Brendan Ballou

Brendan Ballou is a former federal prosecutor, author, and public interest lawyer whose career focuses on accountability and economic justice. Ballou graduated from Columbia University and Stanford Law School. He has worked in private practice and previously served in the National Security Division of the Justice Department, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and related policies. Ballou also served as special counsel for private equity at the Justice Department and prosecuted individuals involved in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Ballou is the author of two books on systemic failures in American law and finance. His first book, "Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America," was named one of Fortune's best books of the year. In "Plunder," Ballou examines how private equity has reshaped American business by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive sectors. He details how many private equity firms acquire retailers, medical practices, prison services, nursing-home chains, and mobile-home parks with minimal investment, often leaving companies burdened with debt and extractive fees, resulting in bankruptcy or diminished operations and lasting consequences for communities.

Ballou's second book, "When Companies Run the Courts," explores the rise of forced arbitration and its impact on consumers, workers, and access to justice. The book addresses how individuals who start jobs, sign up for credit cards, or accept website terms may unknowingly forfeit their right to sue. Ballou has written extensively on corruption, corporate accountability, and rule-of-law issues, including opinion essays in the New York Times on forced arbitration and the expansion of private legal systems.

Ballou is CEO of the Public Integrity Project, an organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for corruption through private legal action. He frequently appears on CNN and MSNBC, and his work has been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, Politico, and The Nation. Ballou also serves as a lecturer at Stanford Law School. His career spans frontline prosecution, policy work, and public authorship, focusing on the intersection of corporate power, legal accountability, and American democracy.