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The Wall Street Money Machine

As investors left the housing market in the run-up to the meltdown, Wall Street sliced up and repackaged troubled assets based on those shaky mortgages, often buying those new packages themselves. That created fake demand, hid the banks’ real exposure, increased their bonuses — and ultimately made the mortgage crisis worse.

Enticed by profits and bonuses, Wall Street took advantage of complicated mortgage-based instruments to reap billions, only to exacerbate the eventual crash.

61 stories published since 2010

MuckReads Podcast: The Peril of Whistleblowing on Wall St.

The Rise of Corporate Impunity

SEC Issues More Fines Over Magnetar Deals – and Appears to Move on

SEC Files Charges in Magnetar Deal

SEC Reportedly Passes on Charging Magnetar

Yet Another Bank Fined for a Magnetar Deal, With Yet More Revealing Emails

Emails Give Glimpse Into Deals That Fueled Financial Meltdown

The Magnetar Fallout: Who’s Been Charged, Has Settled, or is Now Being Investigated?

How Bank of America Execs Hid Losses -- In Their Own Words

13 Reasons Goldman's Quitting Exec May Have a Point

Financial Firm Fined for Misleading Investors on Magnetar Bets

Two Wall Street Players Ensnared in New Probe

SEC Warns Top Banker of Charges Over Magnetar Deal

Deutsche Analyst Sounded Alarm When Asked to Alter Numbers

Wall Street Is Already Occupied

Margin Call: A Small Movie Unveils Big Truths About Wall Street

Making Margin Call: An Interview with Writer/Director J.C. Chandor

Did Citi Get a Sweet Deal? Bank Claims SEC Settlement on One CDO Clears It on All Others

A Rogue to the Rescue: UBS Scandal Reinforces Need for Strict Volcker Rule

SEC Proposes Ban on Magnetar-Like Deals

Tackling Reams of Bank Data Can Take Diligence, and Trust

Once Unthinkable, Breakup of Big Banks Now Seems Feasible

After SEC Settlement With JPMorgan, Will Other Banks Pay Too?

WATCH: Jesse Eisinger Discusses the JP Morgan-SEC Settlement on NewsHour

Magnetar Deal Prompts SEC Settlement With JPMorgan Chase

Misdirection in Goldman Sachs’s Housing Short

Merrill Lynch Investigated for CDO Deal Involving Magnetar

From Dodd-Frank to Dud: How Financial Reform May Be Going Wrong

In HBO’s 'Too Big to Fail,' the Heroes Are Really Zeroes

U.S. Senate Investigation Gives New Details on Magnetar

SEC Warns Former JPMorgan Exec It Plans to Sue Over Magnetar Deal

A Test Where the Banks Had the Questions and the Answers

New Documents Show Hedge Fund Magnetar Influenced Deal, Despite Denials

Goldman’s Self-Help: Eat, Pay, Trade

Standard & Poor’s Triple A Ratings Collapse Again. The Question is Why?

The 'Subsidy': How a Handful of Merrill Lynch Bankers Helped Blow Up Their Own Firm

SEC Investigating Citigroup Mortgage Deal

SEC Investigating Deal Between JPMorgan and Hedge Fund Magnetar

Magnetar Responds to Our April Story—And Our Response

Magnetar Deals at Center of New Lawsuit

CDOs’ Interlocking Ownership

Which CDOs and Banks Had Deals With the Most Cross-ownership?

Interactive: CDOs’ Interlocking Ownership

Welcome to CDO World!

A Bank's Best Customer: Its Own CDOs

The CDO Daisy Chain

Chart: A Bank's Best Customers

Banks' Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis

Merrill Lynch Did a Deal ‘Precisely’ Like Goldman's, Suit Asserts

Magnetar Letter to Investors About Our Story -- And Our Response

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

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Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

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Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

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Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

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