Sharesleuth returns with update

Sharesleuth, the investigative business journalism Web site started in 2006 by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch business reporter Chris Carey and funded by billionaire Mark Cuban, has posted its first story in the past six months.

However, it’s just a brief update about a Xethanol Corp., a company that the web site has written repeatedly about. The previous story was posted on the site on June 19, 2007. Back then, the story was about a private company.

Says Carey in an e-mail: “Look for a brand new investigation in a few weeks.”

The site has been criticized by some journalists because Cuban has stated that he will short the stocks that the site investigates before the stories are published and use the profits from his trading to fund the site. The June 2007 was the first story in which Cuban did not have an investment.

At that time, Carey also said that the site would be posting more investigations. However, those never materialized.