James Bennett Stewart (born c. 1952) is an American lawyer, journalist, and author.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ) is a city in Adams County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Mississippi River, the population was 39,463 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 40,633 in 2010. The Quincy, Illinois, mic ...

. He graduated from DePauw University and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

He is a member of the Bar of New York, the Bloomberg Professor of Business and Economic Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Editor-at-Large of '' SmartMoney'' magazine, and author of ''Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff'' (2011). He is a former associate at New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which he left in 1979 to become executive editor of '' The American Lawyer'' magazine. He later joined ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', where earned the 1987 Gerald Loeb Award for Deadline and/or Beat Writing. He shared the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism and the Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers for his articles about the 1987 dramatic upheaval in the stock market and insider trading. These writings led to the publishing of his best-selling work of non-fiction called '' Den of Thieves'' (1991), which recounted the criminal conduct of Wall Street arbitrager Ivan Boesky and junk bond king Michael Milken. Stewart became page one editor of ''The Wall Street Journal'' in 1988 and remained at the paper until 1992, when he left to help found '' SmartMoney''. Stewart's book ''Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story Of A Doctor Who Got Away With Murder'' (1999), won the 2000

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

in the Best Fact Crime category. '' DisneyWar'' (2005), his book on

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner ( ; born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film ...

's reign at Disney, won the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book. In 2007, he was ranked 21st on '' Out'' magazine's 50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America. He is currently a contributor to ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and a columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', which he joined in 2011. Stewart also serves on the board of advisory trustees of his alma mater, DePauw University, and is past president of that board.

Notable stories

Jeffrey Epstein

On August 12, 2019, Stewart reported on a conversation he had with convicted sex offender

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

. Epstein reportedly told Stewart that he was advising Elon Musk and Tesla. Stewart was also told by Epstein that he had dirt on powerful people including personal details about their sexual activities and drug use. On July 31, 2019, Stewart along with Matthew Goldstein and Jessica Silver-Greenberg reported about Epstein's interest in Eugenics and how he wished to seed the human race by using his own DNA. He also reportedly wanted his head and penis frozen. In October 2019, Stewart and Emily Flitter partnered on a piece which provided more detail as to Epstein's relationship with Microsoft founder

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

, which had started after Epstein had become a registered sex offender.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * ; a biography of Rick Rescorla, Morgan Stanley security director who died at WTC * * * * (with Rachel Abrams)

Essays and reporting

* *

Awards

Stewart was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2002 in the area of Communications. In 1996 Stewart received an honorary doctorate from Quincy University. Stewart has earned five Gerald Loeb Awards: the 1987 Deadline and/or Beat Writing award for "Coverage of Wall Street Insider Trading Scandal", the 1988 Large Newspapers award for "Terrible Tuesday", the 2006 Business Book award for "DisneyWar", the 2016 Commentary award for "Inside the Boardroom", and the 2019 Feature award for "'If Bobbie Talks, I'm Finished': How Les Moonves Tried to Silence an Accuser".

References

External links

*
Common Sense column archive
at ''

''
Contributor Profile 2011
at ''

'' * * *
Profile
at Royce Carlton
'Deep State' Author Says Trump Has Learned Nothing From The Russia Investigation
October 7, 2019 NPR
How 'Deep State' book disputes accusations of Trump bias at FBI, DOJ
October 10, 2019 PBS NewsHour {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, James B. 1952 births American crime writers American male journalists DePauw University alumni Edgar Award winners American gay writers Harvard Law School alumni American LGBTQ journalists Living people People from Quincy, Illinois Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners Writers from Illinois Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers Gerald Loeb Award winners for Business Books Gerald Loeb Award winners for Columns, Commentary, and Editorials Gerald Loeb Award winners for Deadline and Beat Reporting Gerald Loeb Award winners for Feature Journalists from Illinois The New Yorker staff writers Educators from Illinois Cravath, Swaine & Moore associates Delta Chi members