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SpotlightDC Grantee's Investigation of Fraud in DC’s Eviction System Wins Award, Reforms Law

Reporter Josh Kaplan's deep dive into DC's eviction system won and led to reform by DC city council.
Sam Delgado, published 06/27/25
An illustration of a judge in a courtroom looking at a missing tenant, who has a sign that says "Eviction Notice" taped onto their body.
Process servers are supposed to deliver summonses that tell tenants about their eviction cases. But a DCist investigation uncovered hundreds of affidavits in the span of just two months, filed by two prolific process servers, that contradict one another. Katty Huertas / DCist

Josh Kaplan’s investigation into fraud in the DC eviction system for DCist stood out for both its "scope and significant impact", according to judges with the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) when they awarded his story "Best Investigative Journalism" category for their 2021 Nonprofit News Award winners.

"The nine-month investigation included looking through more than 13,000 pages of court records, conducting nearly 60 interviews, and reviewing hours of security camera footage to uncover more than 600 cases of questionable affidavits that informed tenants of eviction proceedings," said the INN judges. "The day after the report came out, the city council responded to the probe by closing the loophole. The judges applaud Joshua Kaplan and the Spotlight DC team for their tenacious work on behalf of their community." 

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