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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-05-13 | Trump Reverses ZTE Sanctions After $500M China Loan to Trump Project
3 src Donald Trump · ZTE Corporation · China · Trump Organization · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-05-10 | Kirstjen Nielsen Defends Family Separation as Deterrent, Later Denies Policy Exists
4 src 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
3 src Axon · VieVu · Safariland Group · NYPD · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-04-06 | Jeff Sessions Announces "Zero Tolerance" Policy Designed to Separate Families
4 src 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
3 src 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
3 src Fayette County Georgia · Carbyne · Ehud Barak · Lital Leshem · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-16 | Facebook Suspends Cambridge Analytica and SCL After Whistleblower Revelations
4 src Facebook · Cambridge Analytica · SCL Group · Christopher Wylie · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-08 | Major GOP Donors' Company Receives Unexplained Tariff Exemption
4 src Reyes Holdings · Trump Administration · Republican donors | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-01 | Facebook Lobbies Irish Government to Weaken GDPR Enforcement, Creates EU Data Protection Haven
4 src 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
3 src James Biden · Joe Biden · Americore Health · Sara Biden | confirmed | |
| 2018-03-01 | TRM Labs Founded to Provide Blockchain Intelligence to Governments and Financial Institutions
3 src TRM Labs · Esteban Castano · Rahul Raina | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-26 | Texas Leads 20 Republican States in Lawsuit Seeking to Eliminate Entire ACA
6 src 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
3 src Mick Mulvaney · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Equifax · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-02 | Federal Reserve Imposes Unprecedented Asset Cap on Wells Fargo
3 src Federal Reserve · Janet Yellen · Wells Fargo Board | confirmed | |
| 2018-02-01 | Research Shows YouTube Recommends Conspiracy Theories 80% More Than Factual Content
4 src YouTube · Google · University of California Berkeley researchers · Harvard researchers · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2018-01-24 | Alex Azar Confirmed as HHS Secretary After Doubling Insulin Prices at Eli Lilly
4 src Alex Azar · Eli Lilly · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · Ron Wyden · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-01-07 | Dan Elwell Becomes Acting FAA Administrator After Boeing Executive Career
6 src Dan Elwell · Federal Aviation Administration · Michael Huerta · Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao · +8 | confirmed | |
| 2018-01-01 | Agriculture Committee Captured by Agribusiness - $523M Lobbying Shapes Farm Bill
3 src Glenn Thompson · David Scott · House Agriculture Committee · American Farm Bureau Federation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2018-01-01 | Apple Receives Special Tariff Exemptions After CEO Cultivates Trump Relationship
4 src Donald Trump · Tim Cook · Apple Inc. | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-22 | Trump Signs Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - Corporate Rate Permanently Slashed from 35% to 21%, Pass-Through Deduction, Estate Tax Exemption Doubled, $1.9 Trillion Added to Deficit
10 src Donald Trump · Paul Ryan · Mitch McConnell · Kevin Brady · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-21 | DeVos Replaces Full Debt Relief With Earnings-Based Formula - Corinthian Victims Get Pennies on Dollar
3 src Betsy DeVos · U.S. Department of Education | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-14 | FCC Under Ajit Pai Repeals Net Neutrality in 3-2 Party-Line Vote
3 src Ajit Pai · Donald Trump · Verizon Communications · Mignon Clyburn · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-11 | Betsy DeVos Blocks Debt Relief for 200,000 Defrauded For-Profit College Students Despite Career Staff Recommendations
4 src Betsy DeVos · U.S. Department of Education · Corinthian Colleges · ITT Technical Institute | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-04 | Trump reduces Bears Ears National Monument by 85% to open lands for extraction
3 src Donald Trump · Ryan Zinke · Bureau of Land Management · Navajo Nation · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-03 | CVS-Aetna $69 Billion Merger Announced: Vertical Integration Wave Consolidates PBM Power
3 src CVS Health · Aetna · Larry Merlo · Mark Bertolini · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-12-01 | Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI About Russian Contacts
3 src Michael Flynn · Robert Mueller · Sergey Kislyak · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-11-24 | Trump Installs Mick Mulvaney as CFPB Acting Director, Beginning Systematic Gutting of Consumer Protection Agency
4 src Mick Mulvaney · Donald Trump · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | confirmed | |
| 2017-11-20 | Nebraska PSC Approves Keystone XL Pipeline Route Despite Eminent Domain Controversy and Landowner Opposition
7 src Nebraska Public Service Commission · TransCanada Corporation · Bold Nebraska · Jane Kleeb · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-11-05 | Paradise Papers Expose Global Elite's Systematic Offshore Financial Manipulation
3 src Appleby · Estera · Queen Elizabeth II · Wilbur Ross · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2017-10-05 | CFPB Finalizes Payday Lending Rule Requiring Ability-to-Repay Assessment After Industry Spent $13 Million Lobbying
4 src Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Community Financial Services Association of America · Jeb Hensarling | confirmed | |
| 2017-10-03 | Whitefish Energy Wins $300M No-Bid Puerto Rico Contract Despite 2 Employees
3 src Whitefish Energy · Ryan Zinke · Puerto Rico · PREPA · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-09-29 | HHS Secretary Tom Price Resigns After $1 Million Private Jet Scandal
6 src Tom Price · Donald Trump · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | confirmed | |
| 2017-09-07 | Equifax Finally Discloses Breach 40 Days After Discovery, Exposing Regulatory Capture
3 src Richard Smith · Equifax · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Mick Mulvaney · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-08-31 | Wells Fargo Revises Fake Account Count to 3.5 Million, Up 67%
3 src Wells Fargo · Timothy Sloan | confirmed | |
| 2017-08-23 | FTC Approves Amazon-Whole Foods Merger Despite Monopolization Concerns
3 src Amazon.com Inc. · Jeff Bezos · Whole Foods Market Inc. · Federal Trade Commission · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-08-01 | Equifax Executives Sell $1.8 Million in Stock Days After Discovering Massive Data Breach
3 src John Gamble · Joseph Loughran · Rodolfo Ploder · Equifax · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-08-01 | Intelligence-Media Pipeline Matures: Six Former Intelligence Directors Simultaneously Hold Cable News Analyst Positions
2 src James Clapper · John Brennan · Michael Hayden · Michael Morell · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-07-31 | V.C. Summer Nuclear Project Abandoned After $9 Billion Failure - Ratepayers Forced to Pay $2.3 Billion for Never-Built Reactors
5 src SCANA Corporation · Santee Cooper · Kevin Marsh · Stephen Byrne · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2017-07-21 | Mark Esper, Former Raytheon Weapons Lobbyist, Becomes Army Secretary in Revolving Door Appointment
4 src Mark Esper · Raytheon · Donald Trump · Elizabeth Warren | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-27 | EU Fines Google Record €2.42B for Search Manipulation Favoring Google Shopping
4 src Google · European Commission · Margrethe Vestager · Sundar Pichai · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-15 | Kansas City Fed Denies Reserve Trust Master Account Amid Potential Regulatory Capture
3 src Sarah Bloom Raskin · Reserve Trust Company · Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City · Esther George · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-14 | DeVos Freezes Borrower Defense Rule Protecting Defrauded Students - States Sue for Unlawful Delay
3 src Betsy DeVos · Maura Healey | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-06 | Kansas Legislature Overrides Brownback Veto to Repeal Failed Tax Cuts - Republican-Controlled Legislature Rejects Supply-Side Economics After Devastating 5-Year Experiment
5 src Sam Brownback · Kansas Legislature · Arthur Laffer · American Legislative Exchange Council · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-03 | Reality Winner Arrested for Leaking Russian Election Interference Report
3 src Reality Winner · National Security Agency · The Intercept · Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-01 | Project Blitz Launches Christian Nationalist Legislative Playbook: Model Bills for All 50 States
2 src Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation · David Barton · WallBuilders · Lea Carawan | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-01 | Trump Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement Isolating America
3 src Donald Trump · Paris Agreement · Fossil Fuel Industry · United States · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-06-01 | WestExec Advisors Founded by Blinken and Flournoy: The Revolving Door Becomes a Business Model
2 src Antony Blinken · Michèle Flournoy · Avril Haines · WestExec Advisors | confirmed | |
| 2017-05-16 | Boeing Delivers First 737 MAX Despite Internal Safety Concerns About MCAS
3 src Boeing · Malindo Air · Southwest Airlines · Federal Aviation Administration · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-05-15 | FCC Begins Investigation into Massive Fake Comments Campaign on Net Neutrality Repeal
4 src Ajit Pai · Federal Communications Commission · New York Attorney General's Office | confirmed | |
| 2017-05-13 | Equifax Data Breach Exposes 147 Million Americans Due to Unpatched Apache Struts Vulnerability
3 src Equifax · Richard Smith · Apache Software Foundation · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | confirmed | |
| 2017-05-11 | Trump Creates Presidential Commission on Election Integrity to Investigate Nonexistent Fraud
5 src Donald Trump · Kris Kobach · Mike Pence · Matthew Dunlap | confirmed | |
| 2017-05-10 | Trump Reveals Israeli Classified Intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Oval Office - Day After Comey Firing
2 src Donald Trump · Sergei Lavrov · Sergey Kislyak · H.R. McMaster · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-04-15 | DOJ Begins Surveillance of Washington Post Journalists Reporting on Russia Investigation
3 src U.S. Department of Justice · Ellen Nakashima · Greg Miller · Adam Entous · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-04-05 | Steve Bannon Removed from National Security Council After Unprecedented Political Appointment Sparked Bipartisan Outrage
3 src Steve Bannon · Donald Trump · H.R. McMaster · Michael Flynn · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-03-28 | Trump Signs Executive Order Dismantling Obama-Era Climate Regulations
3 src Donald Trump · Scott Pruitt · Lee Zeldin · Murray Energy Corporation | confirmed | |
| 2017-03-23 | GSA deemed Trump Old Post Office lease 'compliant'; agency watchdog later faulted failure to consider Emoluments Clause
3 src General Services Administration · Trump Old Post Office LLC · Emily Murphy · GSA Office of Inspector General | confirmed | |
| 2017-03-07 | Michael Flynn Retroactively Registers as Turkey Foreign Agent - $530K Lobbying During Campaign and as National Security Advisor
3 src Michael Flynn · Donald Trump · Recep Tayyip Erdogan · Ekim Alptekin · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-03-02 | Ryan Zinke Opens Public Lands to Extraction While Profiting
3 src Ryan Zinke · David Bernhardt · Department of Interior · Halliburton · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-23 | Private Prison Stocks Soar as CoreCivic, GEO Donate $2.8M to Trump
3 src CoreCivic · GEO Group · Jeff Sessions · Donald Trump · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-15 | Cofer Black, Former Blackwater Vice Chairman and CIA Counterterrorism Chief, Joins Burisma Board
4 src Joseph Cofer Black · Erik Prince · Nikolay Zlochevskyi · Hunter Biden · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-13 | Michael Flynn Resigns After 24 Days as National Security Advisor - Shortest Tenure Ever - Following Russia Lies to Pence and FBI
2 src Michael Flynn · Donald Trump · Mike Pence · Sally Yates · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-11 | Trump Handles North Korea Missile Crisis at Mar-a-Lago in Front of Paying Club Members - Unprecedented Security Breach
4 src Donald Trump · Shinzo Abe · Sean Spicer | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-08 | Kellyanne Conway Commits 50+ Hatch Act Violations, No Consequences
3 src Kellyanne Conway · Donald Trump · Office of Special Counsel · White House · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-07 | Betsy DeVos Confirmed as Education Secretary in Historic VP Tie-Breaking Vote - First Ever for Cabinet Nominee
2 src Betsy DeVos · Mike Pence · Susan Collins · Lisa Murkowski · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-07 | Scott Pruitt Dismantles EPA While Taking Industry Money
3 src Scott Pruitt · Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · Andrew Wheeler · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-02-01 | Rex Tillerson ExxonMobil CEO Becomes Secretary of State
3 src Rex Tillerson · ExxonMobil · Vladimir Putin · Donald Trump · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-31 | Federalist Society Captures Federal Judiciary with $250M Dark Money
3 src Federalist Society · Leonard Leo · Donald Trump · Judicial Crisis Network · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-30 | Deutsche Bank fined $630 million for $10 billion Russian money laundering scheme
3 src Deutsche Bank · Donald Trump · Jared Kushner · New York Department of Financial Services · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-30 | Executive Order 13771: Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs
3 src Donald Trump · Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs · Public Citizen · Natural Resources Defense Council (plaintiff) · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-24 | Trump Reverses Dakota Access Pipeline Denial, Orders Expedited Approval
4 src Donald Trump · Energy Transfer Partners · Kelcy Warren · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-23 | Trump Appoints Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman, Installing Former Verizon Lawyer to Regulate His Former Employer
3 src Donald Trump · Ajit Pai · Verizon Communications · Federal Communications Commission · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-21 | Mar-a-Lago Membership Fee Doubles to $400K for Presidential Access
3 src Donald Trump · Mar-a-Lago · Chris Ruddy · Yujing Zhang · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-20 | Goldman Sachs Alumni Take Control of Trump Economic Policy
3 src Gary Cohn · Steven Mnuchin · Goldman Sachs · Dina Powell · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-20 | Heritage Foundation Staffs Trump Admin, Implements 64% of Agenda
3 src Heritage Foundation · Donald Trump · Mick Mulvaney · Scott Pruitt · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-17 | CFPB Sues Navient for Systematically Cheating 12 Million Student Loan Borrowers Through Illegal Servicing Practices
4 src Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Navient Corporation · Sallie Mae | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-17 | DeVos Confirmation Hearing Reveals Investments in Student Debt Collection - Ethics Review Incomplete
3 src Betsy DeVos · Performant Financial · RDV Corporation | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-17 | Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning's Sentence After Brutal Imprisonment
3 src Barack Obama · Chelsea Manning · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-10 | Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi Sued for Insulin Price-Fixing Conspiracy as Prices Rise 300%+
3 src Eli Lilly · Novo Nordisk · Sanofi · CVS Caremark · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-06 | Intelligence Community Assessment Concludes Putin Ordered Campaign to Influence 2016 Election
4 src Vladimir Putin · Central Intelligence Agency · Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Security Agency · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-01 | Google Manipulates Ad Auctions Through "Project Bernanke" to Favor Own Exchange
4 src Google · Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton · Publishers · Advertisers · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-01 | Hacker Steals 900 GB of Data from Cellebrite, Exposing Customer Information and Technical Details
3 src Cellebrite | confirmed | |
| 2017-01-01 | ICE relies on a sprawling, mostly contracted network of ~200 detention facilities; oversight fragmented
4 src Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · CoreCivic · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · U.S. Marshals Service · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2016-12-01 | Banking Committee Chairman Shelby Advocates for Financial CHOICE Act to Gut Dodd-Frank
3 src Richard Shelby · U.S. Senate Banking Committee · Wall Street · Dodd-Frank Act | confirmed | |
| 2016-11-01 | Boeing Obtains FAA Approval to Conceal MCAS System from Pilot Manuals and Training
3 src Boeing · Federal Aviation Administration · Boeing pilots · Airline pilots · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-10-28 | ProPublica Exposes Facebook's Algorithmic Redlining: Digital Ad Platform Enables Housing Discrimination at Scale
3 src Facebook · ProPublica · HUD · National Fair Housing Alliance | confirmed | |
| 2016-10-10 | Anheuser-Busch InBev Completes $107 Billion SABMiller Acquisition: Beer Industry Consolidates Into Duopoly
3 src Anheuser-Busch InBev · SABMiller · Molson Coors · Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-10-03 | New York Attorney General Orders Trump Foundation to Immediately Cease Fundraising
3 src Eric Schneiderman · Donald Trump · Trump Foundation | confirmed | |
| 2016-09-12 | Indianapolis Star Investigation Exposes Nassar Abuse After FBI Sat on Allegations for 14 Months
3 src Indianapolis Star · Larry Nassar · Michigan State University Police · USA Gymnastics · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2016-09-08 | Wells Fargo Fined $185 Million for Creating 2 Million Fake Accounts
3 src Wells Fargo · John Stumpf · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Richard Cordray | confirmed | |
| 2016-09-06 | ITT Technical Institute Closes Permanently After Federal Fraud Findings Leave 35,000 Students With Worthless Degrees
4 src ITT Technical Institute · Kevin Modany · Daniel Fitzpatrick · U.S. Department of Education · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-09-03 | Standing Rock: Private Security and Police Attack Dakota Access Pipeline Water Protectors
3 src Standing Rock Sioux Tribe · Energy Transfer Partners · Private Security Contractors · Morton County Sheriff's Department · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-08-31 | Rep. Tom Price Purchases Discounted Healthcare Stocks While Drafting Industry Legislation
4 src Tom Price · Chris Collins · Innate Immunotherapeutics · Zimmer Biomet · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-08-24 | Mylan EpiPen Price Increases 550% in Nine Years, CEO Heather Bresch Testifies Before Congress
3 src Mylan · Heather Bresch · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 2016-07-01 | Harvey Weinstein Hires Black Cube to Suppress Rose McGowan Allegations
4 src Harvey Weinstein · Black Cube · Rose McGowan · Stella Penn Pechanac · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2016-06-30 | Obama Signs PROMESA Creating Unelected Fiscal Control Board to Govern Puerto Rico's $72 Billion Debt Crisis
5 src Barack Obama · U.S. Congress · Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico · Puerto Rico Government | confirmed | |
| 2016-06-12 | Walgreens Terminates Theranos Partnership After 31,000 Customers Receive Voided Test Results
3 src Walgreens · Theranos · Elizabeth Holmes · Food and Drug Administration · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-05-17 | CNP's Secret 2014 Membership Directory Leaked - 413 Conservative Elite Exposed
2 src Southern Poverty Law Center · Steve Bannon · Kellyanne Conway · Council for National Policy | confirmed | |
| 2016-03-15 | CDC Issues First Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, Twenty Years After OxyContin Launch
3 src Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | confirmed | |
| 2016-01-26 | Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Trump Before Iowa: Liberty University President Makes the Transactional Bargain Explicit
2 src Jerry Falwell Jr. · Donald Trump · Liberty University · Ted Cruz · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2016-01-01 | ALEC Develops Comprehensive Government Union Reform Act as All-in-One Union Elimination Playbook
3 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Bob Onder · Missouri GOP · corporate ALEC members | confirmed |