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Ben Wieder

@bwieder.bsky.social

McClatchyDC/Miami Herald Investigative Reporter

1,142 Followers  |  103 Following  |  25 Posts  |  Joined: 27.11.2023  |  1.6762

Latest posts by bwieder.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Jeffrey’s journalists: Epstein emails reveal cozy relationship with two reporters Emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein’s close interactions with reporters and how Michael Wolff counseled him after the Miami Herald’s South Florida investigation.

NEW: Jeffrey’s journalists: Epstein emails reveal cozy relationship with two reporters www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

14.11.2025 12:24 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Haunted by Brightline: A conductor got his dream job. Then people started dying. “What’s your body count?” someone asked the conductor on Instagram. “16,” he responded, like he was providing his shirt size.

Haunted by Brightline: Powerful story of a former conductor for the Florida high speed rail company plagued by memories of all the people his trains killed, via @brittanywallman.bsky.social & @semerriam.bsky.social www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a...

06.11.2025 13:35 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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New shutdown problem: Miami is the U.S. capital for seniors on food stamps Florida is warning families not to expect their EBT cards to be reloaded next month, increasing pressure on Congress to end the government shutdown.

NEW @miamiherald.com:

Seniors in Miami-Dade — the county with the highest share of food stamp beneficiaries with one elderly member in the household — risk going hungry as federal government shutdown continues

(GIFT LINK)

24.10.2025 19:09 — 👍 8    🔁 8    💬 2    📌 0
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After death, Epstein victim describes toll of abuse — and advocacy In a posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre recounts a lifetime of abuse and significant legal and cultural victories against her most prominent alleged abusers.

After death, Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre describes toll of abuse — and advocacy
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

22.10.2025 20:55 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Epstein had dinners with a top Florida prosecutor on his case, docs show Matthew Menchel, who spearheaded Jeffrey Epstein’s 2007 criminal prosecution, left the DOJ in 2007 to take a job as a trial lawyer at Kobre & Kim. Epstein’s calendars show Menchel met with Epstein in ...

Epstein had dinners with a top Florida prosecutor on his case, docs show, via @jkbjournalist.bsky.social & Claire Healy amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

18.10.2025 12:35 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips THE CITY reported the incident to law enforcement and was promptly contacted by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.

This is why you don't even accept a small snack from a source! www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...

21.08.2025 01:20 — 👍 3    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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‘Psychological warfare’: Internal data shows true nature of Alligator Alcatraz “Putting people in tents in the middle of the Everglades is a great tool to make them give up their cases,” said one immigration attorney

A month into his detention at Alligator Alcatraz, Daniel Ortiz Piñeda faced a stark choice: continue his legal fight for asylum or give it up to hopefully put an end to his extended stay at the makeshift immigration detention camp in the Everglades. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

20.08.2025 12:01 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Researchers quietly planned a test to dim sunlight. They wanted to ‘avoid scaring’ the public. Hundreds of documents show how researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun’s rays — while they planned a much huger sequel.

EXCLUSIVE: A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted test of a cloud-making machine.  

But behind the scenes, they were planning a larger and potentially riskier study of tech that could dim the sun's rays, internal documents show. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

27.07.2025 20:17 — 👍 56    🔁 22    💬 7    📌 18
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Donald Trump remakes American diplomacy in Florida’s image One out of every three ambassador-level nominees come from Florida, top campaign donors, Mar-a-Lago regulars and personal friends of the president.

NEW: One-third of President Trump's nominated ambassadors hail from his adopted home state of Florida as the president sidelines career diplomats, slashes the State Department and has dismantled USAID www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

16.07.2025 13:07 — 👍 1    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 1
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Bondi Fires Her Personal Ethics Chief as DOJ Purge Continues Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired her personal ethics adviser, removing the Justice Department’s top official responsible for counseling the most senior political appointees, according to two peopl...

Scoop: Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired her personal ethics chief, Joseph Tirrell. Without explanation, she removes DOJ's career ethics office director who advised the most senior political appointees (such as Todd Blanche, Kash Patel) on conflicts. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

13.07.2025 22:10 — 👍 1942    🔁 891    💬 229    📌 237
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Bondi made changes to DOJ policy. Her former client Pfizer might have benefited The Justice Department changed its policy on foreign corruption cases, which might have put an end to investigations into the pharmaceutical company.

NEW: Pam Bondi changed DOJ’s policy on foreign corruption cases. Then her former client Pfizer’s investigation went away www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

03.07.2025 12:38 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Update: The Florida Bar submitted a filing last Friday saying it supports Brad Schandler's request to give up his law license. It would put an end into the investigation into the attorney following our "Rigged" project.

30.06.2025 17:41 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Clients say Miami lawyer disappeared, Florida Bar didn’t warn them of his past “They could have put a stop to this a long time ago and would have saved a lot of people a lot of money and a lot of problems.”

Here’s my original story about attorney Jay Farrow www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

25.06.2025 13:36 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Florida Bar seeks suspension of Coral Gables attorney accused of fleecing clients Coral Gables attorney Jay Farrow has been accused by more than a dozen clients of misconduct.

New: The FL Bar is seeking an emergency suspension for an attorney who was the subject of my @MiamiHerald investigation last year www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a..., via Jay Weaver

25.06.2025 13:36 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Florida lawyer writes rules to win condo auctions for $100. Judges let him do it. Mystery bidders Louis Katz and Kitty Lefkowitz help attorney Brad Schandler win. Are they real?

Read our original investigation into Brad Schandler here www.miamiherald.com/news/busines...

09.06.2025 18:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Attorney who was subject of Herald investigation asks to have law license revoked The Herald’s reporting found nearly 30 cases in which the Hollywood lawyer used a series of unconventional tactics to game the foreclosure process.

NEW: The Florida attorney who was the focus of our “Rigged” investigation last year into the manipulation of foreclosure proceedings has volunteered to give up his law license for 5 years to end a FL Bar investigation, w/Brittany Wallman
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

09.06.2025 18:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1
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‘This sorority that none of us asked to join’: Victims head to NYC for Maxwell sentencing Some have come from overseas, some from only a couple hours away. But their journey can’t be measured in the miles they have traveled. It can be measured in the mental hurdles they have overcome. The ...

Virginia Giuffre is at least the second Epstein victim to die in the last couple years. This is the story I wrote ahead of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing on the difficult path victims faced on the way to justice www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

26.04.2025 14:19 — 👍 9    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0

The CEO appointed by the creditor will be the CEO of a to be formed subsidiary

17.04.2025 19:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

The company's creditors will appoint a new CEO to try to collect on its claims after Ruiz's company faced the possibility of default last year. The company also downgraded the value of its assets significantly.

17.04.2025 16:43 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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UM booster John Ruiz’s company says it could close within a year The admissions represent a stunning decline for the company, which went public in May 2022 with an eye-popping valuation of more than $32 billion.

NEW: The end appears to be nearing for UM booster John Ruiz's insurance claims company, w/Jay Weaver www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

17.04.2025 16:43 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Lobbyist And Government Contractor Bought JD Vance’s Home For $170,000 Over Asking Price The buyer, a Trump appointee during his first term, denies any political motive—calling the $1.9 million deal purely market-driven.

Reported yesterday that a lobbyist and government contractor bought JD Vance’s home for $170,000 over asking price

Here's how we were able to determine who bought Vance's home--

1/

25.03.2025 13:07 — 👍 639    🔁 279    💬 20    📌 59
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Florida corporate landlord with ties to Hermès heirs settles PPP fraud case Thibault Adrien and Lafayette RE Management LLC , to pay the government $680,000 as part of the settlement.

New: Florida corporate landlord with ties to Hermès heirs settles PPP fraud case www.miamiherald.com/news/busines...

12.02.2025 12:54 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

M(ostly) C(losed) P(ublic) S(chools) #MCPS

06.02.2025 12:26 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Bondi lobbied for China-backed company that has active case against U.S. government Tampa company iGas USA filed a petition against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 which is being defended by the U.S. Justice Department.

If confirmed to be U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi would oversee the U.S. Department of Justice. That could pit one of her attorneys against a company that Bondi lobbied on behalf of last year. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

18.01.2025 16:15 — 👍 2    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 1
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Bondi lobbied for China-backed company that has active case against U.S. government Tampa company iGas USA filed a petition against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 which is being defended by the U.S. Justice Department.

NEW: Bondi lobbied for China-backed company that has active case against U.S. government www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

17.01.2025 22:27 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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How much is the Alexander family worth? Sex trafficking charges may put assets at risk The Alexander family has already pledged $115 million in assets in a failed bid to keep one of the sons out of jail while awaiting trial.

ICYMI: Prosecutors say the Alexander brothers used wealth to lure in the women they allegedly raped. Our look at how the family made its money and what it could lose, w/Jay Weaver & @shirsho.bsky.social amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

30.12.2024 14:19 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Post image Post image

Striking difference between how the parents of the Alexander brothers made their money, and what the brothers allegedly did with that money www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...

28.12.2024 13:43 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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How much is the Alexander family worth? Sex trafficking charges may put assets at risk The Alexander family has already pledged $115 million in assets in a failed bid to keep one of the sons out of jail while awaiting trial.

NEW: How much is the Alexander family worth? Sex trafficking charges against Alexander brothers may put assets at risk

28.12.2024 12:58 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
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Watching the media reckoning unfold in a now-shuttered broadcast newsroom Scripps sought to dominate national breaking news. Instead it became a paradigm of a broken industry.

“In about two weeks, nearly everyone in this Atlanta conference room will be out of a job. But tonight, on November 5, the Scripps News team has an election to cover.”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

05.12.2024 01:52 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0


Miami senator’s bill targets rigged foreclosure auctions, following Miami Herald exposé
www.miamiherald.com/news/busines...

23.11.2024 02:02 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

@bwieder is following 20 prominent accounts