Regulatory Capture
The Regulatory Capture capture lane traces 1534 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-04-28 | Meatpacking Industry Drafts Its Own DPA Executive Order Forcing Plants Open Despite Worker Deaths Donald Trump · Tyson Foods · JBS USA · Smithfield Foods · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2020-04-03 | Raytheon-United Technologies Merge Creates $135 Billion Defense Giant, Consolidating Industry Power Raytheon · United Technologies Corporation · Greg Hayes · Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-04-03 | Trump Inspector General Friday Night Massacre Systematically Accelerates WHIG Oversight Destruction Precedent for Constitutional Crisis Operations Donald Trump · Michael Atkinson · Glenn Fine · Mitch Behm · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2020-04-03 | Trump Uses DPA for PPE Export Ban While Allowing Domestic Profiteering and FEMA Supply Seizures Donald Trump · Peter Navarro · Jared Kushner · 3M · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-04-01 | MVM Inc operates shadow detention network using hotels and unmarked buildings for children MVM Inc. · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · Hampton Inn & Suites · Sonesta Hotels · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-04-01 | Trump Awards $812M No-Bid COVID Contract to Newly Formed Phlow Corporation Phlow Corporation · Peter Navarro · Kodak · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-03-18 | Trump Invokes Defense Production Act but Refuses to Compel PPE Production as Corporate Lobbying Blocks Emergency Powers Donald Trump · Peter Navarro · Jared Kushner · U.S. Chamber of Commerce | confirmed | |
| 2020-03-13 | COVID-19 Emergency Triggers Student Loan Payment Pause - 44 Million Borrowers Get Relief Donald Trump · Joe Biden · U.S. Department of Education | confirmed | |
| 2020-03-13 | Trump Declares National Emergency for COVID-19 After Weeks of Denialism and Delay Donald Trump · Alex Azar · Mike Pence | confirmed | |
| 2020-02-21 | DOJ Declines Criminal Prosecution of Wells Fargo Executives Department of Justice · William Barr · Wells Fargo | confirmed | |
| 2020-02-21 | Wells Fargo Pays $3 Billion, Admits Fraud, No Executives Charged Wells Fargo · Department of Justice · Securities and Exchange Commission | confirmed | |
| 2020-02-20 | DOJ Overrules Prosecutors' Roger Stone Sentencing Recommendation After Trump Tweet Roger Stone · Donald Trump · William Barr · Aaron Zelinsky · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2020-02-20 | Trump Fires Acting DNI Joseph Maguire After Intelligence Briefing That Russia Prefers Trump in 2020 Joseph Maguire · Donald Trump · Shelby Pierson · Richard Grenell · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-02-11 | Bill Barr Intervenes to Reduce Sentences for Trump Allies Stone and Flynn Bill Barr · Roger Stone · Michael Flynn · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-18 | New York Times Exposé Reveals Clearview AI's 3 Billion Photo Surveillance Database Kashmir Hill · Clearview AI · Hoan Ton-That · New York Times | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-09 | Boeing Internal Messages Released - "Designed by Clowns, Supervised by Monkeys" Boeing employees · Federal Aviation Administration · Department of Justice · House Transportation Committee · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-01 | ALEC's Education Privatization Campaign Achieves Dominance - Model Legislation Controls Voucher Landscape Nationwide American Legislative Exchange Council · ALEC Education and Workforce Development Task Force · K12 Inc. · Koch Industries · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-01 | Dialysis Industry Systematically Steers Patients Away from Home Dialysis and Toward High-Profit Commercial Insurance DaVita · Fresenius · American Kidney Fund · Richard Blumenthal · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-01 | McKinsey Advised Purdue on "Turbocharging" OxyContin Sales, Targeting High-Volume Prescribers McKinsey & Company · Purdue Pharma · Sackler Family | confirmed | |
| 2020-01-01 | OECD Estimates Google Avoids $7B+ Annually Through Tax Havens OECD · Google · Alphabet · Tax Justice Network · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-11-15 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Completes $74 Billion Celgene Acquisition Despite FTC Concerns Bristol-Myers Squibb · Celgene · Federal Trade Commission · Amgen · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-10-24 | Federal Judge Holds DeVos in Contempt for Illegally Collecting on Corinthian Loans - $100K Fine Betsy DeVos · Sallie Kim · U.S. Department of Education | confirmed | |
| 2019-10-07 | Sutter Health Settles Antitrust Case for $575 Million, Admits to All-or-Nothing Contracting and Price Concealment Sutter Health · Xavier Becerra · California Attorney General | confirmed | |
| 2019-10-01 | Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Big Four Meatpackers Conspired to Fix Beef Prices and Manipulate Markets Tyson Foods · JBS · Cargill · National Beef · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-10-01 | Zuckerberg Holds Secret White House Dinners with Trump, Kushner, and Thiel to Negotiate Content Moderation Mark Zuckerberg · Donald Trump · Jared Kushner · Peter Thiel · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-09-30 | WeWork Withdraws IPO After Valuation Collapses from $47 Billion to $10 Billion, Exposing Massive Corporate Governance Failure Adam Neumann · WeWork · Securities and Exchange Commission · SoftBank · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-09-27 | Senate Finance Committee Report Reveals NRA Misled Public About Russia Connections and 2015 Moscow Trip U.S. Senate Finance Committee · Ron Wyden · National Rifle Association · Maria Butina · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-09-24 | Trump Freezes Ukraine Military Aid Demanding Biden Investigation Donald Trump · Volodymyr Zelenskyy · Rudy Giuliani · William Barr · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2019-08-10 | Jeffrey Epstein Dies by Suicide in Federal Custody Jeffrey Epstein · William Barr · Bureau of Prisons · Federal Bureau of Investigation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-07-24 | FTC Fines Facebook Record $5 Billion But Grants Zuckerberg Immunity from Personal Liability Facebook · Mark Zuckerberg · Federal Trade Commission · Rohit Chopra · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-07-23 | Mark Esper Confirmed as Defense Secretary Despite Raytheon Lobbying Career and Refusal to Recuse Mark Esper · Raytheon · Donald Trump · Elizabeth Warren · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-07-06 | Jeffrey Epstein Arrested on Federal Sex Trafficking Charges Jeffrey Epstein · Geoffrey Berman · Federal Bureau of Investigation · NYPD · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-07-01 | Betsy DeVos Repeals Gainful Employment Rule, Eliminating All Accountability for For-Profit College Job Outcomes Despite $1.3 Billion Projected Cost to Taxpayers Betsy DeVos · U.S. Department of Education · Robert Eitel · Julian Schmoke Jr. · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-06-27 | Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Joins Pfizer Board After 3-Month Gap Dr. Scott Gottlieb · Food and Drug Administration · Pfizer · Senator Elizabeth Warren | confirmed | |
| 2019-06-19 | EPA Finalizes Affordable Clean Energy Rule Replacing Clean Power Plan With Weaker Standards Andrew Wheeler · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Donald Trump · Coal Industry · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-06-13 | Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Used Office to Benefit Family Shipping Business Elaine Chao · Mitch McConnell · Department of Transportation · Foremost Group · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-29 | Mueller Warns Charging a Sitting President is Constitutionally Prohibited Robert Mueller · William Barr | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-21 | FTC v. Qualcomm: Judge Lucy Koh Finds Antitrust Violations in Standard Essential Patent Licensing, Later Reversed on Appeal Federal Trade Commission · Lucy Koh · Qualcomm · Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-21 | McGahn Defies Scheduled Congressional Testimony Despite House Subpoena Donald McGahn · House Judiciary Committee · Jerry Nadler · William Burck · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-15 | Utah adopts ALEC model legislation requiring legislative approval for "major" agency rules Ryan Wilcox · Daniel McCay · American Legislative Exchange Council · Utah State Legislature | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-07 | Don McGahn Defies Congressional Subpoena for Mueller-Related Documents Donald McGahn · White House · House Judiciary Committee · William Burck · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2019-05-01 | Fisher Sand & Gravel Wins $2B Border Wall Contracts After Fox News Lobbying Fisher Sand & Gravel · Tommy Fisher · Donald Trump · Kevin Cramer · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-24 | Trump Declares Total War on Congressional Oversight: "We're Fighting All the Subpoenas" Donald Trump · White House · House Democrats · Congressional Investigators · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-22 | Trump Files Lawsuit to Block House Subpoena of Financial Records from Mazars USA Donald Trump · Mazars USA · U.S. House Oversight Committee · Elijah Cummings · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-18 | Mueller Report Released - 448 Pages Documenting Russian Interference and Obstruction Episodes Robert Mueller · Donald Trump · William Barr · Russian Government | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-18 | Trump Administration Claims Absolute Immunity from Congressional Oversight, Systematically Accelerating WHIG Constitutional Crisis Precedent Donald Trump · Pat Cipollone · Don McGahn · White House Counsel Office · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-16 | Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Refuses Congressional Demand for Trump Tax Returns Steven Mnuchin · U.S. Treasury Department · Richard Neal · House Ways and Means Committee · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-11 | Interior Secretary David Bernhardt Confirmed Despite Extensive Conflicts from Oil and Gas Lobbying Career David Bernhardt · Donald Trump | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-09 | HUD Inspector General Finds Ben Carson Violated Ethics Rules by Involving Son in Official Business Ben Carson · Ben Carson Jr. | confirmed | |
| 2019-04-09 | Trump Claims Absolute Immunity from Congressional Oversight Donald Trump · Pat Cipollone · Don McGahn · John Bolton · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-03-24 | Attorney General Barr Releases Misleading 4-Page Summary of Mueller Report William Barr · Robert Mueller · Donald Trump · Rod Rosenstein | confirmed | |
| 2019-03-13 | FAA Finally Grounds 737 MAX After 51 Other Countries Act First, Exposing Regulatory Capture Federal Aviation Administration · Boeing · Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell · European Union Aviation Safety Agency · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2019-03-10 | Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Crashes Due to MCAS Malfunction, Killing All 157 Aboard Ethiopian Airlines · Boeing · Federal Aviation Administration · MCAS system · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-03-05 | During Sprint merger review, T-Mobile executives spent ~$195,000 at Trump's D.C. hotel T-Mobile US · Sprint · Trump International Hotel Washington · Federal Communications Commission · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2019-02-21 | Federal Judge Rules Epstein Plea Deal Violated Crime Victims' Rights Act Kenneth Marra · Bradley Edwards · Paul Cassell · Alexander Acosta · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2019-02-14 | William Barr Confirmation as Attorney General Enables Systematic DOJ Politicization Using WHIG Template for Crisis-Accelerated Institutional Capture William Barr · Donald Trump · Senate Judiciary Committee · Department of Justice · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2019-02-05 | Trump Overrides 25+ Security Clearance Denials for Family and Allies Donald Trump · Jared Kushner · Ivanka Trump · John Kelly · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-01-18 | Dream Center Education Holdings Enters Receivership, Art Institutes Collapse Leaves Thousands Stranded, $16 Million in Student Aid Disappeared Dream Center Education Holdings · Art Institutes · Argosy University · South University · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2019-01-17 | HHS Inspector General Reveals Thousands More Children Separated Than Disclosed HHS Office of Inspector General · Donald Trump · Kirstjen Nielsen · Jeff Sessions · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2019-01-10 | The Intercept reveals Ring employees in Ukraine had unfettered access to customer video feeds Ring · Amazon · Jeff Bezos | confirmed | |
| 2019-01-01 | Vance Returns to Ohio, Launches Narya Capital J.D. Vance · Peter Thiel · Eric Schmidt · Marc Andreessen · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-12-18 | Judge Sullivan's Harsh Questioning of Flynn at Sentencing - "Arguably You Sold Your Country Out" Michael Flynn · Judge Emmet Sullivan · Robert Mueller · Donald Trump | confirmed | |
| 2018-12-15 | Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Resigns Facing 18 Federal Investigations Ryan Zinke · Donald Trump · Department of Interior · David Bernhardt | confirmed | |
| 2018-12-10 | University of Phoenix Enrollment Collapses 80% After Fraud Investigations - $191M FTC Settlement University of Phoenix · Apollo Education Group · Federal Trade Commission | confirmed | |
| 2018-11-27 | Georgia Purges 1.4 Million Voters Under Exact Match System Brian Kemp · Stacey Abrams · Georgia Secretary of State Office · Common Cause Georgia · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-10-29 | Lion Air Flight 610 Crashes Due to Boeing 737 MAX MCAS System Malfunction Lion Air · Boeing · MCAS system · 189 victims · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-10-16 | AbbVie Humira Patent Thicket Delays US Biosimilars Until 2023 Despite 2016 Patent Expiration and European Competition AbbVie · Amgen · Samsung Bioepis · Mylan · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2018-09-17 | Cigna-Express Scripts $52 Billion Merger Approved: DOJ Greenlights PBM Oligopoly Cigna · Express Scripts · Department of Justice · Makan Delrahim · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-08-08 | Rep. Chris Collins Indicted for Insider Trading Chris Collins · Cameron Collins · Stephen Zarsky · Innate Immunotherapeutics | confirmed | |
| 2018-08-03 | Qatar-Linked Brookfield Bails Out Kushner's 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.28 Billion Jared Kushner · Kushner Companies · Brookfield Asset Management · Qatar Investment Authority · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-08-02 | SEC Drops ExxonMobil Climate Investigation Under Trump Administration Securities and Exchange Commission · ExxonMobil · Donald Trump · Rex Tillerson | confirmed | |
| 2018-08-01 | Trump Administration Expands 'Junk Insurance' Short-Term Plans to Undermine ACA Trump Administration · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · U.S. Department of Labor · Department of the Treasury · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-18 | EU Fines Google Record €4.34B for Android Monopoly Abuse Through Bundling Google · European Commission · Margrethe Vestager · Sundar Pichai · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-16 | FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Refers Sinclair-Tribune Merger to Hearing Over "Serious Concerns" About Sham Divestitures and Misrepresentation Federal Communications Commission · Ajit Pai · Sinclair Broadcast Group · Tribune Media · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-13 | HHS Inspector General Finds Tom Price Violated Federal Travel Rules, Wasted $341,000 on Private Jets Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General · Tom Price · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-12 | Tech Workers Coalition: Establishing Digital Resistance Infrastructure Tech Workers Coalition · Silicon Valley Employees · Digital Rights Advocates · Rachel Melendes · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-09 | Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Becomes Acting EPA Administrator After Pruitt Resignation Andrew Wheeler · Donald Trump · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Faegre Baker Daniels · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-07-05 | EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Resigns Amid 14 Federal Investigations Scott Pruitt · Donald Trump · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Andrew Wheeler | confirmed | |
| 2018-06-20 | Trump Signs Executive Order "Ending" Family Separation After International Outcry Donald Trump · Kirstjen Nielsen · Jeff Sessions · Stephen Miller | confirmed | |
| 2018-06-11 | Net Neutrality Repeal Officially Takes Effect, Permitting ISPs to Throttle, Block, and Prioritize Content for Payment Federal Communications Commission · Ajit Pai · Comcast Corporation · Verizon Communications · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-06-07 | Bayer Completes $63 Billion Monsanto Acquisition: Agricultural Seeds and Chemicals Consolidate Into Big Four Oligopoly Bayer AG · Monsanto · Department of Justice · Antitrust Division · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-06-06 | Northrop Grumman Acquires Orbital ATK for $9.2 Billion, Creating Solid Rocket Motor Monopoly Northrop Grumman · Orbital ATK · Federal Trade Commission · U.S. Department of Defense · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-06-01 | Trump Family Separation Policy Detains 5,500 Children in Cages Donald Trump · Stephen Miller · Jeff Sessions · DHS (Department of Homeland Security) · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-24 | Trump Signs Dodd-Frank Rollback Raising 'Systemically Important' Bank Threshold from $50B to $250B After Industry Lobbying Blitz Donald Trump · Greg Becker · Silicon Valley Bank · Mike Crapo · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-15 | Kansas City Fed Approves Reserve Trust Master Account After Alleged Intervention Sarah Bloom Raskin · Reserve Trust Company · Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City · Esther George · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-13 | Trump Reverses ZTE Sanctions After $500M China Loan to Trump Project Donald Trump · ZTE Corporation · China · Trump Organization · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-10 | Kirstjen Nielsen Defends Family Separation as Deterrent, Later Denies Policy Exists Kirstjen Nielsen · Jeff Sessions · Stephen Miller · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-04 | Axon Acquires Main Competitor VieVu, Consolidating 80% Control of Police Body Camera Market Axon · VieVu · Safariland Group · NYPD · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-04-06 | Jeff Sessions Announces "Zero Tolerance" Policy Designed to Separate Families Jeff Sessions · Donald Trump · Stephen Miller · DHS (Department of Homeland Security) · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-04-01 | T-Mobile Executives Spend 95K at Trump Hotel During Merger Review T-Mobile · John Legere · Donald Trump · Trump Organization · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-29 | Fayette County, Georgia becomes first US jurisdiction to deploy Carbyne's Israeli Unit 8200-developed 911 surveillance technology Fayette County Georgia · Carbyne · Ehud Barak · Lital Leshem · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-16 | Facebook Suspends Cambridge Analytica and SCL After Whistleblower Revelations Facebook · Cambridge Analytica · SCL Group · Christopher Wylie · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-08 | Major GOP Donors' Company Receives Unexplained Tariff Exemption Reyes Holdings · Trump Administration · Republican donors | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-01 | Facebook Lobbies Irish Government to Weaken GDPR Enforcement, Creates EU Data Protection Haven Facebook · Irish Data Protection Commission · Enda Kenny (Irish Taoiseach) · Max Schrems · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-01 | James Biden Receives $600K from Distressed Healthcare Company, Pays Joe Biden $200K Same Day James Biden · Joe Biden · Americore Health · Sara Biden | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-01 | TRM Labs Founded to Provide Blockchain Intelligence to Governments and Financial Institutions TRM Labs · Esteban Castano · Rahul Raina | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-26 | Texas Leads 20 Republican States in Lawsuit Seeking to Eliminate Entire ACA Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton · Judge Reed O'Connor · 20 Republican State Attorneys General · California Attorney General Xavier Becerra · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-05 | Trump's CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney Shuts Down Equifax Investigation, Exposing Regulatory Capture Mick Mulvaney · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Equifax · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-02 | Federal Reserve Imposes Unprecedented Asset Cap on Wells Fargo Federal Reserve · Janet Yellen · Wells Fargo Board | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-01 | Research Shows YouTube Recommends Conspiracy Theories 80% More Than Factual Content YouTube · Google · University of California Berkeley researchers · Harvard researchers · +2 | confirmed |