Jeffrey Epstein attended Donald Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples on December 20, 1993, at New York’s Plaza Hotel. CNN’s KFile discovered photos showing Epstein among the 1,000 guests, including one with Howard Stern, Robin Leach, and Swedish model Cecilia Nord.
President Bill Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law, creating the first major free trade agreement to include Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions binding developed nations. NAFTA’s Chapter 11 establishes corporate tribunals that allow …
Bill ClintonAl GoreRobert RubinNAFTA Corporate LobbiesMexican Government+1 morenaftafree-tradecorporate-tribunalsisdsinvestor-state-disputes+3 more
U.S. businesses and the Mexican government launch a $25 million coordinated lobbying and public relations campaign to secure Congressional approval of NAFTA, overcoming fierce opposition from labor unions and environmental groups. The Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and National …
Business RoundtableU.S. Chamber of CommerceNational Association of ManufacturersAmerican ExpressMexican Government+2 morenaftacorporate-lobbyingtrade-policylabor-oppositionbusiness-roundtable+2 more
President Clinton signed the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), known as “Motor Voter,” requiring states to offer voter registration when citizens apply for driver’s licenses, at public assistance offices, and through mail-in registration. The law aimed to reverse decades of …
Bill ClintonCongressRepublican GovernorsACORNLeague of Women Votersvoting-rightsfederal-legislationvoter-registrationmotor-voterrepublican-opposition
Zoe Baird withdraws her nomination as Attorney General after revelations that she employed undocumented immigrants as household workers and failed to pay required Social Security taxes. The scandal, dubbed “Nannygate,” generates intense public backlash despite the commonplace nature of …
Bill ClintonZoe BairdU.S. SenateKimba WoodJanet Renoimmigrationpolitical-scandalattorney-generalenforcement-hypocrisyemployer-sanctions
On her final day as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Wendy Gramm approves a regulatory exemption allowing Enron to trade energy derivatives without CFTC oversight. The exemption, granted on January 14, 1993 (some sources cite January 21, the final day of the George H.W. Bush …
Wendy GrammPhil GrammEnron CorporationCFTC Commodity Futures Trading CommissionKenneth Layderivativescorruptionrevolving-doorenronenergy-trading+3 more
In 1993, Philip Morris tobacco company created The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC) through PR firm APCO Associates as a front group to challenge evidence linking secondhand smoke to disease. TASSC became a critical bridge between tobacco industry doubt-manufacturing tactics and …
Philip MorrisThe Advancement of Sound Science CoalitionFrederick SeitzFred SingerAPCO Associates+1 moreclimate-denialtobacco-industrymanufactured-doubtfrederick-seitzcorporate-disinformation
President George H.W. Bush issues sweeping pardons to six Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas Eve, twelve days before former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger’s trial was scheduled to begin. The pardons cover Weinberger, former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, former Assistant …
George H.W. BushCaspar WeinbergerRobert McFarlaneElliott AbramsLawrence Walshiran-contrapresidential-pardonsobstruction-of-justiceaccountabilitycover-up
Oregon voters defeat Ballot Measure 9 by a margin of 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent, rejecting what has been described as “one of the most comprehensive and harshest anti-gay measures put to voters in American history.” The initiative, sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) and …
Oregon Citizens AllianceLon MabonChristian CoalitionNo on 9 Coalitioninstitutional-capturereligious-rightanti-lgbtq-legislationballot-initiativesgrassroots-resistance
The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, the iconic luxury property Trump had purchased in 1988 for $407.5 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 1992 under the weight of over $550 million in debt. Trump had financed the purchase almost entirely with borrowed money, and the …
Donald TrumpTrump Plaza Hotelbankruptcybusiness failurenew yorkhotelsfinancial history+2 more
The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1992 fundamentally restructured FDA drug approval financing by creating a direct financial relationship between pharmaceutical companies and regulators. The Act mandated drug companies pay fees to fund FDA drug reviews, which eventually comprised up to …
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of AmericaU.S. CongressPharmaceutical Companiesregulatory-capturepharmaceutical-industryfdagovernment-fundinginstitutional-transformation
Russia launched the world’s largest privatization program, distributing vouchers worth 10,000 rubles each to approximately 148 million citizens, enabling the privatization of over 15,000 medium and large enterprises. The program was designed and implemented by Anatoly Chubais, chairman of the …
Anatoly ChubaisBoris YeltsinState Committee for State Property ManagementRussian Governmentrussiaprivatizationshock-therapyoligarchswealth-transfer+4 more
Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators about the Iran-Contra scandal, marking the highest-ranking Reagan administration official charged in the affair. Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh brings the …
Bill Clinton stunned Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition by using a speech to the civil rights organization to attack rapper/activist Sister Souljah, comparing her to white nationalist David Duke. Sister Souljah had been quoted in The Washington Post saying, in the aftermath of the LA riots, …
Bill ClintonSister SouljahJesse JacksonRainbow CoalitionDemocratic Partyracial-politicsdog-whistle-politicspolitical-strategydemocratic-partytriangulation+1 more
Following the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King beating and the subsequent civil unrest, the Immigration and Naturalization Service collaborates with the LAPD to conduct sweeping arrests targeting undocumented immigrants among those detained during the riots. INS officials …
Immigration and Naturalization ServiceLos Angeles Police DepartmentPete WilsonGeorge H.W. Bushimmigrationdeportationcivil-unrestracial-profilingenforcement-escalation
The United Automobile Workers ends its five-month strike against Caterpillar on April 14, 1992, after the company announces it will begin permanently replacing the 12,600 striking workers. The UAW—the union that pioneered industrial unionism with the Flint sit-down strike—capitulates without a …
Caterpillar Inc.United Automobile WorkersDonald Fiteslaborstrikepermanent-replacementpattern-bargainingmanufacturing+1 more
Trump Castle and Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 9, 1992, marking Trump’s second and third casino bankruptcies in less than a year. Trump Castle faced $338 million in bond debt it could not service, while Trump Plaza was …
Donald TrumpTrump CastleTrump Plazabankruptcybusiness failureatlantic citycasinosfinancial history+1 more
Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the liberalization of foreign trade, prices, and currency, launching the radical ‘shock therapy’ economic transformation designed by Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, a 35-year-old liberal economist advised by Harvard’s Jeffrey Sachs. The …
Boris YeltsinYegor GaidarJeffrey SachsHarvard UniversityInternational Monetary Fund+1 moreshock-therapyrussiashock-doctrineneoliberalismprivatization+5 more
Harvard University’s Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) received a $40.4 million contract from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide advice on privatization and market reforms in post-Soviet Russia, awarded without normal competitive …
Harvard Institute for International DevelopmentAndrei ShleiferJonathan HayLawrence SummersUnited States Agency for International Development+1 morerussiaharvardusaidshock-therapyprivatization+4 more
Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs became a formal economic advisor to Boris Yeltsin’s economic team in December 1991, after Yegor Gaidar—soon to be acting Prime Minister—contacted him in September requesting he come to Moscow to discuss Russia’s economic crisis. At that stage, Russia faced …
Jeffrey SachsBoris YeltsinMikhail GorbachevYegor GaidarGeorge H.W. Bush+3 morerussiajeffrey-sachsharvardshock-therapyforeign-policy+4 more
The Senate Ethics Committee concludes its Keating Five investigation with formal reprimands and rebukes, documenting systematic corruption where five senators traded regulatory intervention for $1.5 million in campaign contributions from Charles Keating. Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA) receives the …
Alan CranstonDennis DeConciniDonald RiegleJohn GlennJohn McCain+2 morekeating-fivesenate-ethicscorruptioncampaign-contributionsregulatory-capture
Customs and bank regulators in seven countries simultaneously raid and shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), exposing what becomes known as the largest corporate criminal enterprise in history. The shutdown follows a Price Waterhouse investigation ordered by the Bank of …
William CaseyManuel NoriegaAdnan KhashoggiManucher Ghorbanifarcorruptionmoney-launderingciadrug-traffickingiran-contra+1 more
Donald Trump’s Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 1991, just over one year after its lavish April 1990 opening. The casino, which Trump had called “the eighth wonder of the world,” was buried under nearly $3 billion in debt, …
Donald TrumpTrump Taj Mahalbankruptcybusiness failureatlantic citycasinosfinancial history+1 more
New Jersey casino regulators fined Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino $200,000—at the time one of the largest civil rights penalties ever imposed on an Atlantic City casino—for systematically removing Black employees and women from craps tables to accommodate the racist demands of Robert LiButti, a …
Donald TrumpRobert LiButtiKip Brownracismtrump businesscasinoemployment discrimination
On June 4, 1991, Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson signed the nation’s first charter school law, creating a new category of publicly funded but independently operated schools that would transform American education over the following three decades. The legislation, championed by the Citizens …
Governor Arne CarlsonMinnesota LegislatureCitizens LeagueTed KolderieJoe Nathaneducationcharter-schoolsprivatizationschool-choicemodel-legislation
Between 1991 and 2009, Donald Trump’s hotel and casino businesses filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six times, establishing a clear pattern: borrow heavily using high-interest debt and other people’s money, operate businesses unprofitably or make unrealistic revenue projections, …
Donald Trumpbankruptcybusiness failureatlantic citycasinosfinancial history+3 more
By 1991, the George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) had evolved into a central node in the fossil fuel industry’s climate denial infrastructure, receiving funding from ExxonMobil and other energy companies to attack climate science. Founded in 1984 by physicists Frederick Seitz (former President …
George C. Marshall InstituteFrederick SeitzFred SingerRobert JastrowWilliam Nierenberg+2 moreclimate-denialthink-tank-fundingfossil-fuelsscientific-disinformationfred-singer
President George H.W. Bush signs the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT), the most significant expansion of legal immigration since the Hart-Celler Act of 1965. The law increases annual immigration limits from 500,000 to 700,000 for the first three years and 675,000 thereafter, creates the Diversity …
George H.W. BushEdward KennedyAlan SimpsonU.S. Congressimmigrationlegal-immigrationdiversity-visah1bemployment-visas
On November 15, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Clean Air Act Amendments, the most significant update to air pollution law since 1970. While the law achieved real environmental gains, the legislative process demonstrated how industry successfully shaped regulatory approaches to minimize …
George H.W. BushEnvironmental Defense FundEdison Electric InstituteAmerican Petroleum InstituteNational Coal Association+1 moreenvironmentalclean-air-actregulatory-captureemissions-tradingcorporate-lobbying+1 more
In the final week of his Senate race against Harvey Gantt—the first African American major party Senate candidate in North Carolina—incumbent Republican Jesse Helms aired the notorious ‘Hands’ or ‘White Hands’ advertisement. The ad depicted white hands crumpling a job …
Jesse HelmsHarvey GanttAlex CastellanosCarter WrennRepublican Partyracial-politicsdog-whistle-politicspolitical-advertisingrepublican-partyaffirmative-action+1 more
Charles H. Keating Jr. was indicted on 42 counts of fraud and racketeering related to the Lincoln Savings and Loan collapse. The indictment exposed massive financial fraud involving risky junk bond investments that led to billions in losses for investors and taxpayers.
Charles H. Keating Jr.Charles Keating IIIfinancial-fraudsavings-and-loan-crisiscorporate-crimeracketeeringwhite-collar-crime
In May 1990, Vladimir Putin transitioned from active KGB service to local government, becoming an international affairs advisor to St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. This pivotal moment marked a complex personnel migration from intelligence services into emerging democratic administrative roles, …
Vladimir PutinAnatoly SobchakKGB PersonnelSt. Petersburg City Administrationputin-biographyinstitutional-transitionregulatory-capturepersonnel-migrationpost-soviet-russia
On March 27, 1990, Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson signed legislation creating the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the nation’s first publicly-funded voucher program allowing public tax dollars to pay private school tuition. The program, initially limited to 1,000 low-income …
Governor Tommy ThompsonRepresentative Polly WilliamsBradley FoundationMilwaukee Public Schoolseducationvouchersprivatizationschool-choicemilwaukee+1 more
Former President Ronald Reagan is questioned under oath in a videotaped deposition for the trial of former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, providing 293 pages of testimony in which he repeatedly claims he cannot recall virtually any specific details of the Iran-Contra affair. …
Ronald ReaganJohn Poindexteriran-contrareagan-administrationaccountabilityperjurycover-up
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals Hoover Institution as unique conservative think tank exploiting Stanford University affiliation for academic credibility while advancing corporate-conservative agenda. Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover as library, the institution transformed into policy …
Hoover InstitutionHerbert HooverStanford UniversityRonald ReaganGeorge Shultz+4 moreorganizational-profileacademic-credibilitythink-tank-infrastructurereagan-administrationconservative-economics+2 more
The United States launches Operation Just Cause, deploying nearly 26,000 combat troops in the largest and most complex military operation since the Vietnam War to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. The invasion targets two dozen locations throughout Panama in a massive show of force …
George H.W. BushManuel Noriegaforeign-policyciadrug-traffickingmilitary-interventionlatin-america
On September 25, 1989, at an organizational meeting in Atlanta, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition following his unsuccessful 1988 Republican presidential bid. Robertson recruited Ralph Reed, a twenty-eight-year-old doctoral student in history at Emory University, as the …
Pat RobertsonRalph ReedChristian Coalitionreligious-rightgrassroots-organizingelectoral-infrastructurestealth-candidatescultural-warfare
President George H.W. Bush signs the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), authorizing a $160.1 billion taxpayer bailout of the savings and loan industry—with $132 billion coming directly from taxpayers through higher taxes and fees. The legislation creates the …
George H.W. BushCongressResolution Trust CorporationFederal Deposit Insurance Corporations&l-crisisfirreabailouttaxpayersderegulation-failure+1 more
Congress begins investigating whether HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce engaged in mismanagement and abuse of resources during his eight-year tenure under Reagan, uncovering that the department became a center of influence peddling and favoritism toward Pierce’s friends and political allies. During …
Samuel PierceDeborah Gore DeanJames WattThomas DemeryU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionhousing-policyrevolving-door
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North is convicted on May 4, 1989, of three felony charges stemming from his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal: accepting an illegal gratuity (a security fence for his home), aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the …
Oliver NorthGerhard GesellLawrence Walshiran-contrareagan-administrationobstruction-of-justiceaccountabilitylegal-immunity
Two weeks after five Black and Latino teenagers were arrested for the brutal rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park, Donald Trump spent $85,000 to place full-page advertisements in four major New York newspapers calling for their execution. The ads, which appeared in The New York Times, New …
Donald TrumpYusef SalaamKorey WiseAntron McCrayKevin Richardson+1 moreracismcentral park fivecriminal justicedeath penalty
Federal regulators seize Lincoln Savings and Loan, ending Charles Keating’s systematic fraud scheme that ultimately costs taxpayers $2.3 billion—one of the costliest S&L failures in American history. The seizure comes after years of regulatory delays caused by political interference from …
Charles KeatingFederal Home Loan Bank BoardResolution Trust CorporationLincoln Savings and LoanKeating Five Senatorscharles-keatinglincoln-savingss&l-crisisfraudseizure+1 more
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil and devastating 1,300 miles of coastline. Beyond the immediate environmental catastrophe, Exxon’s response established a template for corporate liability evasion …
The International Association of Machinists begins a strike against Eastern Airlines on March 4, 1989, joined by pilots and flight attendants in solidarity action that effectively grounds the carrier. The strike targets Frank Lorenzo, whose Texas Air Corporation acquired Eastern in 1986 and …
Eastern AirlinesFrank LorenzoInternational Association of MachinistsAir Line Pilots AssociationTexas Air Corporationlaborstrikeairline-industrycorporate-raiderunion-destruction+1 more
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) completes the largest leveraged buyout in history, acquiring RJR Nabisco for $25 billion in equity ($31.1 billion including assumed debt) at $109 per share, establishing the template for private equity wealth extraction that will be replicated thousands of times over …
Ronald Reagan leaves office with a domestic legacy of systematic corruption, regulatory capture, and policy failures that define American political economy for decades. The S&L crisis triggered by his deregulation will ultimately cost taxpayers $160 billion and require prosecuting 1,000+ bankers …
Ronald ReaganGeorge H.W. BushAmerican publicreagan-legacycorruptionpolicy-failureeconomic-inequalityderegulation
In 1989, major fossil fuel and automobile companies formed the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), an industry front group that would spend over a decade blocking international climate action while publicly claiming the science was uncertain. Internal documents later revealed the coalition’s own …
ExxonMobilShellChevronFord Motor CompanyGeneral Motors+3 moreenvironmentalclimate-denialcorporate-lobbyingfossil-fuelsregulatory-capture+1 more
Silverado Savings and Loan collapses with losses exceeding $1 billion to taxpayers, exposing serious conflicts of interest involving Neil Bush, son of Vice President-elect George H.W. Bush. Neil Bush served on Silverado’s board of directors from 1985-1988, during which he approved over $130 …
Neil BushGeorge H.W. BushSilverado Savings and LoanFederal Deposit Insurance CorporationGood International+1 moreneil-bushsilverados&l-crisisconflict-of-interestfraud+1 more
IBP Inc., the nation’s largest meatpacking company, agrees to pay a $975,000 fine and implement a comprehensive ergonomics program to address rampant repetitive motion injuries at its Dakota City, Nebraska beef plant, settling what OSHA officials call “the worst example of underreporting …
IBP Inc.Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationUnited Food and Commercial WorkersCongressional investigatorslabor-exploitationregulatory-capturecorporate-corruptionworkplace-safetymeatpacking+1 more
President Ronald Reagan signs the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, introducing the “aggravated felony” concept into immigration law for the first time. Initially defined narrowly to include murder, federal drug trafficking, and illicit trafficking in certain firearms or destructive devices, …
Ronald ReaganU.S. CongressDepartment of JusticeImmigration and Naturalization Serviceimmigrationdeportationwar-on-drugsmandatory-minimumdue-process+1 more