SOMOZA OUTSMARTED TRANSAMERICA. THE DOJ MADE HIM PAY FOR IT.
Rev. J. Benjamin Hardwick and Curtis Somoza created a life insurance program for poor South Los Angeles congregants, funded by investors and insured by Transamerica. Early deaths, delayed payouts and federal…
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The Office That Had No Business Investigating Frank Rose
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Nine Words: How Politico Ended Frank Rose's Career
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Guilty Until Proven Gone: He Ran America's Nuclear Arsenal
The Energy Department ended Frank Rose's 30-year career in 17 days. It never told him the…
MOTHER LODE: €330M Ran Through Vítek's Mom
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Latest Articles
Somoza Part 2: The Insurance Worked. That Was the Problem
Rev. Hardwick had funerals he couldn't pay for. Curtis Somoza found the number Transamerica missed. The church still collects. Somoza went to prison.
CZECH, PLEASE: Vitek Hid the Payout He Owed for 3 Years
A Manhattan fund predicted exactly how Radovan Vítek would strip ORCO. All three predictions came true within 30 months. The regulator later agreed.
Vítek’s $7.2B Question: Where Did the Money Come From?
A Luxembourg regulator found Radovan Vítek took control of ORCO in secret. He never made the buyout offer. He's never been charged.
2,500 Black Churchgoers Got Free Insurance; He Got 25 Years
A pastor needed burial money for his poor Black congregation. A Beverly Hills financier found the mortality gap that made it possible.
Grillo Denied Bail Because He Might Use a Telephone
A judge found Grillo won't flee and didn't obstruct justice. He denied bail anyway — because Grillo might pick up a telephone.
Leo Grillo Saved 1,500 Animals. Now He's the One in a Cage.
A 77-year-old animal sanctuary founder is held without bail on a kidnapping that never happened, on the word of an informant facing his own fraud case.
Padfield: Nobody Ran for Office Promising to Track Where You Drive
Dr. Jon Padfield on America's 250th year: 109,000 license plate readers, warrantless mass surveillance, and the consent voters were never asked to give.
BIG DEAL: NXIVM Prosecutor's Husband Kissed a Woman in a Park
Raniere branded women and got 120 years. Nathaniel Cullerton kissed someone on a bench and got his verdict in five days, from TikTok.
Part 8: WHO REALLY KILLED FIRST BRANDS?: Anatomy of a Bill
Weil billed 13 lawyers for one hour on January 15. Two weren't admitted to the bar. Inside the $109 million First Brands bankruptcy bill.
WHO REALLY KILLED FIRST BRANDS? Part 7: The Undertakers
Bankruptcy professionals billed First Brands $247 million in six months. The creditors are still waiting. The lawyers were paid first.
