Scott Zamost is senior investigative producer at CNN where he has worked since 2008.
His most recent investigation was “Rehab Racket,” a groundbreaking investigation into massive fraud in taxpayer-funded drug rehab. The three-part series, a yearlong collaboration with The Center For Investigative Reporting, has resulted in clinic suspensions and referrals for possible criminal prosecution, a statewide audit and government oversight hearing.
Earlier this year, he revealed misconduct at the FBI by obtaining years of confidential disciplinary reports. At CNN, he has produced both investigative reports and documentaries, including the award-winning “Killings At The Canal: The Army Tapes.” The hour-long special investigated the reasons behind the execution of Iraqi detainees by American soldiers.
He won a first place National Headliner Award this year for “Prescription For Cheating,” which revealed how doctors got away with cheating on their medical board exams. His previous National Headliner Award was for a CNN investigation into how the U.S. Postal Service was purchasing expensive homes to relocate executives that cost millions of dollars in taxpayer money.
Prior to CNN, he was the investigative producer at WTVJ/NBC 6 and WPLG-TV in Miami, and was also a producer at CBS News.
At WTVJ/NBC 6, he was the first to obtain photos of the 9/11 hijackers. Before his television news career, he was a newspaper reporter, starting at the Las Vegas Sun where he was an investigative reporter and the gaming editor. The Nevada Press Association awarded him the “Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year.”
His other honors include an IRE award for “Citizenship For Sale,” an investigation he produced at WTVJ/NBC 6 about how illegal immigrants were traveling from around the country to South Florida to buy memberships in an Indian tribe as a so-called way to become U.S. citizens. The operator of the scam was prosecuted and went to jail.
He was won 23 Emmys, two Gold Medals in the New York Festivals awards, the CINE Golden Eagle for investigative reporting, a national Clarion award, five Edward R. Murrow awards, a National Press Club award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University finalist, the Genesis Award, two Florida Associated Press “Best of Show” awards, the SPJ Green Eyeshade grand prize, seven SPJ Green Eyeshade first place awards and six SPJ Sunshine State awards.
For the past 13 years, he has been a speaker at the annual IRE conference, and also spoke this year at the SKUP conference in Norway.