[3] Hudson previously reported on police, prisons, poverty and politics for The Roanoke (Va.) Times and covered business and finance for the Wall Street Journal and the Center for Public Integrity.
[7][8] Columbia Journalism Review has called Hudson the reporter who "beat the world on subprime abuses"[9] and credited him with being ahead of the rest of the media in exposing the fraudulent lending practices that were the driving causes of the mortgage crisis.
In February 2005, Hudson and Los Angeles Times staff writer Scott Reckard broke a story about "boiler room" sales tactics at Ameriquest Mortgage, the flagship company of the nation's largest subprime lending operation and sponsor of the 2005 Super Bowl half-time show.
[17] A follow-up piece focused on the story of General Electric Co.'s foray into subprime in 2004–07, reporting on eight former employees of GE's WMC Mortgage unit who say management brushed them aside when they flagged loans supported by falsified documents, inflated incomes or other legerdemain.
[20] He is also the author of The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America – and Spawned a Global Crisis, published in October 2010 by St. Martin's Press.
The lawyers called Hudson's book, Merchants of Misery, which included a chapter on Ford and Associates, "impertinent" and "scandalous.
"[29] Shortly before the bank was seized by federal regulators, an IndyMac spokesman dismissed the report as a "hit piece" that "relies on unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence.
"[27] The U.S. Department of the Treasury inspector general's office later reported that its investigation indicated IndyMac had done "little, if any, review of borrower qualifications, including income, assets and employment.