Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer and investigative reporter at The New York Times, has written about corporate corruption and related topics for more than a decade.  He began reporting for the paper’s business section in 1988, covering Wall Street, corporate takeovers and the insider trading scandals.  In 1992, he began writing the Market Place column and covering the unfolding scandals at Prudential Securities.  In February 1995, Mr. Eichenwald began covering a range of investigative projects for the business section.

Mr. Eichenwald was a winner of the George Polk Award in 1996 for his articles about deficiencies in the American system of kidney dialysis care.  In 1998, he won another Polk Award for a series of articles about allegations of corruption at the nation’s largest private hospital chain, the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation.  That same year, he was selected for The Times’s prestigious Senior Writer program.  In 2000, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles about how business interests were influencing the system for medical clinical trials.  In 2003, he was again a Pulitzer finalist, as part of a team of reporters investigating the corruption scandals in corporate America.

Mr. Eichenwald’s first book, “Serpent on the Rock,” published in 1995, is about the Prudential Securities scandal.  His second book, “The Informant: A True Story,” published in 2000, is about the Archer Daniels Midland price-fixing case and was a finalist for a J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Book Award.  It is currently in development as a major motion picture directed by Steven Soderbergh. His most recent book, “Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story,” published in 2005, is about the Enron scandal.

In 1984 and 1985, Mr. Eichenwald was a writer-researcher for CBS News in the election and survey unit.  He joined The Times in 1985 as a news clerk for Hedrick Smith, who was the paper’s chief Washington correspondent.  When Mr. Smith began writing his book, “The Power Game: How Washington Works,” Mr. Eichenwald became his research assistant, leaving in 1986 to become associate editor at the National Journal in Washington. Mr. Eichenwald returned to The Times later in 1986 and was a news clerk for the national desk in New York before becoming a financial reporter in 1988.

Born in New York City on June 28, 1961, Mr. Eichenwald received a bachelor’s degree in political science, graduating with distinction from Swarthmore College in 1983.  He is married and has three children.