Cristina Alesci is a Money & Politics correspondent for CNN. Based out of the network’s New York bureau, she covers and analyzes ethical challenges facing business executives and government officials.

In the past, she has covered breaking news as well as financial fraud and controversies facing major companies.

Her investigative series focuses on public policy issues of the 2016 election cycle, food production, and documenting the early struggles of successful leaders.

Cristina Alesci grew up in Queens, New York. She was raised in a neighborhood that was predominantly blue collar.

In 2008, Alesci graduated with a M.A. in Journalism with honors from City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. Before that, she graduated magna cum laude from Pace University in 2001, attaining a B.S. in Criminal Justice. In between earning her degrees, she received a post-baccalaureate certificate in Business from Columbia University.

While in graduate school, she broke a story that gained national recognition.

Her reporting uncovered an FBI file on journalist David Halberstam in the mid-1960s.

The story was followed by the Associated Press , Politico , and the Huffington Post

After freelancing for several local New York City publications and an internship at the New York Daily News , Alesci started as a reporter for Bloomberg News in 2009. She covered mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and venture capital. She broke news on the biggest deals of the decade, including Facebook's initial public offering and Dell’s takeover battle.

She later transitioned to Bloomberg Television.

Cristina Alesci joined CNN in May 2014 as a television and digital correspondent for CNNMoney and the network's Newsroom programs. She also appears on CNN International, and HLN. As a business reporter, Alesci has interviewed leading CEOs, including Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz, J.P. Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, Blackstone's CEO Steve Schwarzman, and J.Crew 's Mickey Drexler. She has also interviewed hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on his battle against nutritional supplement maker Herbalife.

In 2016, Alesci covered stories examining potential conflicts of interest faced by both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. As part of CNN's Reality Check team, she fact-checked several statements made by Donald Trump, including the claim that she ran the U.S. State Department like her own personal hedge fund. She and her team mentioned that Trump cited several examples from the book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer, but received backlash after they concluded there was "no hard evidence of a quid pro quo" that “Clinton’s State Department approved the transfer of 20% of America’s uranium holdings to Russia while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation.”

Since the election, Alesci has reported extensively on the family businesses of both President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. She has reported on senior members of the Trump Administration coinciding with their financial interests. She also appears regularly on The Lead with Jake Tapper's Conflicts of Interest Watch. Already having a background covering Wall Street and corporate America, she covered stories on the inner workings of the administration, as well as the formation of outside business councils possibly affiliated with its members.

In 2016, she and CNN released a docu-series entitled, Raw Ingredients: The unprocessed story of where your food comes from. She investigates some of the country's biggest food producers to reveal the system's supplying of the nation's food and to reveal the hidden story of what Americans are eating.

In 2017, Cristina Alesci partook in the production of CNN Money's The American Dream New York. In the film, she documented the lives, Russell Simmons, Howard Schultz, Ursula Burns, Mickey Drexler, and Alan Greenspan. The documentary aims to highlight some of New York's most successful natives to learn more about their personal struggles growing up and how living in New York during the first half of the 20th century shaped their drive for success.

Cristina currently resides in New York City. Her sister, Isabella Alesci, works for Refinery29 and posts photos frequently. She is married and has a cat named Aria.

She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 35. Her passion before covering financial news was food; she created a series that covered the food industry on CNN.

She is a fan of EDM music. After interviewing David Guetta, Tiësto, and Sebastian Ingrosso, she has taken on DJing and practices on her own turntable.