Swindle in the South Pacific

Here's what the golden age of investigative reporting was like at the Philadelphia Inquirer: To pursue the Matthews and Wright municipal bond story, the paper sent me to Guam, Saipan and Palau. I traveled that far to collect color, background and documents on the firm's actions before it turned its attention to Pennsylvania.
A lot of miles and expense, and the paper was content to run only a fraction of what I found.

Amazing.

Inquirer gets indictments!

Well, that's how William Randolph Hearst might have headlined it.

Before the year was out, we saw our reporting validated with these indictments.

Eventually, these charges would be matched by others involving East St. Louis bonds. Goldberg would be sentenced to 18 months in jail and the disgraced firm Matthews & Wright was fined $1 million and ordered to pay $7 million into a community fund for the impoverished Mississippi River city.