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 Latest Myth About the Government’s Mishandling of the Housing Market

The same critics who assailed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now attacking the Federal Housing Administration. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

Unraveling the Freddie-Fannie Tangle

The taxpayer-backed mortgage giants, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, play a huge and growing role in the economy yet are riven by conflicts of interest and clashing goals. We examined the problems and solutions.

We've Nationalized the Home Mortgage Market. Now What?

The home loan market was nationalized in a slapdash fashion and is now riven by conflicts of interest and competing goals. To solve it, a consensus is forming to head down the path of the least resistance but greatest risk.

From Bernie Madoff to Steven Cohen, Enabling Suspiciously High Returns

It looks more and more as if Steve Cohen's returns at the hedge fund SAC have been generated not only through his trading brilliance but also through a culture of cutting corners. So why do major institutional investors still have any money with him?

New Financial Overseer Looks for Advice in All the Wrong Places

The new Office of Financial Research was created to conduct independent analysis of systemic risks to the financial system, but so far it suffers from poor design and too many ties to big finance.

No, Obama Isn’t About to Crack Down on Wall Street

Obama sweeps into his second term with real advantages, including stronger appointees and more senators on his side. But the problems run so deep that he is unlikely to solve them.

Mortgage Price-Gouging Courtesy of the Bailout

While interest rates are low, margins on mortgages are high, giving banks a bonanza. Competition should lower rates, but the bank bailout fostered a cartel.

Why Freddie Mac Resisted Refis

Freddie officials wanted to protect the company's bottom line and some sought to nix a backdoor economic stimulus. The consequence: Homeowners stayed trapped in high-rate loans.

Tax Moochers: Banks

Tax code favors debt over equity, fattening bank profits and weakening the financial system.

Finders Weepers: Early Bain Disputes Cast New Light on Its Business

Romney's private equity firm battled with brokers, also asked them to find healthy companies, not just turnarounds.

Ad Wars: The SEC Is Turning Hedge Funds Into the New Ginsu Knife

Aided and abetted by Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission deregulates as if the financial crisis never happened.

Small Banks Get Theirs Too: Treasury's Quiet Bailout

In an effort to wind down the bank bailout program, the government is trying to sell its preferred stock holdings of the remaining smaller banks, but the potential losses from the auctions could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Emails Give Glimpse Into Deals That Fueled Financial Meltdown

Hedge fund Magnetar and Wall Street banks created $40 billion of deals. The emails show how they did it.

Why Do We Keep Swooning Over Failed Bankers?

Sandy Weill and others are being celebrated for now calling for breaking up megabanks. The many debacles on their watch seem to have cost them absolutely nothing in fashionable society.

Like Rate-Fixing Scandals? You’ll Love the Credit Default Swap Market

A proper market would want an organization that was impartial, regulated, transparent and open to appeal, but with credit default swaps, there is no such luck.

How Shareholders Are Hurting America

Corporations don't plan for the long-term. Blame economists, business professors and corporate governance do-gooders, says a professor.

Incoming Regulator Promises No More Coddling of Banks

In his first interview, new O.C.C. head John Curry shows he knows what's wrong with the agency. But can he fix it?

What Did JPMorgan Execs Know and When Did They Know It?

When banks are in trouble, they often mislead the world about their financials. Maybe JPMorgan disclosed everything properly about its $2 billion loss, but that's what we need to determine.

SEC Keeps Ratings Game Rigged

The SEC hammers a tiny ratings agency for petty infractions but does nothing against the big agencies that helped cripple the global economy.

Whale of a Problem: Regulators Subvert Will of Congress

Congress wrote in protections to prevent banks from disguising proprietary trading. But regulators are weakening the law.

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