Investigative + data journalist in Hong Kong. Very remote worker for @ProPublica, @JMSCHKU lecturer. Contact: cezary.podkul@propublica.org | https://t.co/wHBCxuYb1K
Aug 15, 2018 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
My latest: I've been on the mortgage trail lately, trying to figure out why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would buy and securitize loans like these.
Fake tenants, fake income, but real loans? U.S. pursues one of the largest mortgage-fraud probes since 2008 wsj.com/articles/u-s-p…
Loans for apartment buildings where owners allegedly staged units to make them look occupied -- by playing radios inside units or putting doormats outside -- have sparked one of the biggest mortgage fraud probes since the 2008 financial crisis.
This is remarkable: @NYSHCR is refusing to tell @housingrightsNY the names of landlords it is targeting as part of a compliance initiative with a popular NYC tax break, J-51, that requires landlord to limit rent increases on tenants: nydailynews.com/new-york/dhcr-…
Remarkable because @NewYorkStateAG had a similar compliance initiative for another tax break, 421-A, which also resulted in letters being sent to scofflaw landlords. Anyone remember this? propublica.org/article/landlo…
Mar 29, 2018 • 21 tweets • 11 min read
1/ When I was a senior @Penn in 2006 studying business and getting ready to go off to Wall Street, I never dreamed I’d someday get the honor to work on a project like this – a data-driven @WSJ look back on the lingering legacy of the 2008 financial crisis: graphics.dev.wsj.com/how-the-world-…2/ This was an ambitious effort with my talented @WSJGraphics colleagues @tylerpaige@no_such_zone@jessiekuronen@gianordoli who helped me distill complex financial jargon into beautiful charts and illustrations anyone can understand – what financial journalism’s all about!