Michael Hudson (reporter)

Last updated
Michael Hudson
Born
Richmond, Virginia
Education Washington and Lee University
Occupation Journalist
Spouse Darcey Steinke

Michael Hudson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist. He is currently head of investigations at the Guardian US. [1]

Contents

He worked two stints as a senior editor with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). At ICIJ, Hudson has worked on many major projects, including the organization's Offshore Leaks, China Leaks, Luxembourg Leaks, Panama Papers, FinCEN Files and Pandora Papers investigations of offshore money laundering and tax avoidance. During his first tour at ICIj, he was an editor, reporter and writer on the Panama Papers investigation, which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. [2]

In between his two tours at ICIJ, Hudson worked as global investigations editor at The Associated Press, where he edited the AP's investigation of war crimes and corruption in Yemen, which won a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. [3]

Hudson previously reported on police, prisons, poverty and politics for The Roanoke (Va.) Times and covered business and finance for the Wall Street Journal and the Center for Public Integrity. [4] Hudson's book The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America – and Spawned a Global Crisis, was named 2010 Book of the Year by Baltimore City Paper . [5]

Education

Hudson was born in Richmond, Virginia and grew up in Franklin County, Virginia. [6] He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1985. [7] [8]

Subprime mortgage reporting

Columbia Journalism Review has called Hudson the reporter who "beat the world on subprime abuses" [9] and credited him with being ahead of the rest of the media in exposing the fraudulent lending practices that were the driving causes of the mortgage crisis. [10] Businessjournalism.org has called him the "guru of all things predatory lending." [11] Hudson began investigating the subprime mortgage industry in the early 1990s.

In February 2005, Hudson and Los Angeles Times staff writer Scott Reckard broke a story about "boiler room" sales tactics at Ameriquest Mortgage, the flagship company of the nation's largest subprime lending operation and sponsor of the 2005 Super Bowl half-time show. [12] Columbia Journalism Review later called the "boiler room" story and a follow-up piece "[t]wo of the most revealing stories on the culture that overtook the lending industry." [13] In January 2006, Ameriquest agreed to pay a $325 million predatory lending settlement in 49 states and the District of Columbia. [14]

In June 2008, Ireland's Sunday Business Post cited Hudson's 1996 book, Merchants of Misery, for "describ[ing], in great detail, how mortgage-backed securities invented in the 1980s were making a large pool of money available to shady lenders who were making predatory loans to very poor customers at very high rates." [15]

Hudson appeared in the documentary film Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders . [8]

Reporting on whistleblowers

At the Center for Public Integrity, Hudson focused on whistleblower issues and other financial stories. His work included a series of articles, "The Great Mortgage Cover-Up," about the treatment of whistleblowers who reported fraud inside the U.S. mortgage industry. [16] The series identified 63 former employees at 20 financial institutions who claimed they were fired or demoted for reporting fraud or refusing to commit fraud. [17] A follow-up piece focused on the story of General Electric Co.'s foray into subprime in 2004–07, reporting on eight former employees of GE's WMC Mortgage unit who say management brushed them aside when they flagged loans supported by falsified documents, inflated incomes or other legerdemain. [18] The first installment in the series was selected to appear in the Columbia Journalism Review's Best Business Writing 2012. [19]

Books

Hudson edited Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty. [20] He is also the author of The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America – and Spawned a Global Crisis, published in October 2010 by St. Martin's Press. [21] The book focuses on two firms – Ameriquest Mortgage and Lehman Brothers – that were key players in the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage industry. It was named 2010 Book of the Year by Baltimore City Paper . [5]

Awards

Hudson shared a John Hancock Award [8] for financial reporting and a Sidney Hillman Award for social justice journalism for stories in the Southern Exposure Magazine's fall 1993 issue titled "Poverty Inc.," about subprime lenders and other businesses that market to low-income and minority consumers. Those stories were also named as a finalist for a National Magazine Award. Hudson shared a George Polk Award [8] for magazine reporting and a Harry Chapin Media Award for stories published in 2003 in Southern Exposure about Citigroup's subprime mortgage lending operations [22]

Hudson's post-financial-crisis work on The Great Mortgage Cover-Up was recognized with an Excellence in Financial Journalism Award from the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants as well as two "Best-in-Business" awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. [23]

For his work at ICIJ, he has shared numerous accolades, including a Barlett and Steele Gold Medal, three George Polk Awards, four Scripps Howard awards and four Investigative Reporters and Editors awards. ICIJ's World Bank investigation, which Hudson led as project editor and reporter/writer, won a dozen honors, including an Overseas Press Club Award, a National Headliner Award and an Online News Association Award for Innovation in Investigative Reporting (Large Media Category). [24]

Publications and broadcast appearances

Hudson's writing has appeared in a number of publications, including Le Monde, El Pais, The Sydney Morning Herald, Forbes , [8] The New York Times , [8] The Washington Post , [8] AARP: The Magazine , The Huffington Post , [8] Washington Monthly and National Law Journal . He has appeared on C-SPAN, NBC Nightly News , and National Public Radio's Morning Edition , Talk of the Nation , and Fresh Air with Terry Gross . Hudson has been interviewed by Mother Jones . [25]

Criticism

Some business representatives have been critical of Hudson's reporting. Lawyers for Ford Motor Company criticized Hudson's 1990s reporting on Associates Financial Services, the Ford subprime lending subsidiary that was later the subject of a predatory lending settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The lawyers called Hudson's book, Merchants of Misery, which included a chapter on Ford and Associates, "impertinent" and "scandalous." [26] IndyMac Bank objected [27] to a June 30, 2008, report that Hudson wrote for the Center for Responsible Lending, IndyMac: What Went Wrong?, [28] which found evidence that the bank had "engaged in unsound and abusive lending during the mortgage boom, routinely making loans without regard to borrowers' ability to repay." [29] Shortly before the bank was seized by federal regulators, an IndyMac spokesman dismissed the report as a "hit piece" that "relies on unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence." [27] The U.S. Department of the Treasury inspector general's office later reported that its investigation indicated IndyMac had done "little, if any, review of borrower qualifications, including income, assets and employment." [30]

Personal life

Hudson married author Darcey Steinke in June 2009. It is his second marriage. [7]

Related Research Articles

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Practitioners sometimes use the terms "watchdog reporting" or "accountability reporting".

Predatory lending refers to unethical practices conducted by lending organizations during a loan origination process that are unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent. While there are no internationally agreed legal definitions for predatory lending, a 2006 audit report from the office of inspector general of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) broadly defines predatory lending as "imposing unfair and abusive loan terms on borrowers", though "unfair" and "abusive" were not specifically defined. Though there are laws against some of the specific practices commonly identified as predatory, various federal agencies use the phrase as a catch-all term for many specific illegal activities in the loan industry. Predatory lending should not be confused with predatory mortgage servicing which is mortgage practices described by critics as unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices during the loan or mortgage servicing process, post loan origination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Public Integrity</span> American investigative journalism nonprofit since 1989

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to counter the corrosive effects of inequality by holding powerful interests accountable and equipping the public with knowledge to drive change." With over 50 staff members, CPI is one of the largest nonprofit investigative centers in America. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000s United States housing bubble</span> Economic bubble

The 2000s United States housing bubble was a real-estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. It was the impetus for the subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reached new lows in 2011. On December 30, 2008, the Case–Shiller home price index reported the largest price drop in its history. The credit crisis resulting from the bursting of the housing bubble is an important cause of the Great Recession in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for Southern Studies</span>

The Institute for Southern Studies is a non-profit media and research center based in Durham, North Carolina, advocating for progressive political and social causes in the Southern United States. Publishes include: Southern Exposure and Facing South (current)

ACC Capital Holdings (ACCCH) was a national mortgage lender based in Orange, California. The company is the largest privately held retail mortgage lender in the United States and the largest subprime lender by volume. ACCCH was founded by Roland Arnall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameriquest Mortgage</span> American subprime mortgage lender

Ameriquest was one of the largest United States sub-prime mortgage lenders until its dissolution in September 2007. Among the first mortgage companies employing computers to solicit prospective borrowers and hasten the loan application process, Ameriquest was accused of predatory lending practices by United States banking regulators. The company was notable for its promotion of the stated income loan, whereby potential borrowers were allowed to claim income without verification of employment. The proliferation of lending to customers with marginal creditworthiness proved to be not only a key factor leading to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis, but also a catalyst to Ameriquest's own demise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland E. Arnall</span> American businessman and diplomat (1939–2008)

Roland E. Arnall was an American businessman and diplomat. As the owner of ACC Capital Holdings, he became a billionaire with Ameriquest Mortgage. Additionally he funded, financed and was the visionary and co-founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and from 2006 until shortly before his death he was the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands.

IndyMac, a contraction of Independent National Mortgage Corporation, was an American bank based in California that failed in 2008 and was seized by the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In finance, subprime lending is the provision of loans to people in the United States who easily maintained the repayment schedule. Historically, subprime borrowers were defined as having FICO scores below 600, although this threshold has varied over time.

The American subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. The crisis led to a severe economic recession, with millions of people losing their jobs and many businesses going bankrupt. The U.S. government intervened with a series of measures to stabilize the financial system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Mozilo</span> American banker (1938–2023)

Angelo Robert Mozilo was an American banker who was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial until July 1, 2008. The company's status as a major lender of subprime mortgages made it a central player in a subsequent mortgage crisis which collapsed the industry, bursting a housing bubble which had accumulated throughout the 2000s, and contributing heavily to the Great Recession. Mozilo later paid over $67 million in fines to settle a series of federal charges related to his conduct at the company.

The subprime mortgage crisis impact timeline lists dates relevant to the creation of a United States housing bubble and the 2005 housing bubble burst and the subprime mortgage crisis which developed during 2007 and 2008. It includes United States enactment of government laws and regulations, as well as public and private actions which affected the housing industry and related banking and investment activity. It also notes details of important incidents in the United States, such as bankruptcies and takeovers, and information and statistics about relevant trends. For more information on reverberations of this crisis throughout the global financial system see Financial crisis of 2007–2008.

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events and conditions that led to a financial crisis and subsequent recession that began in 2007. It was characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages. Several major financial institutions collapsed in September 2008, with significant disruption in the flow of credit to businesses and consumers and the onset of a severe global recession.

WMC Mortgage Corporation, also known as WMC or WMC Direct, was a Woodland Hills, California based wholesale originator of subprime residential mortgages.

James Mark Pittman was a financial journalist covering corporate finance and derivative markets. He was awarded several prestigious journalism awards, the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, a New York Press Club award, the Hillman Prize and several New York Associated Press awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causes of the Great Recession</span>

Many factors directly and indirectly serve as the causes of the Great Recession that started in 2008 with the US subprime mortgage crisis. The major causes of the initial subprime mortgage crisis and the following recession include lax lending standards contributing to the real-estate bubbles that have since burst; U.S. government housing policies; and limited regulation of non-depository financial institutions. Once the recession began, various responses were attempted with different degrees of success. These included fiscal policies of governments; monetary policies of central banks; measures designed to help indebted consumers refinance their mortgage debt; and inconsistent approaches used by nations to bail out troubled banking industries and private bondholders, assuming private debt burdens or socializing losses.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with personnel in Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortgage industry of the United States</span>

The mortgage industry of the United States is a major financial sector. The federal government created several programs, or government sponsored entities, to foster mortgage lending, construction and encourage home ownership. These programs include the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007–2008 financial crisis</span> Worldwide economic crisis

The 2007–2008 financial crisis, or Global Financial Crisis (GFC), was the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. Predatory lending targeting low-income homebuyers, excessive risk-taking by global financial institutions, and the bursting of the United States housing bubble culminated in a "perfect storm".

References

  1. ↑ "Guardian US announces creation of new investigations unit, with Michael Hudson as first-ever US head of investigations". The Guardian. 2023-10-02. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  2. ↑ "The Pulitzer Prizes".
  3. ↑ "Yemen's Dirty War". Associated Press .
  4. ↑ "Michael Hudson". Center for Public Integrity. Archived from the original on 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  5. 1 2 "The Year in Books". Baltimore City Paper. 2010-12-08. Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  6. ↑ "Michael W. Hudson". Macmillan Publishers . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  7. 1 2 "Darcey Steinke, Michael Hudson". The New York Times . 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Award-winning Journalist Michael Hudson Discusses Mortgage Crisis". Washington and Lee University. November 2008. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  9. ↑ Chittum, Ryan (2008-07-01). "Opening Bell: Swiss Mess". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  10. ↑ Starkman, Dean (May–June 2012). "The reporter who saw it coming". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  11. ↑ Gammon, Rosland (2011-09-29). "Investigative journalist Michael W. Hudson's tips for reporting with expertise". businessjournalism.org. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  12. ↑ Hudson, Michael; Reckard, Scott (2005-02-04). "Workers Say Lender Ran 'Boiler Rooms'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  13. ↑ Starkman, Dean (September–October 2008). "Boiler Room: The business press is missing the crooked heart of the credit crisis". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  14. ↑ "Attorney General Lockyer Announces $325 Million Settlement with Ameriquest to Resolve National Predatory Lending Case". State of California Department of Justice. 2006-01-23. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  15. ↑ Barrington, Kathleen (2008-06-08). "Main Street misery moves to the markets". The Sunday Business Post . Retrieved 2012-07-14.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. ↑ Hudson, Michael (2011-09-22). "Countrywide protected fraudsters by silencing whistleblowers, say former employees". Center for Public Integrity . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  17. ↑ Hudson, Michael (2011-11-22). "Whistleblowers ignored, punished by lenders, dozens of former employees say". Center for Public Integrity . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  18. ↑ Hudson, Michael (2012-01-06). "Fraud and folly: The untold story of General Electric's subprime debacle". Center for Public Integrity . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  19. ↑ Starkman, Dean (2012-06-13). "Introducing Best Business Writing 2012". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  20. ↑ Freeman, Anitra. "Merchants of Misery: Legal Scams Make Big Bucks Off Poor". Real Change . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  21. ↑ "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America--and Spawned a Global Crisis". Macmillan Publishers . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  22. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). www.southernstudies.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ↑ "Complete list of winners in SABEW's 17th annual Best in Business Awards". Society of American Business Editors and Writers . Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  24. ↑ "2015 Online Journalism Awards finalists announced - Online News Association". journalists.org. 11 August 2015.
  25. ↑ Kroll, Andy (2010-10-26). "Sex, Drugs, and the Subprime Meltdown". Mother Jones . Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  26. ↑ Preface to second printing of Merchants of Misery (Common Courage Press, 1996)
  27. 1 2 Clough, Richard (2008-07-21). "IndyMac born and died in Countrywide's shadow". Los Angeles Business Journal . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  28. ↑ Hudson, Mike (June 30, 2008). "IndyMac: what went wrong?" (PDF). Center for Responsible Lending .
  29. ↑ Hudson, Michael (2008-06-30). "IndyMac: What Went Wrong?" (PDF). Center for Responsible Lending . Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  30. ↑ "Safety and Soundness: Material Loss Review of IndyMac Bank, FSB". Office of Inspector General, Department of the Treasury. 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
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