Peter Elkind

Reporter

Peter Elkind is a reporter covering government and business.

Prior to joining ProPublica in 2017, Elkind worked at Fortune for 20 years. He wrote such stories as “The Trouble with Steve Jobs,” about how the CEO of Apple concealed his bout with pancreatic cancer; “Hack of the Century,” about how a cyber-invasion brought Sony Pictures to its knees and terrified corporate America; “Citizenship for Sale,” about a massive scandal in America’s controversial EB-5 visa-for-sale program; “Inside Elon Musk's $1.4 Billion Score,” about how the Tesla CEO dazzled his way to epic state incentives for a giant battery plant in the Nevada desert; “Business Gets Schooled,” revealing corporate America’s troubled involvement in the war over Common Core; and “Inside Pfizer’s Palace Coup” (co-authored with Jennifer Reingold), which won the 2012 Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing.

In addition to his magazine work, Elkind co-authored the national bestseller “The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron” and has written two other books, “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” and “The Death Shift: The True Story of Nurse Genene Jones and the Texas Baby Murders” (an updated edition of the Death Shift, including new reporting on the case for ProPublica, will be published in November). A 2005 documentary based on the Enron book was nominated for an Academy Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the NewYorker.com, and the Washington Post. Elkind is a former staffer at Texas Monthly and former editor of the Dallas Observer. He lives in Texas.

The IRS Tried to Crack Down on Rich People Using an “Abusive” Tax Deduction. It Hasn’t Gone So Well.

The tax agency, Justice Department and Congress have all taken aim at a much-abused deduction exploited by wealthy investors. Yet the crackdown is having minimal impact, costing the Treasury billions.

Prosecutors Investigating the Trump Organization Zero In on Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg

Weisselberg is one of the Trump Organization’s longest tenured employees and is now co-running the business. He escaped federal prosecution for the Stormy Daniels payments but is now a focus of an investigation by Manhattan’s district attorney.

The Myths of the “Genius” Behind Trump’s Reelection Campaign

Brad Parscale has said he’s taking a relative pittance to run the president’s reelection operation. But as with much of what Parscale has claimed about his work and life, that’s not the full story. This is.

Trump Jr. Invested in a Hydroponic Lettuce Company Whose Chair Was Seeking Trump Administration Funds — “Trump, Inc.” Podcast Extra

The president’s eldest son last year became the most prominent shareholder in an indoor-lettuce farm while the company’s co-chairman, a friend of Donald Trump Jr.’s and presidential fundraiser, sought federal support for his other business interests.

Inside a Trump Project that Failed. Spoiler: The Trumps Still Won.

Never-before-published emails offer a window into the Trumps’ approach, this time in a failed condo project in Tampa. “They must think we are the dumbest people,” Donald Jr. wrote in one.

Pump and Trump

Donald Trump claims he only licensed his name for real estate projects developed by others. But an investigation of a dozen Trump deals shows deep family involvement in projects that often involved deceptive practices.

How a Typical Government Leak Turned Into a Three-Way War Between Comey, McCabe and Trump

Two former allies, James Comey and Andrew McCabe, have offered contradictory accounts of the orchestrated FBI leak that spawned a critical investigation. That means one of them has to be lying — as President Trump is happy to tweet to the world.

“I Really Did Kill Those Babies”

Genene Jones, a Texas nurse long suspected of more than a dozen child murders decades ago but convicted of only one, allegedly confessed. The newly uncovered evidence emerged in a hearing today in which Jones attempted to have five murder charges against her dismissed.

The Six Stages of Trump’s Resistance

When state regulators tried to get the future president to address a few environmental problems on two golf courses some years ago, little did they know they’d be treated to a multi-year lesson in how he handles regulatory challenges.

Revelations About the FBI’s Delay on Clinton Emails May Be Less Than They Seem

Reports have examined the lag in examining Hillary Clinton’s emails just before the 2016 election. But the question inside the FBI wasn’t whether to reveal the emails quickly — it was whether it was proper to reveal them at all.

The Billion-Dollar Loophole

The most generous charitable deduction in the federal tax code is being manipulated to make big profits — and there’s no sign that Congress has any intention of fixing the problem.

Former Texas Nurse Convicted of Baby-Killing Told Authorities ‘I Was Heinous.’

In a letter from prison, Genene Jones appeared to acknowledge her guilt and asked Texas nursing regulators to forgive her for a crime she committed when she was not “of sound mind.”

Suspected Texas Serial Killer Charged With Death of Second Baby

Decades after prosecutors convicted Genene Jones of killing a single infant, a Texas grand jury has indicted the former nurse on a second new charge of murder. Prosecutors hope to prevent Jones’ release from prison, which is scheduled for next year.

Prosecutors Race to Keep Notorious Angel-of-Death Behind Bars

Texas is scheduled to release Genene Jones, a former nurse and suspected serial killer of children, early next year. Today, prosecutors in San Antonio moved to prevent her release, bringing a new murder charge against Jones in connection with the death of a child 35 years ago.

The Problems With the FBI’s Email Investigation Went Well Beyond Comey

Previously unreported judgments and misjudgments by FBI agents played a crucial role in the FBI director’s fateful decisions.

James Comey’s Testimony on Huma Abedin Forwarding Emails Was Inaccurate

The FBI hasn’t decided how to correct the director’s false claim that she forwarded thousands of Clinton emails to the laptop computer of her husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

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