Binyamin Appelbaum

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Binyamin Appelbaum, an American journalist, grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania where he was editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian. Appelbaum has worked at the Florida Times Union, and the Charlotte Observer and is currently with the Boston Globe.

A team led by Appelbaum won the 2007 George Polk Award ^{[1][2] [3]} in the economic reporting category, "The articles exposed questionable practices by one of the nation's largest homebuilders, prompting multiple federal and state investigations, including a federal criminal investigation and an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission." ^[4]

The team led by Appelbaum was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in the Public Service category. According to the Charlotte Observer, the series, " 'Sold a Nightmare,'" focused on the area's high rate of housing foreclosures and the questionable sales practices by Beazer Homes USA, one of the nation's largest homebuilders. The Observer's reporting led to FBI, IRS, SEC and HUD investigations of Beazer Homes, which has since stopped making mortgage loans nationwide and stopped building homes in Charlotte." ^{[5] [6] [7]}

A profile of his reporting on the mortgage crisis in Business Journalism described how, well before the nation knew about the coming crisis in mortgage lending, Appelbaum "noticed a strange pattern while compiling a list of foreclosed homes in North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County --clusters were concentrated in new developments. Appelbaum wondered if faulty loans were behind the trend." ^[8]

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