How the “Business of Poverty” Really Works (And How You Can Help Me Expose It)

From 1970s Puerto Rican revolutionary to “poverty pimp” insider, now exposing how the business of poverty really works — and asking a new generation to help keep the truth alive.

Why your support matters

I’m a retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran on a fixed Social Security income, working with osteoarthritis and newly diagnosed osteoporosis. Some days my body simply won’t let me work the way my mind still wants to, but I refuse to walk away from exposing the “business of poverty” and the people profiting from it.

Back in the 1970s, I was a Puerto Rican revolutionary, fighting from the inside of the struggle. Over time, as I rose to the top of a prominent organization, I crossed a line and became what I now call a poverty pimp—someone who benefits from the very suffering they claim to be fighting. That’s the truth I owe especially to Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z: you are inheriting systems built by people like me at our best and at our worst, and you deserve to see exactly how the game is played so you don’t repeat our mistakes.

Over the past months, you’ve been getting my investigations from The Vault Investigates for free. There are now 187 of you on this list, …