Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Paul Kiel, Justin Elliott and Will Young

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Paul Kiel covers business and consumer finance for ProPublica. His focus this year is on the IRS and its ability to administer the nation's tax laws. In recent years, his work has helped spur a $135 million settlement by a subprime lender for alleged abuses against service members, legislation in Congress, a federal investigation of a high-cost lender, state rule changes and the forgiveness of $17 million in medical bills by a nonprofit hospital. Past areas of focus have included the foreclosure crisis, high-cost lending (particularly installment and payday loans), the widespread use of lawsuits and garnishments to collect consumer debts, and the consumer bankruptcy system. His work has appeared in several newspapers, including The Washington Post and The New York Times. He has also produced stories for National Public Radio and American Public Media’s Marketplace, as well as appeared on This American Life. Among other honors, his work has been awarded a Philip Meyer Award by Investigative Reporters and Editors, a Scripps Howard Award, a Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Online News Association’s Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award, and a National Press Club Award. His e-book on the foreclosure crisis was featured in The Best Business Writing 2013. Justin Elliott has been a reporter with ProPublica since 2012, where he has covered money and influence in the Obama and Trump administrations, the American Red Cross, and TurboTax maker Intuit. He has produced stories for outlets including the New York Times and National Public Radio, and his work has spurred congressional investigations and changes to federal legislation. Among other honors, his work has been awarded an Investigative Reporters and Editors award and, with the Trump Inc. podcast team, a duPont-Columbia award. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in history and classics. Justin’s GnuPG/PGP key is available on the Ubuntu keyserver. The key ID is 2C353E48 and the fingerprint is 2305 FAB2 8F0D DEA1 FB4D 176A BDE5 0826 2C35 3E48. He can be reached on Signal and WhatsApp at (774) 826-6240. Will Young is a Lorana Sullivan senior business reporting fellow. Before joining ProPublica, Will worked at Sojourners Magazine, where he investigated cash-strapped churches exploiting prison labor to save money on furniture and examined how Catholic shareholder activists are challenging for-profit prison companies. Will graduated from Liberty University with a journalism degree, where he also served as editor-in-chief of the Champion, Liberty's student-run weekly, and reported on university president Jerry Falwell Jr.'s cozy relationship with Donald Trump.

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