The Wallace Case: A Public Dossier on Journalistic Appropriation and Missing Attribution in Sam Edwards’s Reporting for The Guardian

Los Ángeles Press documents an investigation by Guadalupe Lizárraga that began in 2014 and developed over twelve years.

The Guardian credits the report to Sam Edwards. Lizárraga is mentioned once, without identifying her investigation or crediting Los Ángeles Press.

On 31 May 2014, Guadalupe Lizárraga disclosed two birth certificates for Hugo Alberto: the first as Hugo Alberto Miranda Torres and the second as Hugo Alberto Wallace Miranda. On 21 April 2019, Lizárraga disclosed the third certificate as Hugo Alberto León Miranda, bearing the surname of his biological father, Carlos León Miranda; Los Ángeles Press published the corresponding report on 22 April.

The Guardian attributes the discovery of multiple identities and birth certificates to David Bertet and ‘a colleague’. The linked publications establish that Lizárraga had documented and disclosed those records beginning in 2014 and completed the triple identity in 2019.

The investigation has publications, documents and a chronological collection accessible through Los Ángeles Press.

The current version does not link to Lizárraga’s investigation or to the Los Ángeles Press publications.

The linked publications and proceedings document the sequence denounced by Guadalupe Lizárraga: Ricardo Raphael’s prior knowledge of her investigation; access to and use of case files; the subsequent reformulation of findings and hypotheses; and the start of litigation over plagiarism and authorship in 2019. In 2023, Raphael answered the claim and filed a counterclaim for moral damages in civil case 727/2019.

The Guardian presents Raphael as a source and reports a hypothesis attributed to him, but does not tell readers about those prior publications, Lizárraga’s authorship claim or the judicial background concerning the provenance and use of the materials.