Investigative Reporting

Louise has written hundreds of articles published by major publications. All of her work at The New York Times can be found here. She has also written hundreds of articles for other news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant.

Louise’s investigative reporting has spurred major reforms and law enforcement cases. From 2014-2015, she worked on a project about the rising use of shell companies to purchase high-end real estate. That project, which traced shell companies to places as far and wide as Malaysia, Russia, Mexico and China, can be read here. Louise was honored by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and her work resulted in: a federal program to track high-end real estate buyers, changes in New York City real estate regulations, a federal complaint in the U.S. against family members of a Chinese politician and a record setting Department of Justice kleptocracy case involving friends and family of Malaysia’s prime minister, who was found guilty of many charges of fraud as well as a $3.9 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs.

In 2012, she worked on a project about state and local business subsidies that was awarded the Silver Barlett & Steele award and helped lead to major reforms in financial reporting standards for local governments, requiring them to publicly disclose subsidies for the first time.

From 2008-2012, Louise wrote about Wall Street and finance and was one of the lead reporters in chronicling the financial crisis of 2008. Her articles about Wall Street also spurred change. One series on the advantages bankers enjoy over other investors and customers led to a major SEC case against Goldman Sachs and also to a $1.87 billion settlement paid by banks in the derivatives industry. Another series was on the lack of prosecutions related to the financial crisis. While covering Wall Street, Louise contributed to a project that was a finalist for the 2010 Emmy Awards and to one that was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. She was also a finalist three times for the Gerald Loeb Award and was named one of the Huffington Post’s Game Changers for 2010.

Prior to covering Wall Street, Louise wrote about advertising and marketing for the Times. In 2005, she spent several months studying the motherhood plans of Ivy League female students and wrote an article on that topic that became the most e-mailed story of that year.

Here are some particularly impactful stories by Louise:

2016:

$6 Billion Department of Justice Case resulting from Louise’s “Towers of Secrecy” series

2015:

“Towers of Secrecy” series page (This project led the US Treasury Dept. to create a new national real estate program)

“Stream of Foreign Wealth Flows to New York Real Estate”

“Jho Low, Well Connected in Malaysia, Has an Appetite for New York” (This story led to a federal grand jury investigation and was the first to piece together what would become the largest kleptocracy case in history.)

“Mexican Political Family has Close Ties to Ruling Party, and Real Estate in the US”

“A Mansion, a Shell Company and Resentment in Bel Air”

2012:

The “United State of Subsidies” Series

“As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price”