Regulatory Capture
The Regulatory Capture capture lane traces 1551 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
Top 10 actors in this lane
10 actors · 1819–2026
Capture lanecorruptiondemocraticexecutivefinancialintelligencejudiciallaborlegislativemediamilitaryotherregulatory
Status
confirmed
alleged
disputed
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-07-01 | ALEC Achieves Systematic Legislative Capture: 200+ Corporate-Drafted Bills Enacted Annually Across States
3 src American Legislative Exchange Council · State Legislatures · Koch Industries · ExxonMobil · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2011-07-01 | Wisconsin Republicans Pass Act 43 Gerrymandering Plan in Secret Process
4 src Wisconsin Legislature · Republican Party · Michael Best & Friedrich | confirmed | |
| 2011-06-13 | Department of Education Issues Gainful Employment Rule to Regulate For-Profit Colleges, Industry Immediately Challenges in Court
3 src U.S. Department of Education · Barack Obama · Arne Duncan · Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2011-05-11 | FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker Joins Comcast Four Months After Approving NBC Universal Merger
3 src Meredith Attwell Baker · Comcast Corporation · NBC Universal · Federal Communications Commission · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2011-05-01 | Pam Bondi Fires Foreclosure Fraud Investigators After Campaign Donations from Lender Processing Services
3 src Pam Bondi | confirmed | |
| 2011-03-11 | Wisconsin Act 10 Crushes Public Sector Unions Using ALEC Model Legislation
3 src Scott Walker · American Legislative Exchange Council · Wisconsin GOP · Koch brothers · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2011-03-01 | Chris Dodd Becomes Hollywood's Chief Lobbyist After Promising No Lobbying
3 src Chris Dodd · MPAA · Motion Picture Association | confirmed | |
| 2011-03-01 | Prison Labor at $0.12-$0.40/Hour Documented: The Thirteenth Amendment's Slavery Exception in Industrial Operation
3 src ACLU · Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) · CoreCivic · GEO Group | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-27 | Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report Released, No Banker Prosecutions Follow
3 src Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission · Phil Angelides · Lloyd Blankfein · Jamie Dimon · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-19 | House Republicans Launch Six Years of Symbolic ACA Repeal Votes
5 src House Republicans · Speaker John Boehner · Rep. Joe Barton · Rep. Pat Meehan · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | ALEC Grants Corporate Lobbyists 'Equal Vote' on Model Legislation for State Legislatures
3 src American Legislative Exchange Council · State Legislatures · Koch Industries · ExxonMobil | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Erik Prince Receives $529M Contract to Build Secret Mercenary Army for UAE Crown Prince
3 src Erik Prince · Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan · Reflex Responses · United Arab Emirates | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Pam Bondi Serves as Florida AG 2011-2019, Never Prosecutes Epstein Despite Mounting Evidence
3 src Pam Bondi · Jeffrey Epstein | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Wells Fargo Employees Begin Creating 3.5 Million Fake Accounts
3 src Wells Fargo · John Stumpf · Carrie Tolstedt | confirmed | |
| 2010-12-31 | Donors Trust Becomes Primary Climate Denial Dark Money Conduit
4 src Donors Trust · Donors Capital Fund · Koch brothers · Knowledge and Progress Fund · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2010-12-21 | FCC Passes First Net Neutrality Rules with Major Wireless Exemption in 3-2 Party-Line Vote
3 src Federal Communications Commission · Julius Genachowski · Comcast Corporation · Verizon Communications · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2010-12-15 | FDA Arthritis Drug Reviewer Jeffrey Siegel Joins Genentech After Approving Company Tocilizumab
4 src Jeffrey Siegel · Food and Drug Administration · Genentech · Roche · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2010-11-02 | Republicans Gain Record 680 State Legislative Seats, Securing REDMAP Objectives
4 src Republican State Leadership Committee · Republican Party | confirmed | |
| 2010-10-13 | Robo-Signing Scandal Exposes Systematic Foreclosure Fraud by Major Banks
3 src Bank of America · JPMorgan Chase · Wells Fargo · GMAC Mortgage · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-08-13 | Oracle Sues Google for Copyright Infringement Over Java APIs in Android
3 src Oracle · Google · Larry Ellison · Sun Microsystems | confirmed | |
| 2010-08-04 | GAO Investigation Exposes Systemic For-Profit College Fraud - Industry Takes 25% of Federal Aid
3 src U.S. Government Accountability Office · Tom Harkin | confirmed | |
| 2010-07-21 | Dodd-Frank Act Creates Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Regulate Predatory Lending
4 src Barack Obama · Elizabeth Warren · Richard Cordray · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-27 | DOJ charges 'Illegals Program' (including Anna Chapman); 10 plead guilty and are swapped
4 src Anna Chapman · US Department of Justice · Federal Bureau of Investigation | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-24 | DISCLOSE Act Passes House But GOP Blocks Senate Vote on Citizens United Response
4 src Chuck Schumer · Chris Van Hollen · Mitch McConnell · Barack Obama · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-16 | BP Agrees to $20 Billion Gulf Coast Claims Fund Amid Deepwater Horizon Fallout
6 src BP (British Petroleum) · Barack Obama · Tony Hayward · Kenneth Feinberg · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-01 | Trump University Changes Name to "Trump Entrepreneur Initiative" Under Pressure from NY Education Department
3 src Donald Trump · Michael Sexton · Joseph Frey | confirmed | |
| 2010-05-27 | Chelsea Manning Arrested for Leaking Classified Documents to WikiLeaks
3 src Chelsea Manning · WikiLeaks · U.S. Army · U.S. Department of Defense | confirmed | |
| 2010-05-15 | Wells Fargo Hires SEC Enforcement Chief: Investigation Needed
3 src Wells Fargo | reported | |
| 2010-04-23 | Arizona Passes SB 1070 Drafted by ALEC and Private Prison Companies
3 src Russell Pearce · Jan Brewer · Corrections Corporation of America · American Legislative Exchange Council · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-04-20 | Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Begins - Environmental Disaster and Corporate Negligence
3 src BP (British Petroleum) · Transocean Ltd · Halliburton · Minerals Management Service · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2010-04-16 | SEC Charges Goldman Sachs with Fraud Over ABACUS 2007-AC1 Synthetic CDO Deal Where Hedge Fund Manager John Paulson Selected Mortgage Securities to Bet Against While Goldman Sold Package to Investors, Resulting in $550 Million Settlement but No Criminal Charges
2 src Goldman Sachs · Fabrice Tourre · John Paulson · Securities and Exchange Commission · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2010-04-08 | Thomas Drake Indicted Under Espionage Act for NSA Whistleblowing
3 src Thomas Drake · National Security Agency · Obama Administration · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 2010-04-05 | Purdue Reformulates OxyContin as "Abuse-Deterrent" After 14 Years, Drives Users to Heroin
3 src Purdue Pharma · Food and Drug Administration · Sackler Family | confirmed | |
| 2010-03-23 | ACA Passes with Individual Mandate Requiring Americans to Purchase Private Insurance, Delivering Industry Windfall
3 src Barack Obama · America's Health Insurance Plans · PhRMA · Max Baucus · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-27 | Oracle Completes Sun Microsystems Acquisition for $7.4 Billion, Gains Java and MySQL
3 src Oracle · Sun Microsystems · Larry Ellison · European Commission | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | ALEC Distributes Climate Denial Model Legislation to Kill Regional Climate Pacts
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Koch Industries · ExxonMobil · Clint Woods · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | ALEC's 'Resolution in Opposition to a Carbon Tax' Obstructs Market-Based Climate Solutions
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Koch Industries · ExxonMobil · Peabody Energy · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Chertoff Promotes Airport Body Scanners on Media While His Firm Represents Manufacturer Rapiscan
4 src Michael Chertoff · The Chertoff Group · Rapiscan Systems · Department of Homeland Security · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | CNP Coordinates Tea Party Movement Through Member Organizations
2 src Council for National Policy · Jenny Beth Martin · Tea Party Patriots · Tony Perkins · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Corporate-Funded Think Tanks Testify to Congress While Hiding Donor Conflicts of Interest
3 src Heritage Foundation · American Enterprise Institute · Koch brothers · General Electric · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Foreclosure Crisis Extracts $200 Billion in Black Household Wealth: Largest Destruction of Black Assets in American History
3 src Wells Fargo · Countrywide Financial · Bank of America · JPMorgan Chase | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Gig Economy Emerges Using Worker Misclassification to Avoid Labor Protections and Unions
3 src Uber · Lyft · DoorDash · Instacart · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Hospital Consolidation Wave (2010-2020): 1,164 Mergers with Only 1% FTC Enforcement Rate
3 src Federal Trade Commission · Hospital corporations | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | NYPD Counterterrorism Unit Begins Using Palantir for Surveillance Operations
2 src New York Police Department · Palantir Technologies · Richard Falkenrath · New York City Police Foundation | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Republican State Leadership Committee Launches REDMAP Gerrymandering Project
4 src Republican State Leadership Committee · Ed Gillespie · Karl Rove | confirmed | |
| 2009-12-21 | Former CDC Director Julie Gerberding Joins Merck as Vaccine Division President
3 src Dr. Julie Gerberding · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Merck · Gardasil vaccine | confirmed | |
| 2009-10-06 | Senate Passes Franken Amendment Banning Mandatory Arbitration for Sexual Assault Claims by Defense Contractors, 30 Republicans Vote to Protect Corporate Impunity
3 src Al Franken · Jamie Leigh Jones · Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) · Halliburton · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-07-24 | Race to the Top Competition Uses Federal Funds to Incentivize Charter Expansion and Teacher Evaluation Reforms
3 src President Barack Obama · Secretary of Education Arne Duncan · Bill Gates · Gates Foundation · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-06-26 | Koch Network Mobilizes to Kill Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Climate Bill
3 src Koch brothers · Charles Koch · David Koch · Americans for Prosperity · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2009-06-08 | Wells Fargo Loan Officers Reveal "Ghetto Loans" and "Mud People" Targeting: Racial Predation in Subprime Lending Documented
3 src Wells Fargo · NAACP · City of Baltimore | confirmed | |
| 2009-06-01 | Obama Cuts $80B PhRMA Deal Abandoning Medicare Negotiation Promise
3 src Barack Obama · PhRMA · Billy Tauzin · Jim Messina · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-05-20 | Newburgh Four Arrested in FBI Entrapment Sting - "Buffoonery" Made Into Terrorism
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · Shahed Hussain · James Cromitie · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 2009-03-10 | Employee Free Choice Act Abandoned Despite Democratic Supermajority, Corporate Lobbying Victory
3 src Barack Obama · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · Business Roundtable · AFL-CIO · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-17 | SEC Finally Charges Allen Stanford with $7 Billion Ponzi Scheme After Ignoring 12 Years of Internal Warnings
4 src Allen Stanford · Securities and Exchange Commission · Leroy King · Stanford International Bank · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-13 | Blackwater Rebrands as Xe Services to Distance from Nisour Square Massacre and Iraq War Crimes
3 src Erik Prince · Blackwater · Xe Services | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-02 | Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff Founds The Chertoff Group, Immediately Monetizing Homeland Security Expertise
4 src Michael Chertoff · Chad Sweet · The Chertoff Group · Department of Homeland Security · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-23 | Obama Dramatically Expands CIA Drone Strike Program - Ten Times More Strikes Than Bush
4 src Barack Obama · Central Intelligence Agency · John Brennan · Leon Panetta | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-20 | Obama Admin Prosecutes Zero Wall Street Executives Despite Crisis Fraud
3 src Eric Holder · Department of Justice · Wall Street Banks · Lanny Breuer · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | Americans for Prosperity Organizational Profile: Koch Brothers' Astroturf Empire Manufacturing Fake Grassroots Movements
4 src Americans for Prosperity · Charles Koch · David Koch · Koch Industries · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | CNP Member Ralph Reed Founds Faith and Freedom Coalition - Religious Right Coordination Expands
2 src Ralph Reed · Council for National Policy · Faith and Freedom Coalition | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | Energy and Commerce Committee Members Receive $45M From Pharma During ACA Debate
3 src House Energy and Commerce Committee · Fred Upton · PhRMA · Pfizer · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | LAPD's Joint Regional Intelligence Center Begins Using Palantir for Surveillance
2 src Joint Regional Intelligence Center · Los Angeles Police Department · Palantir Technologies · U.S. Department of Homeland Security | confirmed | |
| 2008-12-11 | Bernie Madoff Arrested for $65 Billion Ponzi Scheme After SEC Ignored Warnings for 16 Years
5 src Bernie Madoff · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Securities and Exchange Commission · Harry Markopolos | confirmed | |
| 2008-10-29 | Delta-Northwest Merger Approved: Beginning of Airline Industry Consolidation Wave
3 src Delta Air Lines · Northwest Airlines · Department of Justice · Antitrust Division | confirmed | |
| 2008-10-03 | Bush Signs 00B Bank Bailout with Minimal Oversight
3 src George W. Bush · Henry Paulson · Goldman Sachs · Citigroup · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-10-03 | Congress Passes $700 Billion TARP Bailout Without Criminal Accountability Provisions
3 src Henry Paulson · Goldman Sachs · JPMorgan Chase · Bank of America · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2008-10-03 | Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Creates $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to Bail Out Wall Street Banks with Minimal Oversight or Executive Accountability Requirements, Leading to Just One Criminal Prosecution Compared to 900+ in 1980s Savings & Loan Crisis
4 src Henry Paulson · George W. Bush · Ben Bernanke · Nancy Pelosi · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2008-10-03 | Mental Health Parity Act Signed into Law with No Enforcement Mechanism, Enabling Systematic Insurer Non-Compliance
4 src George W. Bush · Paul Wellstone · Pete Domenici · U.S. Department of Labor · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-29 | Financial Services Committee Members Who Supported Bailout Received 39% More Wall Street Money
3 src Barney Frank · House Financial Services Committee · Wall Street · TARP | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-19 | Paulson Authorizes AIG Bailout Benefiting Goldman Sachs
5 src Henry Paulson · Lloyd Blankfein · Don Jester | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-16 | Federal Reserve Provides $85 Billion Emergency Loan to AIG, Eventually Growing to $182 Billion in Total Taxpayer Commitments to Bail Out Insurance Giant That Gambled on Credit Default Swaps, Followed by $165 Million in Executive Bonuses Paid to Employees Who Caused the Crisis
3 src American International Group · Federal Reserve · Ben Bernanke · Timothy Geithner · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-15 | Lehman Brothers Files Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History with $639 Billion in Assets After Government Refuses Bailout, Creating Arbitrary 'Too Big to Fail' Enforcement Where Bear Stearns and AIG Were Rescued But Lehman Was Allowed to Collapse, Triggering Global Financial Panic
2 src Lehman Brothers · Richard Fuld · Henry Paulson · Ben Bernanke · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-15 | Trump Jr. says Russians make up disproportionate cross-section of assets
3 src Donald Trump Jr. · Trump Organization | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-09 | Iowa Attorney General Files Criminal Complaint Against Agriprocessors for 9,311 Child Labor Violations, Revealing Systematic Use of Minors as Young as 14 in Dangerous Meatpacking Operations with Harsh Chemicals and Power Equipment
4 src Agriprocessors Inc. · Abraham Aaron Rubashkin · Sholom Rubashkin · Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-04 | Jack Abramoff Sentenced to 48 Months Prison and $23 Million Restitution
3 src Jack Abramoff · Michael Scanlon · Native American Tribes · U.S. District Court · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2008-08-29 | Bush Privatizes 70% of Intelligence Budget to Contractors
3 src Bush Administration · Booz Allen Hamilton · SAIC · CACI · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-08-01 | FCC Orders Comcast to Stop Throttling BitTorrent Traffic in Historic 3-2 Vote on Net Neutrality
3 src Federal Communications Commission · Comcast Corporation · Electronic Frontier Foundation · Kevin Martin | confirmed | |
| 2008-07-31 | Carlyle Group Acquires Booz Allen Hamilton for $2.54 Billion, Private Equity Owns Major Intelligence Contractor
4 src Carlyle Group · Booz Allen Hamilton · Ralph Shrader · National Security Agency · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2008-07-29 | Senator Ted Stevens Indicted on Seven Felony Corruption Charges
3 src Ted Stevens · Bill Allen · Eric Holder | confirmed | |
| 2008-07-09 | FISA Amendments Act of 2008 Passes, Granting Telecom Immunity
3 src U.S. Congress · George W. Bush · United States Senate · U.S. House of Representatives · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-07-01 | Bank of America Completes $4 Billion Acquisition of Countrywide Financial After Predatory Lending and Fraud Schemes Targeting Minorities Caused $50 Billion in Losses, with CEO Angelo Mozilo Paying Only $67.5 Million SEC Settlement and Facing Zero Criminal Charges
4 src Angelo Mozilo · Countrywide Financial · Bank of America · Securities and Exchange Commission · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2008-06-30 | Alexander Acosta Approves Secret Non-Prosecution Agreement with Jeffrey Epstein
3 src Alexander Acosta · Jeffrey Epstein · Alan Dershowitz · Kenneth Starr · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2008-04-13 | Google Acquires DoubleClick for $3.1B, Creating Advertising Monopoly
4 src Google · DoubleClick · Federal Trade Commission · Pamela Jones Harbour (dissenting FTC Commissioner) · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2008-03-16 | Bear Stearns Collapse and Federal Reserve-Facilitated Fire Sale to JPMorgan with $29 Billion Taxpayer Guarantee Establishes 'Too Big to Fail' Precedent with Zero Criminal Prosecutions Despite Fraud-Driven Collapse
3 src Bear Stearns · JPMorgan Chase · Federal Reserve Bank of New York · Ben Bernanke · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-01-02 | KBR's Faulty Electrical Work Kills Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, Part of Systematic Negligence Causing 18 Electrocution Deaths in Iraq with No Criminal Charges Despite Army Negligent Homicide Finding
3 src Ryan Maseth · Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) · Halliburton · U.S. Department of Defense · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2008-01-01 | Report: Acosta told Trump transition Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' (unconfirmed)
4 src Alexander Acosta · Jeffrey Epstein · US Intelligence · Department of Justice | reported | |
| 2007-12-18 | Trent Lott Resigns from Senate to Evade New Lobbying Ethics Law
3 src Trent Lott · John Breaux · Breaux Lott Leadership Group · Patton Boggs | confirmed | |
| 2007-11-15 | Thomas Drake Reports NSA Trailblazer Program Waste and Constitutional Violations
3 src Thomas Drake · National Security Agency · DOD Inspector General · Trailblazer Program · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2007-11-02 | CIA Detainee Gul Rahman Froze to Death at Black Site - No One Prosecuted for Homicide
4 src Gul Rahman · Central Intelligence Agency · Afghanistan | confirmed | |
| 2007-10-19 | Associated Press Investigation Exposes Comcast's Secret BitTorrent Throttling and Blocking
3 src Comcast Corporation · Associated Press · Electronic Frontier Foundation · TorrentFreak | confirmed | |
| 2007-09-16 | Blackwater Nisour Square Massacre Exposes Systematic Private Military Corporate-State Fusion Accountability Crisis and Constitutional Violation
6 src Blackwater Worldwide · Erik Prince · State Department · Central Intelligence Agency · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2007-09-15 | Honest Leadership Act Takes Effect But Fails to Slow Congressional Revolving Door
3 src U.S. Congress · K Street · Public Citizen | confirmed | |
| 2007-09-01 | FBI Inspector General Reports 35% Error Rate on Terror Watchlist
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice Inspector General · Terrorist Screening Center | confirmed | |
| 2007-08-27 | Questcor Raises Acthar Gel Price from $1,600 to $23,000 Overnight - Eventually Reaching 97,000% Increase Through Bribery Scheme
4 src Questcor Pharmaceuticals · Mallinckrodt · Federal Trade Commission · Humana · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2007-06-25 | DOJ Voting Section Politicization: Bush Administration Weaponizes Civil Rights Division for Voter Suppression
3 src Alberto Gonzales · Hans von Spakovsky · Bradley Schlozman · John Tanner · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2007-05-23 | Monica Goodling Admits Political Screening of DOJ Lawyers
3 src Monica Goodling · Alberto Gonzales · Regent University · U.S. Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2007-05-14 | ODNI Reveals 70% of Intelligence Budget Goes to Private Contractors
4 src Office of the Director of National Intelligence · Tim Shorrock · Defense Intelligence Agency · Stephen Shaw | confirmed | |
| 2007-05-10 | Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty to Criminal Misbranding, $600M Fine, Zero Executives Jailed
3 src Purdue Pharma · Michael Friedman · Howard R. Udell · Paul D. Goldenheim · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2007-04-02 | New Century Financial Bankruptcy Signals Start of Subprime Mortgage Crisis
3 src New Century Financial · Brad Morrice · KPMG · Wall Street investment banks · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2007-03-12 | Halliburton Moves CEO and Corporate Headquarters to Dubai for Tax Advantages and Distance from Iraq War Scandals, Weeks Before Completing KBR Spin-Off
3 src Halliburton · David Lesar · Dick Cheney · Patrick Leahy | confirmed |