Robert Faturechi
I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at ProPublica.
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What I Cover
Currently I am reporting on President Donald Trump’s business interests, including Trump Media. I’m also examining the Trump administration’s trade policies.
My Background
My reporting has resulted in widespread reforms, criminal convictions, congressional hearings and new legislation.
In the past, I have written about how the rich avoid taxes, questionable stock trades by top executives, lobbying campaigns to block safety standards, conflicts of interest within government and self-dealing by political consultants. I broke stories on Sen. Richard Burr selling stock before the coronavirus market crash, helping lead to a wave of scrutiny of congressional stock trading.
In 2020, along with two colleagues, I won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a series about avoidable deaths in the Navy and Marine Corps, and the failure of top commanders to heed warnings that could have saved lives.
Before joining ProPublica, I was at the Los Angeles Times, where my work exposed inmate abuse, cronyism, secret cop cliques and wrongful jailings at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. I obtained a cache of confidential personnel records that showed the agency knowingly hired dozens of cops with histories of serious misconduct. The stories helped lead to sweeping reforms at the nation’s largest jail system, criminal convictions of sheriff’s deputies and the resignation of the sheriff.
Commitment to Sources
I know how to navigate delicate stories that require sources to take extraordinary risks. I have a track record of earning the trust of people who are generally distrustful of the media. Keeping my word and protecting those sources is one of my bedrock principles.
Leading Manhattan DA Candidate Has Repeatedly Paid Virtually No Federal Income Taxes
Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who donated $8 million to her own campaign, and her hedge fund manager husband paid nothing (or almost nothing) to the IRS four times in six years.
ProPublica’s Tax Revelations Lead to Calls for Reforms — and Investigation
The Secret IRS Files series has already sparked a conversation about the fairness of the U.S. tax code and raised privacy concerns.
Sen. David Perdue Sold His Home to a Finance Industry Official Whose Organization Was Lobbying the Senate
The same year FINRA was lobbying the Senate on a bill, one of its board governors paid Perdue $1.8 million for his D.C. townhouse.
Georgia Senator David Perdue Privately Pushed for a Tax Break for Rich Sports Teamowners
It’s unclear why Senator Perdue was interested in tax regulation that would impact only a tiny set of the richest Americans. The effort, which wasn’t successful, could have helped several of his donors, including fellow senator Kelly Loeffler.
DOJ Frees Federal Prosecutors to Take Steps That Could Interfere With Elections, Weakening Long-standing Policy
In an internal announcement, the Justice Department created an exception to a decadeslong policy meant to prevent prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that might affect the outcome of the vote.
The Justice Department May Have Violated Attorney General Barr’s Own Policy Memo
In a memo from May, the attorney general reminded Justice Dept. prosecutors to avoid partisan politics. Then a U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania announced an election investigation that had partisan overtones.
The Obama Justice Department Had a Plan to Hold Police Accountable for Abuses. The Trump DOJ Has Undermined It.
The Trump administration has not aggressively enforced existing agreements to monitor abusive law enforcement agencies, emboldening them to fight reforms.
Billionaire T. Denny Sanford Was Under Investigation for Child Pornography
The richest man in South Dakota, Sanford is a major donor to children’s charities and Republican politicians.
How a Key Federal Civil Rights Agency Was Sidelined as Historic Protests Erupted
Launched by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, the Community Relations Service has been without a director and short-staffed during recent unrest. The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to eliminate the agency.
U.S. Marine Corps Concludes Its Investigation Into a Fatal 2018 Midair Crash Was Inaccurate
A new review reexamined the December 2018 crash after a ProPublica investigation revealed that Marines had been deprived of adequate training and equipment, and that their repeated pleas for help from superiors before the crash went unaddressed.