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☆ Sony is making a bold bet on an African gaming startup to boost PlayStation’s reach in the continent
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sony is making a bold bet on Africa's video game industry. The Japanese consumer electronics and gaming giant has invested an undisclosed sum into Carry1st, a video game studio based in Cape Town, South Africa, via its Sony Innovation Fund venture arm, Carry1st told CNBC exclusively. The deal is a strategic investment that will see the two companies partner on a range of commercial opportunities. "We believe very firmly that there is an incredibly underrated console opportunity in Africa," Robbin-Coker said, citing countries like Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria as places where console adoption is rising a lot. Sony is coming into an emerging gaming market with blistering growth potential.

Persons: Carry1st, Cordel, Coker Organizations: Sony, Sony Innovation Fund, CNBC, PlayStation Locations: Cape Town , South Africa, Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Konvoy

☆ A formfitting blazer and Chelsea boots, or jeans and high-top sneakers? Here's how the 2023 rising stars of VC put together their 'power outfits.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Many of this year's VC rising stars told Business Insider that their go-to power outfits included apparel like tailored sport coats or Chelsea boots, and more casual pieces like hoodies and well-fitting jeans. Very few investors are wearing collared shirts with their jackets, opting instead to pair it with a t- shirt and jeans. Nmachi Jidemna told Business Insider that for her everyday wear, her go-to was "usually a structured blazer with a relaxed pair of jeans." Lori Harvey (left) and Heidi Klum (right) wearing red outfits. Black flowy trousers, black turtleneck, and chunky black boots."

Persons: that's, Laura Bock, Nmachi Jidemna, Javier Grevely, Ralph Lauren, Tobi Coker, Janelle Teng, Patron's Amber Atherton, Jason Yeh, Ashley Paston, Justin Williams, VCs, Mahati Sridhar, Grady Dick, Michelle Farsi, Pear, Vivien Ho, Lori Harvey, Heidi Klum, Valentina Frugiuele, Bauer, Griffin, Luci Fonseca, RTFKT, Brandon Hoffman, JL, Sarah Wu, Emerson, Fiona Huang, Demi Obayomi, Natalie Borowski, Daisy Wolf, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Business, Wellington Management, Converse, Seae Ventures, Getty, GV, Nike, Sunset Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures Locations: London, Chelsea

☆ From bouldering to silent meditation retreats: Here's how this year's rising stars of VC are keeping their wellness on track while hunting down deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

And these rising stars of the VC world are at the forefront of the trend, with many adopting various wellness routines. Business Insider asked this year's rising stars to name their best wellness hack that keeps them at the top of their game. Find ways to get movingMany rising stars in VC have a relationship with exercise that goes beyond an obligatory hour at the gym or a forced jog around the block. "It's amazing how taking just 10 minutes out of my day helps set the pace and structure for the rest of the day so well," she told Business Insider. she told Business Insider.

Persons: Base10, Justin Williams, Fiona Huang, Huang, Laura Bock, Amanda Herson, Taylor Brandt, Luci Fonseca, It's, Vivien Ho, VCs, journaling, Ashley Paston, Ahmed Mirza, who's, Amber Atherton, Brandon Hoffman, Tobi Coker, Wellington Management's Javier Grevely, Natalie Borowski, I've Organizations: Business, Seae Ventures, Ventures, Headline, Base10 Investors, Meritech, Sunset Ventures Locations: New York, Eastern, Brooklyn

☆ Africa's gaming market is expected to top $1 billion in 2024 — in the face of a global slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Africa's video game market has been doing well. Africa's video game market is having a moment. Sub-Saharan Africa's gaming industry is expected to generate over $1 billion for the first time in 2024, according to data shared exclusively with CNBC. Despite that, Africa's video game market has been doing well. The global games market generated $182.9 billion of revenue in 2022, down 5.1% from 2021, according to Newzoo.

Persons: Covid lockdowns, Cordel, Coker, Covid Organizations: CNBC, World Bank Locations: Africa, Cape Town, Saharan Africa

☆ NJ deli stock fraud defendant denied bail as judge calls him a serious flight risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023. A magistrate judge had approved Peter Coker Jr.'s release on a $1.5 million bond in late March, but he remained in an Essex County jail as prosecutors appealed the ruling. He added that Coker Jr.'s local doctors had advised him not to travel because of his health issues. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes acknowledged that Coker Jr. had health concerns, but said officials could have made arrangements to ensure his safety while traveling. After the judge delivered her ruling, Coker Jr.'s mother cried in the gallery and outside of the courtroom.

☆ Ex-fugitive in $100 million N.J. deli case granted bail, but kept jailed as feds fight release
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023. A former fugitive in the securities fraud case of the notorious $100 million New Jersey deli has been granted bail — but he remains in jail as federal prosecutors fight his release by arguing he remains a serious flight risk. Coker Jr., 53, was charged in September along with his father, Peter Coker Sr., and another man, James Patten, in a 12-count indictment alleging securities fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say the scheme was designed to make both companies attractive targets for so-called reverse mergers with private companies. The elder Coker and Patten were arrested at the time of the indictment in North Carolina, where they reside.

Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023. NEWARK, N.J. – A former fugitive in the securities fraud case involving a New Jersey deli company once valued at $100 million renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2019, prosecutors revealed Thursday as they asked a judge to deny him bail. In the same letter, prosecutors said Coker Jr. had "stood to make tens of millions of dollars" from a hoped-for reverse merger of the deli company, which the goal of the "complex, long-term fraud' spanning at least seven years that grossly inflated its stock price. CNBC in 2021 published several dozen articles that exposed eyebrow-raising consulting agreements, troubled legal histories, and other issues related to people connected to the deli company. I have no intention to return to live or work in the U.S., and have therefore decided to renounce my U.S.

☆ Ex-fugitive in fraud scheme tied to $100 million NJ deli willing to pay millions for bail
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Watching from the gallery was Coker's mother, Susan, and his father, Peter Coker Sr., 80, who is also a defendant in the case. "He looks good," Susan Coker told her son's lawyers, John Azzaerello and Bill McGovern, afterward. Coker Jr. is "pretty much willing to stake every nickel he has" to be released on bond, Azzarello said. After the hearing, Azzarello told CNBC, "I don't think this case, by any means, requires pretrial detention." Coker Sr. and Patten, who were arrested in September after a grand jury indicted them and Coker Jr. on 12 criminal counts, each remain free on $100,000 bond.

☆ Ex-fugitive in $100 million New Jersey deli case leaves Thailand for U.S. court hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023. Coker Jr., 54, was arrested in the resort area of Phuket, Thailand, in mid-January. He was apprehended more than three months after the well-publicized arrests in North Carolina of his two co-defendants: his father Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten. Since his arrest by Thai authorities, Coker Jr. had been held in a Bangkok jail and was awaiting transport to the U.S., having waived extradition. A spokesman for the prosecutors' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ $100 million New Jersey deli fugitive Peter Coker Jr. agrees to extradition to U.S. from Thailand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A former fugitive wanted on criminal stock manipulation charges related to a money-losing New Jersey deli once valued at $100 million has agreed to be extradited from Thailand to the United States, Thai authorities said. Peter Coker Jr., 54, was arrested last week by Thai police in the resort area of Phuket, less than four months after he, his father, Peter Coker Sr., and an associate, James Patten, were indicted in New Jersey federal court. Coker Jr., who most recently was known to be living and working as a businessman in Hong Kong, is being held in a Bangkok jail for the next several weeks before his expected extradition, the Associated Press reported Friday. Thai police, in a statement, said Coker Jr., who is an American most recently known to be living in Hong Kong, had entered the country with a passport issued by the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis. "Mr. Coker Jr. voluntarily consented to be extradited to the U.S., which has simplified the court's legal process," Teerat Limpayaraya, a prosecutor in Thailand's Attorney General's office, told the AP.

☆ Police in Thailand arrested an American man in connection with an alleged fraud that left a New Jersey deli worth $100 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Thai police arrested a man over an alleged fraud involving a firm that owned a New Jersey deli. Peter Coker Jr. was detained on January 11 at a hotel in Phuket, the Bangkok Post reported. His father, Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten were arrested in September and have pleaded not guilty. Coker Jr was the subject of arrest warrants issued by Interpol, per the Post, after being accused of stock market manipulation and fraud in September. The Post reported that Coker Jr. admitted he was the man wanted on the Interpol register.

☆ Fugitive $100 million New Jersey deli defendant Peter Coker Jr. arrested in Thailand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Peter Coker Jr., who last was known to be living in Hong Kong, is one of three people charged in the case involving the deli owner, Hometown International , and a related shell company, E-Waste . The Bangkok Post reported that the 54-year-old Coker Jr. was arrested on Jan. 11 in a hotel room in the Thalang district of Phuket province, Thailand. The newspaper said Coker Jr. was arrested pursuant to so-called red and black notices issued by the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol. Local Thai police, working with the FBI, arrested Coker, after tracking him to the hotel, The Post reported. Coker Jr. had served as chairman of Hometown International, whose sole asset for years was the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

☆ Judge pauses SEC case in alleged NJ deli stock fraud in favor of criminal probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Federal prosecutors had requested earlier in December that the judge postpone the SEC case due to considerable overlap with their criminal litigation. Judge Christine O'Hearn granted that request on Wednesday, stating that there was no opposition from either the SEC or the defendants. It was the sole asset of Hometown International, a company controlled by financiers James Patten, Peter Coker Sr. and Peter Coker Jr. Your Hometown Deli made under $40,000 in annual revenue despite Hometown International's $100 million market value, according to public filings. Prosecutors say Patten convinced Morina to open the deli under the umbrella of Hometown International.

☆ Federal prosecutors ask judge to postpone SEC case in alleged New Jersey deli stock fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey want the Securities and Exchange Commission to postpone its civil case against the alleged masterminds behind a $100 million fraud scheme involving a small-town deli so it won't get in the way of their ongoing criminal case. Prosecutors for the District of New Jersey filed a motion on Wednesday saying the SEC's case "substantially" overlaps with their ongoing criminal case and the civil matter should be postponed until the litigation, including a potential trial, is completed, court records show. Postponing the civil case would "preserve the integrity" of the ongoing prosecution by preventing the defendants from seeing the extent of the government's evidence against them, federal prosecutors argued in the filing. The SEC and the attorneys for the suspects consented to the request, which is common in such cases. A telephone conference is scheduled in the criminal case for Dec. 14, but it's expected to be mostly procedural and an opportunity for the prosecutors and defense attorneys to update the judge on the status of the litigation.

☆ Defendant in NJ deli stock fraud case makes $2,500 a month from similar shell company
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Med Spa, which wasn't named in the indictment, also pays $2,500 a month in consulting fees to Patten's firm Benchmark Capital. Patten's name hasn't appeared in Med Spa filings. Authorities also said they artificially inflated the market value of Hometown International and E-Waste by 939% and 19,900% respectively. Like the other two shell companies, Med Spa Vacations had an initial business goal—in this case, "specialized wellness vacation packages"—that was abandoned in favor of initiating a reverse merger. Med Spa is currently in search of a company with which to complete a reverse merger.

☆ Florida's Hispanic voters back DeSantis over Crist, support Martha's Vineyard migrant flights
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Marc Caputo | Noah Pransky | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Florida’s Hispanic voters back Gov. “There are lots of Hispanic voters in this state who really like the governor’s style, this strongman who won’t back down. And Crist has no mojo,” said Coker, who conducted the bilingual survey of 625 likely Hispanic voters from Oct. 17-22. And other Hispanic voters from throughout Latin America also side with Crist over DeSantis by a narrower percentage, 53% to 43%. Both DeSantis and Crist receive strong support from voters registered with their respective parties, but DeSantis has slightly more intense intraparty support than Crist, and the governor is leading among independent Hispanic voters by a 22-point margin.

☆ Men charged in stock fraud case involving a small-town NJ deli are set to appear in federal court
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Federal prosecutors have described the case as a tale of international fraud and betrayal. Peter Coker Jr., 53, the son of Coker Sr., is based in Hong Kong and is considered at large. Federal authorities sought to jail Coker Sr. before agreeing to a conditional release. The men are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to manipulate securities prices. The peculiarities surrounding Your Hometown Deli first caught the eye of hedge-fund manager David Einhorn in 2021.

☆ Feds sought to jail father charged in $100 million New Jersey deli scam with Hong Kong-based son at large
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Federal authorities sought to detain one of the men charged in an alleged multiyear fraud scheme involving a neighborhood deli in a small New Jersey town, according to court records. The man – Peter Coker, Sr., 80 – was arrested Monday in North Carolina and then let go after the government agreed to the conditions surrounding his release. Both he and Coker Sr. are expected to appear in a New Jersey federal court at a yet-to-be-determined date. The three men are charged with 12 counts, including securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Coker Jr. was the chairman of Hometown International, while Coker Sr. was a major shareholder.

☆ $100 million N.J. deli scheme leads to federal charges against a father and his son
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Dan Mangan | Dan Mangan Is A Reporter Covering Health Care For Cnbc.Com. | Mangan Has Been A Journalist For More Than Years | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Your Hometown Deli, the business at the center of the probe, was located in Paulsboro, New Jersey, over the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The parent company, Hometown International, had merged with a bioplastics company. The $100 million New Jersey deli, as Your Hometown Deli came to be known, was first brought to the public’s attention by investor David Einhorn in a letter to clients. The securities fraud and securities price manipulation counts carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to manipulate securities prices counts each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Your Hometown Deli, the business at the center of the probe, was located in Paulsboro, New Jersey, over the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The parent company, Hometown International, had merged with a bioplastics company. The $100 million New Jersey deli, as Your Hometown Deli came to be known, was first brought to the public's attention by investor David Einhorn in a letter to clients. The securities fraud and securities price manipulation counts carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to manipulate securities prices counts each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

☆ Credit Suisse bankers are preparing for 'Uli the Knife' to carve up the investment bank.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's a tense time for many insiders at Credit Suisse. One person told me it's a case of "rinse and repeat," as Credit Suisse undergoes its second strategic review in less than a year. Law firm sued Credit Suisse over claims it misled investors on business dealings related to Russian oligarchs. Among the plans reported to be under consideration are a three-way split of the investment bank, according to the Financial Times. Under Chief Executive Ulrich Körner, Credit Suisse wants to transform its investment bank into a "capital-light, advisory-led banking business."

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