Corruption

People participate in a protest in front of the prime minister's office in Bucharest on June 20th, 2018.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.

• By Ian Hurley
• Member Exclusive

Many hope the 2018 election will give Brazilian democracy a much-needed restart, but given the circumstances of corruption and bad candidates, that seems like a long shot.

• By João Feres Júnior & Fabio Kerche

Reports show that Trump's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, also represented Columbus Nova, an investment firm with ties to Renova Group and Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

• By Justin Elliott

A report by Project on Government Oversight claims that the EPA's Office of the Administrator has significantly delayed the department's processing of Freedom of Information Act requests.

• By Candace Butera

How one Texas family allegedly made millions off the construction of a border fence funded by the Department of Homeland Security.

• By T. Christian Miller & Kiah Collier

Protesters demonstrate in support of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 24th, 2018.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

Agents from the Little Rock, Arkansas, field office are looking into whether any donations to the Clinton Foundation were made in exchange for political favors while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

• By Kate Wheeling

Protesters hold a European Union flag during an anti-government and corruption protest in Bucharest on December 3rd, 2017.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

Behind the devastating crime rates in the region lies an insidious network of political collaboration with violent gangs like MS-13.

• By Jose Miguel Cruz

For decades, Puerto Rico had been suffering the slow but certain violence of modern colonial capitalism.

• By Frances Negrón-Muntaner

The search warrant was not yet supposed to be released, and was only made public this week due to an error.

• By Jack Denton

An activist holds up a flare during a protest in front of Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on July 11th, 2017, demanding the removal of immunity for deputies.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

More and more Americans feel like outsiders in their own democracy.

• By Janine R. Wedel

A new Chapman University survey reveals cyber-terrorism and threats to privacy are high on the list.

• By Tom Jacobs

Researchers created a die-rolling game to show that we're all dirty, dirty liars.

• By Kate Wheeling

An FBI agent offered up confidential information about a political operative’s enemy in exchange for cash—and they both got caught. What were they thinking?

• By Lauren Kirchner

As some of the world's top seafood consumers, Americans funnel billions of dollars a year to a shady network of exploitative fish launderers.

• By John Upton

The structure of the military means that when people high up in the chain of command aren’t held responsible for the crimes they commit, that message will quickly ripple down the ranks.

• By Lauren Kirchner

It may well be that leadership requires some unsavory arm-twisting and palm-greasing.

• By Seth Masket

New research from Germany finds that public servants are more likely to accept bribes if their income is lower than that of the citizen doing the bribing.

• By Tom Jacobs

And a four-figure temperature control device for $220,000.

• By Marc Herman

A new professional class of movers and shakers—people who serve overlapping roles in government, business, and media with smiling finesse—is controlling the flow of power and money in America. The anthropologist Janine Wedel is bent on making us understand just how dangerous this new normal can be.

• By Lisa Margonelli

Global Witness, the London-based resource watchdog, thinks so.

• By Marc Herman