Scot Paltrow is a senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal.  Based in New York, he writes investigative stories for the Journal’s Washington bureau and reports to the Washington bureau chief.

Mr. Paltrow began his journalism career in 1977 as a reporter at the Memphis Commercial Appeal.  In 1978 he moved to the Los Angeles Herald Examiner where he became an investigative reporter.  His series there on corruption in the City of Industry, CA, resulted in federal and state criminal prosecutions and convictions.

In 1981 Mr. Paltrow covered federal courts in Washington, D.C., for the Washington Star.  When the Star folded that year he joined The Wall Street Journal as a reporter in the Los Angeles bureau.  In 1985 he moved to Brussels as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal Europe.  In April 1988, he returned to the U.S., joining the Los Angeles Times where he became the New York financial bureau chief.  During this period he did numerous investigative stories on Wall Street investment banks, markets and the insurance industry.  He returned to the Journal in May 1997.

Journalism awards include: The George Polk Award, the Gerald Loeb Award, and the John Hancock Award, 1993, for an investigative series on Prudential Securities; The Los Angeles Times Editorial Award, 1994,  “best foreign, national or business story of the year,” for an investigative series on the Nasdaq Stock Market; The John Hancock Award, 1992, for a series on large Wall Street firms knowingly employing dishonest stockbrokers; Unity Award in Media and a Deadline Club Award from New York City Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, 2001, for story on life insurers continuing illegally to charge higher premiums to older policyholders based on race.

A native of New York, Mr. Paltrow graduated from the Cornell University College of Arts & Sciences with a bachelor's degree in history.  He received a master's degree from the London School of Economics.