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☆ Inside the Growing Alarm Over Blackstone's BREIT Real-Estate Fund
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Bethany Mclean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

Investors in Blackstone's real-estate fund asked for their money back in droves — more than $15 billion to date. Unless the real-estate market comes roaring back, analysts warn, BREIT could end up shrinking to a fraction of its current size, leaving the fund's investors holding the bag. Only 3% of BREIT's holdings are in office buildings, which have been ground zero for commercial real estate pain. Advertisement"Not all real estate is created equal," BREIT boasted in a recent letter to stockholders, "and where you invest matters." "Commercial real estate is a slow burn," Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, recently observed.

Persons: Blackstone, —, BREIT, REITs, Steve Schwarzman, Jeenah, Nate Koppikar, Craig McCann, BREIT's, Chilton, McCann, McCann, Horacio Villalobos, That's, Donald Trump, Robert Chang, Schwarzman, Michael Blackshire, Phil Bak, Stephen Schwarzman, Shannon Stapleton, Brian Moynihan, it's, It's Organizations: BREIT, Orso Partners, Securities Exchange Commission, Blackstone, SEC, Chilton Capital Management, SLCG Economics Consulting, Publicly, University of California, Regents, Armada Investors, Reuters, Bank of America Locations: BREIT, Lisbon, Fideres

☆ Opinion: RFK Jr.’s VP pick is a missile aimed at Biden
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Paul Begala | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign can’t win, but it could swing the presidency to former President Donald Trump. RFK Jr.’s namesake father was a Democratic US attorney general and a Democratic senator from New York. So was Joe’s son, RFK Jr’s nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III. To believe that, one must ignore that Perot, like Clinton, was a change candidate; like Clinton, he was pro-choice, and like Clinton, Perot supported campaign finance reform. But you don’t need decades of experience and reams of data to see who RFK Jr’s bid hurts.

Persons: Paul Begala, Bill Clinton’s, Clinton, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, can’t, Donald Trump, Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy, Shanahan, Sergey Brin, Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, Ro Khanna, Biden, McDonkeyface, John Francis “ Honey Fitz ” Fitzgerald, Joseph P, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bobby Jr, ’, John F, Edward M, Teddy, Bobby’s, RFK, Kennedy III, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Patrick Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, Caroline Kennedy, Barack Obama’s, Bobby Kennedy Jr, Trump, Reagan, I’ve, Ross, Perot, George Bush Organizations: Democratic, CNN, RFK, Biden, Trump, RFK Jr, Google, The New York Times, Times, Boston, Securities Exchange Commission, Rhode Island, Republicans, Twitter, Facebook, Perot Locations: Northern California, California, Great Britain, New York, Massachusetts, United States, Maryland, Rhode, Ireland, Japan, Australia

☆ Court Temporarily Halts S.E.C.’s New Climate Rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Hiroko Tabuchi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal court on Friday temporarily halted new rules from the Securities Exchange Commission that require public companies to disclose more about the business risks they face from climate change, siding with two oil and gas companies that criticized the requirements as costly and arbitrary. this month, the rules require some publicly traded companies to disclose their climate risks, and how much greenhouse gas emissions they produce. Ten Republican-led states have also sued to stop the rules. to effectively regulate the controversial issue of climate change,” the two companies wrote in their petition. They were “arbitrary and capricious,” the two companies said, and violated the First Amendment, which protects free speech, by “effectively mandating discussions about climate change.”

Persons: “, ” Organizations: Securities Exchange Commission, Industry, U.S . Chamber of Commerce, U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Republican, Fifth, Liberty Energy, Nomad Proppant Locations: U.S

“It isn't just sort of creepy,” said Washington state Rep. Vandana Slatter, the sponsor of a law her state adopted last year to rein in unauthorized use of health information. X-Mode was also found to have sold location data to the U.S. military. In Virginia, legislation that would prohibit the issuance of search warrants, subpoenas or court orders for electronic or digital menstrual health data recently cleared both chambers of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. “The next step to enforcing an abortion ban could be accessing menstrual health data, which is why I’m trying to protect that data,” Favola said in a committee hearing. “The software supply chain is extremely polluted with location tracking of individuals,” he said.

Persons: Roe, ”, Vandana Slatter, “, Albert Fox Cahn, Sen, Ron Wyden, Wyden, He’s, It's, Washington's, Andrea Frey, Democratic Sen, Barbara Favola, Glenn Youngkin, ” Favola, Favola, “ It’s, Republican Sen, Mark Peake, Youngkin's, Sean O'Brien, he's, ___ Mulvihill, Frank Bajak, Sarah Rankin Organizations: Democratic, Supreme, Wade, Oregon Democrat, Intelligence, The Veritas Society, Wisconsin, Federal Trade Commission, Securities Exchange Commission, FTC, ., Democrat, Republicans, Connecticut, Assembly, Virginia Gov, Republican, Yale Privacy, Associated Press Locations: U.S, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Nevada, York, California, Maryland, ” Illinois, Hawaii , Illinois, Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Missouri, South Carolina, Vermont, In Virginia, Cherry Hill , New Jersey, Boston, Richmond , Virginia

☆ Treasury proposes rule to extend anti-money laundering regs to investment advisers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Treasury Department's corruption watchdog on Tuesday issued new proposed regulations that would extend major pieces of the anti-money laundering (AML) rules that apply to banks to some investment advisers. The new rules would apply to investment advisers who are registered with or report to the Securities Exchange Commission, leaving out what FinCEN estimates to be at least 17,000 state-registered investment advisers. The proposed regulations stop short of requiring investment advisers to adopt formal customer identification programs, like banks do. Investment advisers manage tens of trillions of dollars, but until now, they have been largely exempt from the AML regulations arising from the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act and subsequent legislation. In 2003 and 2015, FinCEN proposed similar rules that would have expanded BSA provisions to cover investment advisers.. to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Persons: Janet Yellen, FinCEN, Andrea Gacki Organizations: Financial, Treasury, Securities Exchange Commission, Investment Locations: Vienna , Virginia, FinCEN, China, Russia

☆ An ex-Goldman Sachs banker who passed secrets to his squash buddy just got jailed for 3 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brijesh Goel, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, was jailed for three years. US District Judge P. Kevin Castel told Goel he "lied again and again and again" on the stand. AdvertisementAdvertisementA former Goldman Sachs investment banker who was found guilty of insider trading and obstruction of justice was jailed for three years by a New York judge. AdvertisementAdvertisement"You took the stand right in this chair and you lied again and again and again," the judge told Goel. "I apologize to Goldman Sachs, to my colleagues, everyone who felt betrayed by my actions."

Persons: Brijesh Goel, Goldman Sachs, P, Kevin Castel, Goel, —, Akshay Niranjan, Niranjan, Goel texted Akshay, he'd, Akshay, Damian William Organizations: US, Service, Goldman, Barclays, Securities Exchange Commission, Southern, of, Bloomberg Locations: New York, of New York

☆ The $8 billion Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial starts today — here's what's at stake and how we got here
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

In the first trial, Bankman-Fried faces seven criminal counts related to the collapse of the crypto empire he built, including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Alameda, FTX and a host of subsidiaries Bankman-Fried founded filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. FTX's own terms of use specifically forbade him, or Alameda, from using customer money for anything — unless the customer allowed it. And from FTX's inception, there was a lot of customer money. Bankman-Fried and other executives admitted to each other that "FTX customer funds were irrevocably lost because Alameda had appropriated them."

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Ellison, FTX, Wang, Judge Lewis Kaplan, Samuel Bankman, MacKenzie Sigalos, San Francisco —, SBF, Wang —, Nishad Singh —, Goldman Sachs, Binance, Damian Williams, Rehypothecation, —, Crypto, Solana, Zhao, he'd, Cromwell, John J, Ray, John Ray's, — CNBC's Rohan Goswami Organizations: Alameda Research, Southern, of, Stanford, MIT, U.S, New York Times, Bankman, That's, CNBC, Jane, Capital, University of California, Formula, Democratic, Twitter, Securities Exchange Commission, SEC, Futures Trading, United States Attorney's Office, CFTC, Alameda, Alameda didn't, Voyager, BlockFi, FTX, Industry, Investors, Zhao, Publicly, Sullivan, Enron Locations: Bahamas, Manhattan, New York, Alameda, of New York, FTX, Brooklyn , New York, San Francisco, South Korea, Alameda , California, Fried's Alameda, Berkeley, Miami, Washington, Delaware, California, Federal, Solana, Fried

☆ Bitcoin miners beef up Texas operations ahead of extinction-level event, exclusive data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Bitcoin miners are barreling toward the "halving" — a major market-making event that some fear will be a death knell to many in the industry. "We're taking a long-term bet on bitcoin and on the fact that bitcoin mining will survive and will bounce back even stronger." Texas has grown to dominate bitcoin mining partly because of support from local authorities and the operator of the Texas energy grid, ERCOT. Even during the bear market, Texas miners are building out, buying new sites and fresh fleets of hardware. The mining company was spun off from Chinese bitcoin mining giant Bitmain and went public via SPAC earlier this year.

Persons: Kevin Zhang, Jihan Wu, Bitmain, Kevin Zhang Crypto, He's, China — he's, Zhang, bitcoin, Barry Silbert's, Foundry's, —, Chad Harris, ERCOT, Nic Carter, Shaun Connell, Brad Jones, Brandon Arvanaghi, Jason Les, Navarro, Les, hashrate, Morgan, Bitdeer Organizations: Foundry, Mining, CNBC, U.S, Riot, Cipher Mining, Georgia, Securities Exchange Commission, JPMorgan Chase Locations: Sweden, Republic of Georgia, China, America, Beijing, Shenzhen, Montana, North America, Texas, Wyoming, New York, United States, U.S, . Texas, Castle, Rockdale, Austin, Milam, Odessa , Texas, Minden , Nebraska, , Texas, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, North Carolina , Kentucky , Oklahoma, Washington

☆ Why insider trading is so difficult to stop
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Charlotte Morabito | In Charlottemorabito | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Martha Stewart was famously accused of insider trading in the early 2000s, but she didn't face criminal insider trading charges. "It is incredibly difficult to prove an insider trading case," said Daniel Taylor, a forensic accounting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Insider trading is judge-made law," said John Reed Stark, former head of the Office of Internet Enforcement at the Securities Exchange Commission. The SEC adopted an amendment to a rule that will "enhance investor protections against insider trading." The Department of Justice prosecuted the first insider trading case exclusively based on the rule in March 2023.

Persons: Martha Stewart, Stewart, Daniel Taylor, John Reed Stark, Stark, Justin Paperny, Paperny, I've Organizations: University of Pennsylvania, Internet, Securities Exchange Commission, SEC, Department, Justice, United, White, Department of Justice Locations: United States

Companies Amazon.com Inc FollowNEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) - E-retail giant Amazon (AMZN.O) is facing 18 shareholder proposals, beating its 2022 record of 15 proposals, as environmental, social and governance (ESG)-focused investors push for more changes in the company, according to Amazons' proxy statement released on Thursday. The number of shareholder proposals across industries has grown since 2020. Last year, all of the record 15 shareholder proposals were rejected by investors’ votes. Although Amazon has a record number of proposals on the ballot this year, this is not the most proposals that have been submitted by shareholders to the company. Amazon can challenge submissions with the Securities Exchange Commission or negotiate with investors to provide audits and reports outside of the annual shareholder meeting.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond's ousted CEO says he's not to blame for the company's failed turnaround and demands his $6.7 million severance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton is suing the company, alleging non-payment of his severance agreement. Bed Bath & Beyond said Thursday it needs to raise up to $300 million in new funding to avoid bankruptcy. A representative for Bed Bath & Beyond told Insider the company does not comment on legal matters. One of Bed Bath & Beyond's biggest problems in 2019, the suit says, was its failure to have a serious private-label strategy and Tritton was specifically hired to give it one. If you are a current or former employee of Bed Bath & Beyond or Harmon who would like to share your story, please get in touch with Dominick via email.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond is now offering $500 bonuses to hourly employees to stop them from quitting before their stores close
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bed Bath & Beyond will give workers at closing stores $500 to stay until the end, sources tell Insider. Sources tell Insider that workers in many stores were quitting before their store's liquidation process was complete, complicating efforts to shut down more than 400 retail stores. Store managers are now expected to receive $2,250, assistant managers should see $1,750, and supervisors should receive $1,000, multiple store managers told Insider. Multiple workers also told Insider the company said it will no longer match 401k contributions for 2022. If you are a current or former employee of Bed Bath & Beyond or Harmon who would like to share your story, please get in touch with Dominick via email.

☆ Report claims 'criminal activity and fraud run rampant' on Cash App—what users need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A new report from Hindenburg Research, a short seller investment firm, released Thursday has accused Block — the company formerly known as Square, founded by Jack Dorsey — of allowing crime and fraud to "run rampant" on its peer-to-peer payment app, Cash App. The report alleged that Block inflated its customer growth, allowed fake accounts to thrive and dodged revenue regulations — an accusation that triggered a Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. Hindenburg claims it was able to open fake accounts on Cash App under names Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Block called the report "factually inaccurate" in a statement, and says it is complying with the SEC and exploring legal action against Hindenburg. It's worth noting last March, Block revealed it was the subject of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) investigation over the way Cash App handles user complaints.

☆ Thailand offers tax breaks for companies issuing investment tokens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BANGKOK, March 7 (Reuters) - Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday agreed to waive corporate income tax and value-added tax for companies that issue digital tokens for investment, a government spokeswoman said. Companies will have access to alternative ways of raising capital through investment tokens in addition to traditional methods like debentures, Rachada Dhnadirek told reporters at a news conference. The government estimates that there will be 128 billion baht ($3.71 billion) worth of investment token offerings over the next two years, Rachada said, and that the government would lose tax revenue worth 35 billion baht. Cryptocurrencies have gained popularity in Thailand in recent years after the country's Securities Exchange Commission began regulating digital assets. Cabinet separately also approved support measures for electricity use and import duty exemption for components of electric vehicles, including batteries.

☆ Here's how much the typical worker makes at 19 retail companies, from Amazon to Walmart
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SEC rules require publicly traded companies to disclose their workers' median annual pay. Here's what the median worker gets paid at 19 retail companies, from lowest to highest. Ever since Amazon set its minimum wage to $15 in 2018, more retailers have followed suit by offering starting wages worth more than double the national minimum wage of $7.25. Rules following the financial crisis of 2008 require public companies to calculate their median worker's annual salary in order to compare it to the CEO's compensation. Scroll through below to see where 19 of the largest companies rank, from lowest to highest annual pay.

☆ Voyager gets initial approval for $1 bln Binance deal amid national security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital received initial court approval on Tuesday for a proposed $1 billion sale of its assets to Binance.US, and said it will seek to expedite a U.S. national security review of the deal. He said Voyager intends to address any issues that would lead CFIUS to oppose the transaction. The Binance transaction includes a $20 million cash payment and an agreement to transfer Voyager's customers to Binance.US's crypto exchange, Sussberg said. Voyager estimates the sale will allow customers to recover 51% of the value of their deposits at the time of Voyager's bankruptcy filing. In addition to CFIUS, Voyager's proposed sale was also opposed by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and state securities regulators.

CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported that the charges against Bankman-Fried include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering. Neither the Attorney General of the Bahamas nor the Royal Bahamas Police Force would confirm the nature of the charges against Bankman-Fried. "I didn't ever try to commit fraud," Bankman-Fried said. The CFTC and lawmakers have begun their probes into FTX and Bankman-Fried, who told Sorkin he was down to his last $100,000. Failed lender BlockFi sued Bankman-Fried in November, seeking unnamed collateral that the FTX founder provided for the crypto lending firm.

Bankman-Fried could face a host of potential charges – civil and criminal – as well as private lawsuits from millions of FTX creditors, legal experts told CNBC. There are three different, possibly simultaneous legal threats that Bankman-Fried faces in the United States alone, Levin told CNBC. He told CNBC, "prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bankman-Fried or his associates committed criminal fraud." (Carter was not an FTX investor, and told CNBC that his fund passed on early FTX rounds.) "People should not jump to the conclusion that something is not happening just because it has not been publicly disclosed," Levin told CNBC.

☆ One of the only solvent members of Sam Bankman-Fried's fallen crypto empire is contributing $175 million to FTX bankruptcy proceedings, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

LedgerX is preparing to make $175 million available to FTX's bankruptcy proceedings, sources told Bloomberg. The company is one of the few solvent members of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire. FTX acquired LedgerX in September 2021 for an undisclosed amount and then renamed it FTX US Derivatives. The $175 million to be transferred initially had been set aside as part of a $250 million fund that was meant for a bid to garner regulatory approval to clear derivatives trading. But FTX US Derivatives withdrew its application with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11.

☆ Authorities may reportedly bring Sam Bankman-Fried in for questioning as FTX Bahamas files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US and Bahamian authorities are in talks to potentially bring Sam Bankman-Fried to the US for questioning, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Bankman-Fried has been cooperating with Bahamian authorities, per the report. On Wednesday, the Bahamas branch of FTX filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy, days after FTX Group filed Chapter 11. Sources told Bloomberg that 30-year-old Bankman-Fried, who resigned from his position as FTX Group CEO when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, has so far been cooperating with Bahamian authorities. Meanwhile, the Bahamas branch of FTX filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York on Wednesday.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's entire fortune has now been wiped out as pieces of his crypto empire shrivel in value to $1
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's fortune has been erased as his assets become essentially worthless, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. At its peak, his net worth was $26 billion and still stood at $16 billion on Monday. At its peak, his net worth was $26 billion and still stood at $16 billion on Monday. But by Wednesday it had shriveled to $1 billion, according to Bloomberg. FTX halted customer withdrawals earlier this week after about $5 billion worth of withdrawal requests came in on Sunday.

☆ FTX files for bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried steps down as CEO after crypto exchange fails to secure bailout
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy along with Alameda Research and affiliated companies. Sam Bankman-Fried resigned from his role as CEO of FTX, though he will remain to assist an orderly transition. The bankruptcy includes Alameda Research and 130 additional affiliated companies, which together are called "FTX Group." FTX appointed John J. Ray III as the new CEO of FTX Group. "The FTX Group has valuable assets that can only be effectively administered in an organized, joint process.

☆ Hawaii couple charged with securities fraud over 'semi-sub' watercraft company
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A Hawaii couple was criminally charged with defrauding investors out of more than $28 million with bogus claims about building a watercraft that could partially submerge to give passengers underwater views, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The couple was charged with securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud in an indictment unsealed this week. The couple was also sued by the Securities Exchange Commission for fraud in August over their actions in connection with their company, Semisub Inc., based in Hawaii. An attorney for Jamey Jackson was not listed. The couple reportedly sold securities for the company to investors across the country, including in Pennsylvania and California, where they had been barred from selling securities in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

☆ YouTubers are pushing dodgy crypto investment advice. Here’s why you should ignore it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Rob Price | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Together, these revenue streams mean cryptocurrency influencers profit off their viewers no matter which way the market turns. Of course, crypto YouTube is a far cry from the regulated world of traditional finance. Armstrong told the Post that he made "maybe close to a million" from before dropping sponsored content in January 2022. A price list leaked by ZachXBT appears to show that dozens of small crypto influencers also have menus for similar undisclosed deals. But with little regulatory oversight, crypto influencers show little sign of slowing down — despite the precipitous decline of the crypto market.

☆ Elon Musk was texting Larry Ellison 'into the early morning hours' just before announcing his Twitter purchase was on hold, a new court filing says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk texted with Larry Ellison before saying his Twitter deal was on hold, per a court filing. Twitter is arguing Musk's legal team is withholding text messages it subpoenaed related to the deal. Twitter subpoenaed Ellison in August, but the text messages have yet to be publicly filed. In 2018, Ellison was named to Tesla's board of directions and said he was "very close friends with Elon Musk." Twitter's legal team appears to be building a case around some of Musk's texts.

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