How Investors Cash In On The $2.9 Billion Boom In Wrongful Incarceration Lawsuits

For the past few decades, state and local governments throughout the U.S. have paid out a total of $2.9 billion dollars to Americans who were wrongly convicted of crimes. Headlines of those big payouts and improvements in DNA technology have attracted investors and companies offering cash advances to exonerees with the hope of substantial payback — that is, if they win their case. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:05 Chapter 1 Life after wrongful conviction 4:39 Chapter 2 What is litigation funding? 6:46 Chapter 3 One exoneree’s story 10:17 Chapter 4 What’s next? Produced by: DeLon Thornton Edited by: Dennis Donovan Camera: Joshua Stoneburner Graphics by: Christina Locopo Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen Additional footage: Getty Images