Ed Berger is an independent writer and researcher living in Kentucky. He is the author of several books, including the forthcoming Thesis on the Metacartel (Urbanomic, 2023).
After Robert Maxwell dropped his bid for Bluebonnet, the S&L was sold to insurance man James Fail under exceedingly strange financial circumstances. His backers ranged from figures tied to George H.W. Bush and Arkansas financier and covert "money shuffler" Jackson Stephens.
As he tried to build a New York business empire, Robert Maxwell attempted to capitalize on the American savings and loans crisis, calling upon a dense web of arms dealers, money launderers, serious financial criminals and intelligence agents.
Since FTX’s collapse, a tiny bank in rural Washington has come under heavy scrutiny for the role it may have played in the crypto exchange’s fraudulent activities. Ed Berger and Whitney Webb investigate the history of the bank and unearth some troubling connections.