When the Well Runs Dry

Investigating corruption in business has to overcome many hurdles because so much of the information is kept in private hands rather than on the public record. But through superior reporting, Jim Adams, Caroline Lynch Pieroni and R.G. Dunlop managed to clear these hurdles in today's Louisville Courier-Journal with "Kentuckian's Well Deals Cost Investors Millions." The story describes how Kentucky-based Robo Enterprises Inc., an oil and gas development company with operations around the country, attracted millions of dollars a year from thousands of investors even though its wells were rarely successful. Adams, Lynch Pieroni and Dunlop detail how no states, including Kentucky, ever tried to shut Robo down despite administrative actions and lawsuits against the company in at least a dozen states.
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