Stories by Lagan Sebert

Military Subcontractors Bribing U.S. Personnel With Prostitutes? The Shady World of War Contracting in Afghanistan and Iraq

Posted on Aug 30, 2010, Source: The Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Taxpayer cash is flowing to subcontractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, who engage in shady, illegal practices with few repercussions.

Woman Sees Her Home Confiscated Over a Water Bill

Posted on Jun 6, 2010, Source: The Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Vicki Valentine lost the two-story brick row home after the city sold her debt to investors through a contentious and byzantine legal process called a "tax sale."

Consumer Complaints Soar on Mortgage 'Rescue' Schemes

Posted on Feb 26, 2010, Source: The Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Companies offering mortgage modifications or foreclosure relief programs generated nearly 8,000 complaints in 2009. FTC consumer chief to fraudsters: 'I want to put you in jail.'

Faces of the Colombian Drug War

Posted on Feb 12, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The forty-year-old Colombian war shows no signs of ceasing. Its fed by a billion dollar drug trade, political division and an international land battle.

We're Still Not Safe From the Back-Alley Dealings That Lead to Our Economic Meltdown

Posted on Oct 8, 2009, Source: The Huffington Post Investigative Fund

According to Gary Gensler, the top regulator of the commodities markets, Americans are still "vulnerable" to privately negotiated derivatives.

Online Payday Loan Industry Wants to Keep Charging Obscene Interest Rates

Posted on Jun 5, 2009, Source: Huffington Post, American News Project

More people than ever are using payday loans to keep bill collectors at bay, paying annual rates as high as 700%.

Getting Real About the Banks' 'Toxic Assets': People Live in Them

Posted on Apr 16, 2009, Source: American News Project

"Toxic assets" are actually mortgages and, by extension, houses and the people who are struggling to live in them.

Bank Eat Bank: Bailout Encourages Mergers, and Paulson Decides who Lives and Who Dies

Posted on Nov 24, 2008, Source: American News Project

With newfound bailout money in their wallets, big banks have been rushing to gobble up smaller ones.