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☆ Elizabeth Holmes wants to delay her 11-year prison sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of Theranos convicted of defrauding investors, is seeking to delay the start of her 11-year prison sentence because she has “two very young children” to be with. The court filing last week represents the first public acknowledgment that Holmes gave has given birth to her second child. Her lawyers laid out several reasons to delay the prison sentence pending an appeal of her conviction, arguing that she’s not a flight risk or a danger to the community. Last year, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors while running the failed blood testing startup Theranos. Instead, Theranos was relying on third-party manufactured devices from traditional blood testing companies.

☆ Target says cuts to workers are off-limits as it hunts for up to $3 billion in savings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target, bracing for leaner sales, wants to cut $2 billion to $3 billion of operating costs. Even as tech firms lay off thousands of workers, major retailers are still hoarding labor. One area that's off-limits, O'Neil said Tuesday, is Target's investments in "the best team in retail." Both companies echo similar sentiments shared last week when Walmart and Home Depot reported earnings and committed major cash to recruit and retain workers. Even as tech sector layoffs make headlines and companies brace for a tougher road ahead, major retailers are opting to hang onto all the front-line workers they can.

Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges filed against him in December. Bankman-Fried now faces 12 criminal charges after prosecutors unsealed a new indictment against him last week. Singh is the third Bankman-Fried close associate to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with prosecutors. Caroline Ellison, who was Alameda's chief executive, and Gary Wang, who was FTX's chief technology officer, pleaded guilty in December to seven and four criminal charges, respectively. Singh was a close friend of Bankman-Fried's younger brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in a deleted blog post.

☆ Nishad Singh is the latest member of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle to plead guilty in FTX case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nishad Singh, who led engineering at FTX, has pleaded guilty to six criminal charges. Singh pleaded guilty to six counts, including wire fraud and various conspiracy charges, according to a filing on Tuesday in New York federal court. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang both pleaded guilty in December and are also cooperating with federal prosecutors. Bankman-Fried, who was hit this month with an updated indictment outlining 12 counts against him, pleaded not guilty in January. Singh had been head of engineering at both FTX and Alameda, according to the SEC's complaint.

☆ Former director of engineering at FTX Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —A former top executive of failed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors investigating the alleged billion-dollar fraud at the now collapsed exchange. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate federal campaign finances laws. Singh is the third top executive and close confidante of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors. Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, the former head of FTX’s sister hedge fund Alameda Research, both pleaded guilty last year and are cooperating against Bankman-Fried. New York state election records show Singh made a $107,000 donation to the committee on October 28, 2022.

☆ FTX ex-engineering chief Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, arrives at court in New York, US, on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. FTX ex-engineering head Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to criminal charges in New York on Tuesday, becoming the latest member of Sam Bankman-Fried's former leadership team to agree to a deal. The six charges against Singh include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. In December, Bankman-Fried was charged with eight criminal accounts, including securities fraud and money laundering. Two of the charges against Singh are related to wire fraud and another is conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

☆ American Girl enters the 1990s with a new set of 'historical' dolls from the not-so-distant past
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

American Girl announced its first set of twin dolls since the company's founding in 1986. The sisters are historical characters from the year 1999, and their accessories are a blast from the past. American Girl has produced historical characters from each decade of the 20th century. The latest additions to the historical characters have people speculating what a doll from the 2000s will eventually look like. American Girl has had a historical character for each decade of the 20th century, and a few dolls from the 19th century.

☆ From a horseback-riding model to a secret daughter: Meet the children of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Grace Kay | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Steve Jobs left the bulk of his fortune to his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, when he died in 2011. Later, he had Reed Jobs, Erin Jobs, and Eve Jobs with his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. Meet Jobs' four children and his widow Laurene Powell Jobs, and see how his legacy helped his loved ones succeed. Erin Siena JobsErin Siena Jobs is the most private of Steve Jobs' children. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APTwenty-four-year-old Eve Jobs, the youngest of Steve Jobs' children, is a model and an accomplished equestrian.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried deleted a Slack message and tweets after FTX's top lawyer told the company to preserve records for regulators, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Bankman-Fried deleted tweets and Signal messages after being told to preserve all records, prosecutors said. He even deleted a Slack post by FTX's general counsel which said FTX would close, prosecutors said. Bankman-Fried disregarded the general counsel's directive at the time, prosecutors alleged, saying he also deleted some of his tweets in November. In January, prosecutors said in a filing that Bankman-Fried had messaged FTX's general counsel, as well as "current and former FTX employees." The financial wrongdoing at FTX was exposed, prosecutors say, by a run on accounts in November of last year.

☆ Minnesota just shut down a student-loan forgiveness company accused of illegally taking money from borrowers for services they could've gotten for free
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Minnesota shut down student-debt relief company Direct Account Management over fraudulent behavior. It accused the company of illegally taking money from borrowers for services that are otherwise free. The company is required to pay the state $20,000, which will be distributed to impacted borrowers. This marks the 13th time Ellison has shut down a student-debt relief company in the state over fraudulent behavior. In light of the uncertainty, and the potential of broad relief, the Education Department launched a communications campaign to protect borrowers from scams.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's personal security allowance just increased by $4 million despite Meta's 'efficiency' push
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Meta founder and CEO just received a large increase to a pre-tax allowance for security costs. Last year, Zuckerberg spent over $25 million on personal security, all of which was covered by Meta. The annual, pre-tax allowance Zuckerberg gets to cover his security costs was just increased to $14 million from $10 million, according to a disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The last time Zuckerberg's security allowance went up was in 2018. Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk and other well-known founders and executives attribute millions of dollars in security costs to their companies.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowFeb 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Wednesday denied calls for a new, independent investigation into the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, saying that the proposed investigation would be redundant to other investigations being carried out by FTX's new management and law enforcement. FTX and the committeee representing its junior creditors opposed that demand, saying that the proposed examiner would merely duplicate work already being done by FTX, its creditors, and law enforcement agencies. The proposed examination would also drain millions of dollars from FTX's limited funds, the company argued. FTX, once among the world's top crypto exchanges, shook the sector in November by filing for bankruptcy, leaving an estimated 9 million customers and investors facing billions of dollars in losses. Several former top executives, including Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to fraud.

☆ Retail CEO crisis: With recent shakeups at Kohl's, Adidas, Dollar General, and more, the industry's top job is suddenly the hardest to fill
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Matthew Kish | Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

It's the surest sign yet of a crisis facing the retail industry. Supply chains got snarled, shoppers stopped visiting stores, and stimulus payments spiked demand, each making it difficult to measure how business was doing. Then stimulus payments sent demand for everything from sneakers to home goods spiking while supply chains snarled. And just when supply chains started to sort themselves out, inflation hit, and shoppers started to scale back spending. Retail CEOs need 'peripheral vision'Workers at Starbucks stores and Amazon warehouses across the country have pushed to unionize, with many calling out the pay disparity between front-line workers and top executives.

☆ U.S. judge extends FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's bail restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Shannon StapletonCompanies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday extended a ban on FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's ability to contact employees of companies he once controlled and use encrypted messaging technology while out on bail awaiting trial on fraud charges. As a condition of his release on $250 million bond, the judge also prevented Bankman-Fried from using messaging apps such as Signal that let users auto-delete messages. A prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, told the judge that the people were connected with FTX but not central to the government case and not expected to testify. Bankman-Fried had also agreed to withdraw his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where he had lived and where the exchange was based, to face the criminal charges.

[1/5] Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, arrives for his court hearing at a federal court in New York City, U.S., February 9, 2023. Kaplan rejected that proposed agreement on Tuesday and proceeded with the hearing on Bankman-Fried's bail conditions on Thursday, without explaining why he denied the deal. As part of the agreement with prosecutors, Bankman-Fried would have also withdrawn his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. FTX collapsed in November after a wave of withdrawals and declared bankruptcy, wiping out Bankman-Fried's fortune. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The FTX meltdown was so chaotic that Caroline Ellison was reportedly 'relieved' to step away from Alameda
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The end of FTX followed a destabilizing exodus of customers and employees, Financial Times reports. As last-ditch efforts failed, Caroline Ellison reportedly felt "relieved" at an end to the chaos. In the meantime, there are still questions about how the parallel criminal cases could affect FTX customers trying to recover funds through the bankruptcy. Lawyers representing FTX and its creditors had previously told a Delaware bankruptcy court that they were trying to get information about transactions including FTX from insiders including Bankman-Fried and Ellison, but hadn't gotten answers. Read more in the full Financial Times feature on FTX's collapse.

[1/4] Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, departs from his court hearing at a federal court in New York City's Manhattan, U.S. January 3, 2023. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado/Feb 8 (Reuters) - Failed crypto firm FTX received court approval on Wednesday to issue subpoenas to its founder Sam Bankman-Fried and members of his family as part of the company's investigation into "misappropriated and stolen" funds. FTX said in court papers filed Wednesday that most of the subpoena targets had begun cooperating with its investigation. FTX said that it is still in discussions with Ellison and that Sam Bankman-Fried "remains non-responsive." Mind the Gap has previously said that Sam Bankman-Fried did not make any direct contributions to the organization but did donate to some of its recommended programs.

The law firms that billed FTX are Sullivan & Cromwell, Landis Rath & Cobb, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Landis Rath & Cobb and Sullivan & Cromwell, FTX's primary legal firms, billed the company a combined $10.7 million for over 8,400 hours of work. Landis Rath & Cobb billed $1.16 million for work done between Nov. 11 and Nov. 30. Full compensation for legal and advisor fees will not occur until a final fee application is filed, whenever FTX's bankruptcy saga concludes. Lawyers for Sullivan & Cromwell did $40,000 worth of work just to appear in FTX's first bankruptcy hearing on Nov. 22, based on court filings of hours billed and hourly rates.

☆ Oracle reorganized its AI and data initiatives amid a leadership shakeup, leaked internal memo shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Oracle moved its AI and data unit under its cloud business amid a leadership shakeup. Oracle is moving its data and artificial intelligence unit under its cloud business and making its health initiatives a major focus, an internal email shows. The reorganization means Oracle is "consolidating all of the new data and AI initiatives back into OCI," according to an internal email. Don Johnson, the former Oracle Cloud Infrastructure boss once named by Ellison as a potential contender for co-CEO, recently left his latest role leading Oracle Health and Artificial Intelligence, Insider previously reported. After about six months, he returned to run engineering for Oracle Health after the company bought Cerner in 2022.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a proposal to modify Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions, despite an agreement between the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder and prosecutors to address potential witness tampering concerns. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan did not provide reasons for the denial, and said a hearing on bail remains scheduled for Feb. 9. Prosecutors had asked last month to tighten bail, citing Bankman-Fried's efforts to contact both the general counsel of the FTX U.S. affiliate and new FTX Chief Executive John Ray, ostensibly to provide assistance. Bankman-Fried would have also withdrawn his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. They cited the cases' substantial overlap, and the risk Bankman-Fried could gather evidence in the civil cases to help his criminal defense.

The U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog has urged U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing FTX's Chapter 11, to appoint an independent examiner to investigate allegations of "fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, and mismanagement" that are "too important to be left to an internal investigation." FTX says an examiner would merely duplicate work already being done by FTX, its creditors, and law enforcement agencies. FTX's founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to pay debts incurred by his Alameda Research hedge fund, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. FTX's official creditors committee has sided with FTX, saying the proposed investigation is redundant. State securities regulators in Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin supported the Justice Department's bid, saying a neutral report would benefit creditors and customers.

☆ The criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison could put jilted FTX customers in the backseat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The parallel criminal case against SBF, Caroline Ellison, and Gary Wang may be to blame. But they told a Delaware bankruptcy court recently that they hit a roadblock, accusing Sam Bankman-Fried and those close to him of not playing ball with them. The criminal case takes priorityEllison and Wang separately reached plea deals with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, copping to charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. But, experts told Insider, the deals require them to focus on working with prosecutors in the criminal case — even if it could be at the expense of other parties. But when both criminal and civil proceedings are ongoing, it's the criminal case that goes first in line, Snyder said.

☆ How the boom in sports documentaries on streaming is opening up a new path for athletes as content creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Elaine Low | Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A boom in sports documentaries has offered athletes more ways to be on screen and build their brands. Players and their agents are looking for hits like Netflix Formula 1 doc series "Drive to Survive." Being featured in a sports doc can dramatically raise an athlete's profile, giving them more fans and more branding power. Netflix's "Drive to Survive" was credited with doing wonders for F1 fandom, particularly stateside, where American interest has historically been scarce. "These people can go on the air and broadcast their own content and they can capture and keep their own content," said Octagon VP of content and development Jason Weichelt.

☆ FTX sues Voyager Digital to claw back $446 million in 2022 loan payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | Industry Insight | Upcoming Sec Climate Disclosure Rules Bring Urgency To Esg Data Strategy Planning | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 30(Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX sued crypto lender Voyager Digital on Monday, seeking to claw back $445.8 million in loan repayments that FTX made before collapsing into bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX and Voyager both filed for bankruptcy amid a 2022 collapse in cryptocurrency markets, but Voyager’s bankruptcy preceded FTX’s filing by four months. After Voyager filed in July, it demanded repayment of all outstanding loans to FTX and its affiliate hedge fund Alameda Research. FTX said in a court filing that on Alameda’s behalf, it paid Voyager $248.8 million in September and $193.9 million in October. In its Monday court filing, FTX acknowledged the allegations that Alameda raided FTX customer assets to cover its risky borrowing and lending.

☆ Warren Buffett is the only top-10 billionaire to become poorer this year after Berkshire Hathaway missed out on the stock market's rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Berkshire Hathaway stock is trailing the S&P 500's 5% gain and the Nasdaq's 10% jump this month. Amazon stock has jumped 17% this year, while Microsoft stock has inched up 1%. Investors flocked to Berkshire stock in 2022, sending its stock price up about 3% even as the S&P 500 slumped 19% and the Nasdaq tumbled by one-third. While Buffett is the only top-10 billionaire in the red this year, he's still ranked fifth in the index. Adani Group's stock price has plunged in recent days after short-seller Hindenburg Research released an incendiary report on the company.

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