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Before SpaceX IPO, Investors in China Secretly Acquired Stakes

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Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, at the launch of the company’s initial public offering Spencer Platt/Getty Images A businessman with ties to Chinese military contractors was among the overseas investors who acquired stakes in SpaceX while it was still a private company. An entity linked to the Qatari royal family also took a stake. The new details come from a private investor list obtained by ProPublica that sheds light on a particularly delicate issue for Elon Musk’s rocket company: which people in countries like China bought into the company, and how. SpaceX built its business off sensitive U.S. government work like making spy satellites for the Pentagon. While there is no ban on Chinese investment in U.S. military contractors, such investment is heavily regulated. In a sign of its sensitivity to the concerns, SpaceX barred investors from China and Hong Kong from buying shares in its initial public offering last week due to “regulatory and compliance risks,” Blo...
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More Than 770,000 Children Are No Longer Receiving SNAP Benefits After Trump Changes Federal Food Program

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As people in Arizona continue to lose their SNAP benefits, St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix has seen an increase in visits. Rob Schumacher/The Republic/Imagn As a House committee debated President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy bill last year, Republican backers repeatedly emphasized that its changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, wouldn’t affect vulnerable people. SNAP reforms would “restore integrity” to the program and ensure it works for the “ most vulnerable among us, including children ,” said Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican and chair of the House Agriculture Committee. Passing the bill would be a “historic accomplishment” that will ensure “ those in need can continue to receive the assistance they need ,” said Rep. John Rose, a Republican from Tennessee. And Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican, said the bill would focus resources on the “neediest” Americans. “If you are a pre...
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“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns

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Rob Farmer for ProPublica Frank Ssekamwa says the United States presented his country with an impossible choice. If it accepted the terms of a new health agreement, Uganda would have to give the U.S. access to the data of millions of his fellow citizens — a decision he worries would make their personal information more vulnerable to breaches and possible exploitation. But if it refused, the East African nation would likely lose out on more than a billion dollars to address HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses, even as its people face ongoing threats from Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases.  So, on Dec. 10, it agreed. “If you take the deal, you’re going to be exploited. If you don’t take it, you’re going to die,” said Ssekamwa, an attorney and digital rights expert in Uganda. “It’s the essence of digital colonialism.” Across Africa, countries have faced similar dilemmas as the U.S. has held a series of closed-door negotiations in which lif...
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Trump Plans to Protect Methane-Leaking Stripper Wells. This Billionaire Donor Will Benefit.

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Pollution at a Hilcorp well site in New Mexico in May 2021 Courtesy of Earthworks It was before dawn on a Friday in January when a Gulfstream G600 with the burnt-orange Texas Longhorns logo on its tail landed at Dulles airport outside Washington, D.C. Its owner, a little-known oil billionaire named Jeffery Hildebrand, had been summoned to the White House. By mid-afternoon he was in the East Room, just three seats from President Donald Trump, who had recently ordered the military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Now Trump wanted Hildebrand and two dozen other energy executives to commit to investing $100 billion in Venezuela’s decrepit oil industry.  Many couched their enthusiasm with caveats. ExxonMobil’s CEO called Venezuela “uninvestable” without changes to its legal system. The head of ConocoPhillips wanted U.S. government financing. But Hildebrand, a major Trump donor whose wife had been named ambassador to Costa Rica, had already seen h...
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Why We Changed Our Code of Ethics to Address Prediction Markets

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Illustration by Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica What would you think of me, the ProPublica editor responsible for newsroom standards, if I placed a bet on the baseball game I’m currently listening to on the radio? Probably that I’m doing something plenty of others do, and that my wallet will be lighter in a few innings. What would you think of me if I stood to make a tidy sum based on the outcome of a news event ProPublica has been covering? You’d probably think that’s downright shady, because isn’t the job of a journalist to report the news and not make money off it? Lest you think I’m an ethically compromised editor, you can rest easy. According to a recent update to ProPublica’s code of ethics , “no employee should wager on the outcome of news events on the prediction markets — regardless of whether or not they are involved in coverage of said event.” ProPublica has always prohibited employees from profiting off inside information, so you may wonder why we amended our...
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