Jacob Shamsian
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Insider & Business Insider


I'm currently a Legal Correspondent at Insider (formerly known as Business Insider) covering courts and big legal cases. You can see highlights from that coverage here.

​Before that, I was a news editor and spent time as a reporter covering general news as well as entertainment. I've extensively covered the Anna Sorokin (AKA Anna Delvey) trial and Alan Dershowitz's sexual misconduct case and produced several scoops from each. Below is a selection of my reporting.

News and analysis:
  • Almost half of Americans now believe the conspiracy theory that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was murdered
  • If everyone except for Bernie and Buttigieg dropped out of the 2020 Democratic race, Bernie would mop the floor
  • She used to be R. Kelly's biggest supporter. Now she could send the R&B icon to prison for life.
  • A prolific scammer posing as different celebrities is flying Instagram influencers across the world in an elaborate scheme to steal their money
  • Meet Jacob Wohl, the 20-year-old who reportedly tried to take down the Mueller investigation — and failed spectacularly
  • One company is teaching schools how to deal with active shooters — and it's making teacher uncomfortable

Court reporting:
  • A sexual misconduct allegation from one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims sparked a quiet war between two of America's most powerful lawyers. Now it's about to blow up.
  • Alan Dershowitz says a new memoir from his accuser proves his innocence, but she's not dropping her lawsuit against him
  • Tekashi 6ix9ine won't be allowed to serve the rest of his 2-year sentence in home confinement even though his prison has a lot of Blood gang members
  • John Glenn was a passenger on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet in 1996, according to unsealed flight records
  • R. Kelly asked a judge for permission to play concerts in Dubai and meet the royal family while he's awaiting trial

Anna Delvey/Sorokin coverage:
  • A Vanity Fair photo editor who says she was scammed by 'SoHo grifter' Anna Delvey wrote a book — and it finally explains how she was caught
  • 2 years ago, 26-year-old Anna Delvey was on a $62,000 vacation in Morocco. Now she's facing 15 years in prison for her elaborate 'fake heiress' scam.
  • 'You're starting to sound like a fraud': A former Vanity Fair editor who says she was scammed by Anna Delvey testified against the fake heiress
  • Netflix is paying for the rights to fake heiress Anna Delvey's life story
  • Fake heiress Anna Delvey lied about her identity to try to get $22 million. Her lawyer says the plan was too inept to send her to prison.
  • ​Prosecutors say alleged socialite scammer Anna Delvey pretended to be an influencer and went on a lavish Morocco trip 'fit for a Kardashian'
  • Alleged socialite scammer Anna Delvey will be deported to Germany if she doesn't wind up in prison

Digital culture coverage:
  • 'I'm done': The Robert Kraft scandal is scaring regulars away from erotic massage parlors
  • 11-year-old Instagram star Lil Tay went silent for months, and now there's a secret battle brewing to control her future
  • A fitness influencer with more than 500,000 followers apologized after fans called her a 'scammer' — but they still aren't ready to forgive her
  • A 'scammer' fitness influencer is starting to give refunds for her nutritional programs — but she's asking people to sign an NDA first
  • Inside YouTuber Jeffree Star's incredible rise from teen MySpace star to a makeup mogul raking in millions
  • How Caroline Calloway went from Instagram influencer with a $500,000 book deal to the creator of her personal 'Fyre Festival'
  • The guy who took a photo of an egg that broke Instagram's world record is shocked it became a meme: 'Egg is just an egg'
  • 'Ted Bundy is a chad': Reddit's misogynist incel community is upset about Zac Efron's serial killer movie
  • A 4-year-old known as 'Mini Jake Paul' is quickly becoming one of YouTube's biggest celebrities — and it exposes a big issue with child stars
  • There's an annual festival for superfans of the movie 'Shrek' — and it's more bizarre than you could ever imagine
  • Meet the man who has dedicated himself to righting the biggest wrong on the internet

Entertainment coverage:
  • 'Succession' actor Nicholas Braun says he's really 6'7'' and has lied about his height in case it spooks casting directors
  • Shen Yun posters are everywhere — here's everything you need to know about the mysterious show and the 'cult' behind it
  • Here's everything you need to know about Tekashi 6ix9ine, the controversial 22-year-old rapper who could go to prison for life
  • Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, and Soon-Yi Previn: Everything you need to know about their history and relationships
  • Casey Affleck won't be presenting at this year's Oscars — here's what you need to know about the allegations against him
  • The new unofficial 'Harry Potter' movie about Voldemort's past is exactly why so many people despise fanfiction
  • The 18 wildest celebrity conspiracy theories on the internet 
  • 15 bewildering conspiracy theories that celebrities think are true
  • 16 huge changes Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' TV show made from the book
  • 48 things you may have missed on Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' season 2
  • 19 'Harry Potter' references you may have missed in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'
  • I grew up on Roald Dahl's books. He would have hated me because I'm Jewish.
  • Snoop Dogg told us why he doesn't have a will: 'I don't give a f--- when I'm dead'

Freelance


In addition to my reporting job at Insider and Business Insider, I've written a handful of articles on a freelance basis. Here are a few of them:
​
Bentley University magazine: Entertainment is Everywhere: The world of distributed content
The Awl: We Need More Time to Mourn
GQ: How to Watch Movies Like New York Times Movie Critic A. O. Scott
The New Republic: The Remaking of the American West
Modern Farmer: Fact-Checking “The Martian”: Can You Really Grow Plants on Mars?
TIME: Gamers Come Together to Save London Arcade After Robbery
TIME: Here’s How Two Magicians Created an Illusion That Fooled the Internet
TIME: Watch This Guy Use a Drone to Rescue Another Drone

Entertainment Weekly


While interning at EW, I wrote over 100 essays, news articles, and reviews. Here are some highlights:

​Adrien Brody's next trick: turning into Houdini

There Should Be A(nother) Sequel: 'National Treasure'
Amazon: Ebook prices are 'unjustifiably high'
'Blood Meridian' deserves a director who understands the Western genre
'Expendables 3' leaks online 3 weeks before theatrical release
Note to movie studios: Give trolls their due!

Pipe Dream


By the end of my junior year, I'd written more articles than anyone else in the history of the arts and culture section of Pipe Dream. I've also edited hundreds of articles published in the section. Here are some of my pieces that I'm most proud of:

​The life and death of a lab rat

J. Hoberman: Once a film student, now living the dream life

The sweeter side to a sugar daddy
The Making of 'The Rewrite'
Becoming Insta-famous is @effortlyss
Nick Offerman talks ‘Parks and Rec,’ spiedies and the superhero he’d like to play
Horsing around on Binghamton’s oldest attractions
The Bing-U Secret is out
Binghamton graduate Nathan Englander writes with dark humor, Jewish wit

Medium


The Commencement Speech I Can't Give
Questions: A Love Story

The Great Jewish-American Novel
Marquez's mistake
The Problem with 'The Jewish Gospels'

On John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’
Moby Dick is Not a Novel: An Anatomy of an Anatomy
What kind of antisemite was Leni Riefenstahl?
What kind of Zionist was Martin Buber?

Other


The advent of Hitler in India
A Personal Journey with Persian filmmaker Jafar Panahi
How a charter school is closing the achievement gap
5 Reasons This Social Enterprise Developed A Strategy Based on Criminals
Aftercare for Victims of Sex Trafficking: The Love146 Strategy

Here's a fun interview I did with Nick Offerman while I was the Release Editor at Pipe Dream. I wrote a couple of articles about his visit here and here.
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  • About
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