The ‘bingo’ moments that bring a story to life

There are some very rare “bingo” moments in journalism where after a lot of hard work and preparation, you suddenly strike gold. It can be accessing a document you have been told of but can’t get your hands on. It can be tracking down an obscure interviewee who has eluded other people over decades.

For investigative reporter Adele Ferguson, her bingo moment came to light this week when she confronted financial adviser Kris Ridgway with claims he had sucked in multiple investors with promises of large returns by buying unlisted shares, which he then offloaded and made large commissions from.

Usually, in these situations, people run a mile, threaten you with lawyers or try to blame others.

But Ferguson’s video interview with Ridgway is compulsory and compelling viewing because he admits to wrongdoing.

“I don’t want to think of myself as a crook but some of my actions in recent times have been terribly unlawful. I’m ashamed and sorry,” he tells Ferguson in an investigation published this week by The Sydney Morning Herald and broadcast on 60 Minutes.

If you haven’t seen it, or read it, I entreat you to do so now. It is a fascinating and astonishing admission that is hard to watch without involuntarily gasping for breath.

But of course, this interview is just one small part of a year-long media investigation into a global investment scheme that Ferguson has uncovered. While the details of the scheme are somewhat complex, what is crystal clear is that thousands of investors from Australia and around the world have been duped by advisers who have been pocketing large amounts of cash for themselves and leaving their clients high and dry.

So far, we have published three stories in this series and more investors are coming forward each day who have become entangled in this type of scheme and left scrambling to get their money back. We will tell their stories in the coming days.

Ferguson is one of the best journalists in the country to expose such schemes. She has the tenacity, intelligence and vision to bring such unscrupulous practices to light. In the past year alone she has done major investigations into the widespread systematic rorting and abuse of Medicare and cosmetic cowboy doctors who have left patients permanently maimed and in pain. Her work has led to legislative change and forced unscrupulous operators out of business.