Michael Hudson

Michael Hudson (reporter) (born 1961, Richmond, Virginia, USA) is an American investigative reporter and author. Hudson currently writes about business and finance for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit journalism organization.^[1] He has worked as a staff writer for The Roanoke Times in Virginia and The Wall Street Journal in New York and as a senior investigator with the Center for Responsible Lending, a non-profit research and policy group. He was co-author of Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty, Common Courage Press, 1996.^[2] 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 Times Books.^[3] 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^[4] by Baltimore City Paper.

Highlights

Columbia Journalism Review has credited Hudson as the reporter who “beat the world on subprime abuses” ^[5] and www.businessjournalism.org has called him the "guru of all things predatory lending." Hudson began investigating the subprime mortgage industry in the early 1990s. He shared a John Hancock Award 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 for magazine reporting and a Harry Chapin Media Award for stories in the Summer 2003 issue of Southern Exposure about Citigroup’s subprime mortgage lending operations.^[6]

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.^[7] Columbia Journalism Review 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.” ^[8] Ameriquest later agreed to pay a $325 million predatory lending settlement with authorities in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

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.” ^[9]

At the Center for Public Integrity, Hudson has focused on whistleblower issues and other financial stories. His current work is a series of articles, "The Great Mortgage Cover-Up," about the treatment of whistleblowers who reported fraud inside the U.S. mortgage industry.^[10] The series has identified 63 former employees at 20 financial institutions who claim they were fired or demoted for reporting fraud or refusing to commit fraud.^[11] 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.^[12] "The Great Mortgage Cover-Up" has been honored with a "Best-in-Business" Award for digital investigative reporting from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. The first two instalments in the series have been selected to appear in Columbia University Press's Best Business Writing, 2012.

Critics

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.” IndyMac Bank objected to a June 30, 2008, report that Hudson wrote for the Center for Responsible Lending, IndyMac: What Went Wrong?, 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.” ^[13] 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.” ^[14] 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.” ^[15]

Publications and broadcast appearances

Hudson has written as a free-lancer for a number of publications, including The Nation, Mother Jones, Forbes, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Post, AARP: The Magazine, Washington Monthly and National Law Journal. He has appeared on radio and TV on CSPAN, “NBC Nightly News” and National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” “Talk of the Nation” and “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.”

External links

• www.us.macmillan.com/themonster
• www.twitter.com/michaelwhudson
• www.cjr.org/the_audit/audit_interview_michael_hudson.php
• www.publicintegrity.org

References