Berenson joined
The Denver Post in June 1994 as a business reporter. In August 1996, he left the
Post to join
TheStreet, a financial news website founded by
Jim Cramer. In December 1999, Berenson joined
The New York Times as a business investigative reporter. In the fall of 2003 and the summer of 2004, Berenson covered the occupation of Iraq for the
Times. He then covered the pharmaceutical and health care industries, specializing in issues concerning dangerous drugs. Beginning in December 2008, Berenson reported on the
Bernard Madoff $50 billion
Ponzi scheme scandal. In 2010, Berenson left the
Times to become a full-time novelist. He has written 12 spy novels, all featuring the same protagonist,
CIA agent John Wells. His first novel,
The Faithful Spy, was released in April 2006 and won an
Edgar Award for best debut by an American novelist.
The Faithful Spy was ranked #1 on
The New York Times Bestseller List for paperbacks. In 2008, Berenson released his second thriller,
The Ghost War. His third novel,
The Silent Man, followed in 2009. His fourth,
The Midnight House, was released in 2010 and debuted at #9 on
The New York Times bestseller list. The fifth,
The Secret Soldier, was released in 2011 and debuted at #6 on the bestseller list. The sixth,
The Shadow Patrol, was released in 2012, and debuted at #8. In July 2012,
The Shadow Patrol was named a finalist for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, given by Britain's Crime Writers' Association.
Opposition to cannabis legalization In 2019, Berenson authored the book
Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence, which argues that marijuana use contributes to psychotic disorders and violent crime. The book "received positive coverage from
The New Yorker and
Mother Jones for what some called its troubling truths" Many public health experts have rejected his claims. In 2021, Berenson tweeted that COVID-19 vaccinations had led to 50 times more adverse effects than the
flu vaccine.
PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false".
The Atlantic called him "The pandemic's wrongest man", owing to what they termed his "dangerously, unflaggingly, and superlatively wrong" claims of the vaccine's ineffectiveness. On January 25, 2022, Berenson appeared on the Fox News show
Tucker Carlson Tonight declaring that existing mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19, and further demanding that they be withdrawn from the market immediately.
The Washington Posts Philip Bump denounced Carlson for "inviting Berenson on, despite his proven track record of misinformation and cherry-picking" and observed that "Berenson's claims went unchallenged."
Twitter suspension and reinstatement On August 28, 2021,
Twitter permanently suspended Berenson for repeated violations of its policy on COVID-19 misinformation, but after he filed suit in December 2021 demanding reinstatement, Twitter reinstated his account in early summer 2022, in a "mutually acceptable resolution". This reinstatement was referred to as "significant" by
The Atlantic, given that most social-media-banned people fail to win their court cases. Berenson did not regain Twitter access because of a
First Amendment free speech claim, which was rejected by the judge.
Eric Goldman, a law professor at
Santa Clara University School of Law, theorizes that Twitter settled because of documentation of promises made to Berenson by a high-level Twitter employee concerning the nature of his tweets. Goldman stated that Internet company executives have always been advised by their attorneys not to make promises to or even to speak to anyone about their individual accounts "for reasons that should now be obvious". On April 14, 2023, Berenson filed a
lawsuit in a
federal district court against President
Joe Biden in his official capacity, members of his administration in their individual capacities, and a board member and the CEO of
Pfizer alleging that they pressured Twitter to ban him thereby violating his First Amendment protections. On September 29, 2025, U.S. District Judge
Jessica G. L. Clarke dismissed Berenson's lawsuit, ruling that he lacked standing to bring his claim. == Personal life ==