Max Abelson reports on Wall Street, money and power for Bloomberg News. He’s covered Jeffrey Epstein’s network, his investments, his library and his work as Leon Black’s fixer. 

He’s reported on pandemic phone calls with a billionaire, one of the biggest bank collapses ever, another that came close, an all-American ETF empire’s secret, a banker’s quest to not be racist, a trillion dollar decade, billions in overdraft fees, star traders in trouble, Wall Street’s secret arbitration system, Cantor Fitzgerald’s soiled mug, a 13-year fight bias fight inside Goldman Sachs, the battle between Barclays and a doctor’s victims, an undocumented immigrant who became a Wall Street star and the fall of black bankers.

He’s chronicled Trump’s money machine, his memecoin, his shrinking fortune, his banker, his moneymen, his origins, his headquarters, his Wall Street tower, his DC Hotel, his failed vodka, his rich friends, and how one turned money into power and power into money.

On The Businessweek Show, he asked Jonathan and Drew Scott, Drew Afualo and Mike Reiss about screens, Jon Corzine and Steve Aoki about second acts, Marc Lasry, Nadia Murad and Kwame Onwuachi about survival, Pinky Cole and Matthew Desmond about ownership, Theaster Gates and Judy Chicago about imagination, Rich Paul and Alice Wong about reputation, Cornel West and Bethann Hardison about ambition, Chip Wilson about moonshots, Jaime Rogozinski, Maeve DuVally and Sophia Chang about risk, and Burt Malkiel, Moriba Jah and Zaila Avant-garde about genius.

During Covid, he covered fevers, workers, tests, fear, the rich, rage and dread.

He’s followed Wall Street’s love of tax cuts, love of self, rookies, villains, violin pools, addictions, connections, donors and parties.

He’s co-written oral histories of Wall Street’s Black bankers and Michael Milken’s rise and fall.

Sometimes, he writes about things that have nothing to do with money, like Janet Malcolm’s interviews and the Grateful Dead’s comments section for n+1, David Byrne’s art in the New York Times, Snoopy’s list in 1977 of the 125 best dub reggae albums, the comedians Tim and Eric and Nazi race cars.

Every now and then he sends Mail from Max.

He was a New York Observer reporter for five years, and aYale Daily News arts editor. His honors include a 2021 New York Press Club award and Longform’s Best of 2020, and his work was included in Columbia University Press’ Best Business Writing in 2013 and 2015. He’s volunteered as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters since 2011, as an editor for the Prison Journalism Project, and was a member of Bloomberg’s Reporter Advisory Board in 2020. He was born in 1984 and lives in Brooklyn with Liza.

If you’d like, you can send him an email.