flags of convenience and switching identities at sea — to…
San Francisco’s Non-Profit Black Hole: How $24 Billion in Homelessness Spending Disappeared Without a Trace
City audit reports and state investigations reveal a pattern of fiscal noncompliance, missing funds, and zero accountability among the non-profit organizations contracted to solve San Francisco’s homelessness crisis. The money…
The Border Wall GoFundMe That Built Nothing: Tracking $25 Million in Donor Money Through a Maze of Shell Companies
Three years after the We Build the Wall fraud convictions, TIJ News traces the full financial trail of $25 million in donor funds through a network of shell companies, personal…
Frozen Charging Stations: How the January 2024 Cold Snap Exposed the Fatal Flaw in America’s Electric Vehicle Push
When temperatures plunged below zero across the Midwest in January 2024, electric vehicle owners discovered what engineers already knew: lithium-ion batteries and extreme cold don’t mix. An investigation into the…
The DEI Budget Dump: How Corporate America Spends Billions on Diversity Consultants That Can’t Prove They Work
As fiscal years close, corporations rush to spend remaining HR budgets on diversity, equity, and inclusion training programs — feeding an industry valued at up to $8.5 billion that has…