Jesse Eisinger

Senior Editor and Reporter

Photo of Jesse Eisinger

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.

The Bailout Is Working — for the Rich

The economy is in free fall but Wall Street is thriving, and stocks of big private equity firms are soaring dramatically higher. That tells you who investors think is the real beneficiary of the federal government’s massive rescue efforts.

Walmart Hid That It Was Under Criminal Investigation for Its Opioid Sales, Lawyers Say

States and counties suing the giant retailer over its drug sales accused it in court of failing to hand over huge quantities of documents — including about the criminal case — whose existence was revealed in a recent ProPublica investigation.

How the Coronavirus Bailout Repeats 2008’s Mistakes: Huge Corporate Payoffs With Little Accountability

As the government rushes to aid the economy, how that’s done, who benefits and who is left behind matter. So far, the signs are ominous.

Walmart Was Almost Charged Criminally Over Opioids. Trump Appointees Killed the Indictment.

Even as company pharmacists protested, Walmart kept filling suspicious prescriptions, stoking the country’s opioid epidemic. A Republican U.S. Attorney in Texas thought the evidence was damning. Trump’s political appointees? Not so much.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Asks Why the Justice Department Went Easy on Big Banks

After an article by ProPublica and American Banker examining how the DOJ softened settlements with RBS and Barclays, the presidential candidate blasts settlements that let banks “evade accountability.”

How Trump’s Political Appointees Overruled Tougher Settlements With Big Banks

After talks with well-connected lawyers for Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, senior Justice Department officials in Washington last year told career prosecutors who’d been investigating the banks’ misdeeds to settle for less than they wanted.

You Can’t Tax the Rich Without the IRS

Until the budget-starved agency is restored, corporations and the wealthy will easily fend off attempts to increase the rates they pay.

¿Qué personas tienen mayor probabilidad de ser sometidas a auditoría? ¿Alguien que gane $20 mil dólares o alguien que gane $400 mil?

Si usted reclama el crédito por ingreso del trabajo (Earned Income Tax Credit – EITC), cuyo beneficiario promedio gana menos de $20,000 dólares anuales, tiene una mayor probabilidad de enfrentarse a un escrutinio de parte del IRS comparado con alguien que gane veinte veces más. ¿Cómo es que un beneficio para los trabajadores pobres se ha estado ejecutando en contra de ellos?

The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well.

Ten years ago, the tax agency formed a special team to unravel the complex tax-lowering strategies of the nation’s wealthiest people. But with big money — and Congress — arrayed against the team, it never had a chance.

Senators Urge IRS to Focus on Big-Time Tax Cheats, Citing ProPublica Stories

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and three fellow senators say the agency should do more to tackle financial crimes, even in the face of crippling budget cuts.

Who’s More Likely to Be Audited: A Person Making $20,000 — or $400,000?

If you claim the earned income tax credit, whose average recipient makes less than $20,000 a year, you’re more likely to face IRS scrutiny than someone making twenty times as much. How a benefit for the working poor was turned against them.

How the IRS Was Gutted

An eight-year campaign to slash the agency’s budget has left it understaffed, hamstrung and operating with archaic equipment. The result: billions less to fund the government. That’s good news for corporations and the wealthy.

After Budget Cuts, the IRS’ Work Against Tax Cheats Is Facing “Collapse”

Audits and criminal referrals are down sharply since Congress cut the tax agency’s budget and management changed priorities.

Why Manafort and Cohen Thought They’d Get Away With It

It takes a special counsel to actually catch white-collar criminals.

New Commissioner Says FTC Should Get Tough on Companies Like Facebook and Google

Citing lax treatment of corporate malefactors, Rohit Chopra calls for the FTC to impose more significant penalties when companies violate its orders.

‘Trump, Inc.’ Podcast: Russia, Trump and ‘Alternative Financing’

Why is President Trump so solicitous of Russia? Glenn Simpson has a theory, involving Trump’s businesses.

The CFPB’s Declaration of Dependence

Born as a fiercely independent agency meant to protect citizens, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has quickly been subsumed into the Trump administration. Banks, student-loan agencies and payday lenders are the winners.

Manhattan District Attorney Says He’ll No Longer Accept Contributions From Lawyers With Cases Before Him

Cy Vance had faced criticism after declining to prosecute high-profile defendants such as Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. and Harvey Weinstein, whose lawyers had donated to his campaign.

The Trump Administration Is Scuttling a Rule That Would Save People From Dying of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

It took 16 years and more than 1,000 deaths for the Consumer Products Safety Commission to crack down on deadly portable generators. Trump’s appointees could undo that in a matter of months.

Wells Fargo Offering Refunds Nationwide for Improper Mortgage Fees

The bank’s practice of making customers pay for delays that were its own fault, first reported by ProPublica, was more far-reaching than previously known.

Follow ProPublica

Latest Stories from ProPublica