Profiles · Reporters
- Type
- Person
- Role
- Reporter
- Programs
- PPP
- Updated
The profile
Data journalist; co-author of ProPublica's May 2021 investigation of PPP loans to fake farms and co-builder of its "Tracking PPP Loans" database.
Identity and role
Derek Willis is a data journalist formerly at ProPublica (people-directory capture) and now at the University of Maryland (Merrill College capture). He co-authored ProPublica's May 2021 investigation into PPP loans to fake farms with Lydia DePillis.
Pandemic relief coverage role
The ProPublica story identified 378 small PPP loans totaling about $7 million to fake business entities and reported that all came through Kabbage.
He and Moiz Syed are credited on ProPublica's "Tracking PPP Loans" database, its public PPP loan search tool .
Where they are now
The University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism lists Willis as a lecturer in data and computational journalism, and ProPublica's people directory describes his former news-applications role there .
The Kabbage principals, Robert Frohwein and Kathryn Petralia, were later named in DOJ's False Claims Act intervention before Judge Sean D. Jordan (see his profile). The earlier liquidity story that set the pre-PPP Kabbage context was by Zeke Faux and Jenny Surane.
Sources held in this archive
Original source documents and archived captures
- University of Maryland Philip Merrill College profile, Derek Willis
- ICFJ profile/interview, Derek Willis
- Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021
- ProPublica impact page noting Congress opened a probe after the Kabbage report
- ProPublica people directory, Derek Willis
Sources
- Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021 (378 loans / ~$7M, all via Kabbage): Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, "Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places," ProPublica, May 18, 2021 (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- Lydia DePillis and Derek Willis, "An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms. Now Congress Is Investigating," ProPublica, June 18, 2021: An Online Lender Gave Hundreds of PPP Loans to Fake Farms (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- ProPublica, "Tracking PPP Loans: Search Every Company Approved for Federal Loans" (by Moiz Syed and Derek Willis): https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/ local copy
- ProPublica people directory, Derek Willis: ProPublica people directory, Derek Willis (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- University of Maryland Philip Merrill College profile, Derek Willis: University of Maryland Philip Merrill College profile, Derek Willis (original: merrill.umd.edu · stored capture)
- ICFJ profile/interview, Derek Willis: ICFJ profile/interview, Derek Willis (original: icfj.org · stored capture)
- ProPublica impact page noting Congress opened a probe after the Kabbage report: ProPublica impact page noting Congress opened a probe after the Kabbage report (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
- The United States' Complaint in Intervention, United States ex rel. Pietschner v. Petralia, Frohwein & Robinson, No. 4:21-cv-110-SDJ (E.D. Tex.), Doc. 40, filed Dec. 20, 2024