Vicky Ward

Vicky Ward is a 1 New York Times bestselling author, podcaster, documentary host and producer, former CNN Senior Reporter, magazine editor at large, entrepreneur, and Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford . She uses multi-media to deliver investigative reporting with a specialty in power, money, and corruption in the United States and abroad. Her most recent book about the 2022 killing of four University of Idaho students, The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy (Little, Brown and Company), co-authored with the best-selling novelist James Patterson , was published July 14, 2025, and became an instant 1 New York Times bestseller. On the heels of The Idaho Four, praised by The Guardian as “a mesmerizing read and a great detective story, yet sadly all true,” it was announced that Ward and Patterson will reunite. Their next book, to be published by Little, Brown, will chronicle the events of December 4, 2024, when, at 6:44 a.m., a masked gunman fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the New York Hilton Midtown. Ward is also the host and co-producer of the Audible Original podcast Pipeline to Power: The 40-Year Plan to Capture the Supreme Court and the docu-series Chasing Ghislaine , an explosive investigative series about Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell that premiered on discovery+ in 2021 and was executive produced by bestselling author James Patterson. Chasing Ghislaine is also available as an Audible Original podcast which has been nominated for LIMITED SERIES & SPECIALS: Best Exclusive Content + Experiences in the Signal Awards. Ward was a producer on the 2022 discovery+ docu-series Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty. Her previous book— Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Power. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump (St. Martin’s Press, 2019)—was an instant New York Times bestseller. The book reports on Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, investigating the couple’s international behind-the-scenes business dealings—allegedly done without knowledge of the U.S. State Department or National Security Council. Former senior Trump administration officials claim that this added up to a dangerous brand of “diplomacy in the dark” which has caused havoc all over the world and threatens the democracy of the United States. The book was the first to examine closely Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and it was covered widely in the media on television, radio, podcasts, print, and online including CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX, C-SPAN, NPR, CBC, Sirius XM, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Guardian, Newsweek, Daily Beast, Slate, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, Politico, USA TODAY, Harper’s Bazaar, Axios, The New Republic, and more. Her 2014 book, The Liar’s Ball: The Extraordinary Saga of How one Building Broke the World’s Toughest Tycoons (Wiley), is being developed as a possible feature film. Her 2010 book, The Devil’s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers (Wiley), is a New York Times bestseller. From July 2019 to July 2020, Vicky was a Senior Reporter at CNN . For CNN , she reported on the ousting of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch , the threat of retaliation for the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani , scrutiny of financial dealings between a pro-Trump super PAC and a firm owned by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale , and more. She also covered the Ukraine scandal extensively, investigating in particular the ties between Donald Trump and Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman . She published multiple exclusives, including reporting on Parnas’s claim that he was on a “secret mission” for Trump in Ukraine . As an investigative journalist, Vicky has covered a wide variety of topics, frequently delving into the trials and tribulations of Trump’s presidency. She wrote for The Guardian about Jared Kushner’s questionable private communications and suspicious financial dealings . She wrote for The Daily Be