From Money magazine to promoting a Ponzi scheme

Jordan Goodman

Ron Lieber of The New York Times examines the case of Jordan Goodman, a former Money magazine journalist who became a personal finance guru that promoted a Ponzi scheme to consumers.

Lieber writes, “As for Mr. Goodman, he owes $2.7 million to the S.E.C., and is named in two lawsuits that could put him on the hook for more.

“His business prospects aren’t exactly rosy. Kaplan Publishing, which oversees the Barron’s guide that Mr. Goodman co-wrote, is taking it out of print and incinerating the existing copies.

“‘We expect our authors to act ethically and lawfully,’ said Maureen McMahon, Kaplan’s president and publisher.

“One of Mr. Goodman’s more mainstream affiliates, the online loan marketplace Credible, has cut ties with him. So has Cambridge Credit Counseling, a nonprofit debt consolidation and financial counseling service.

“‘Our reputation is more important to us than a small relationship we have with a particular expert,’ said the company’s chief executive, Christopher Viale.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.