DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Former Wells Fargo Executive Blamed in Fake-Accounts Scandal Agrees to Plead Guilty
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wells Fargo paid $3 billion in 2020 to settle investigations by the Justice Department and the SEC. The former head of Wells Fargo & Co.’s community bank has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing regulators who tried to examine allegations of sales misconduct at the business she ran, prosecutors said Wednesday. Carrie Tolstedt ’s deal with Los Angeles federal prosecutors would resolve a criminal investigation into her role in the bank’s long-running, fake-accounts scandal, which severely damaged Wells Fargo’s reputation and contributed to an asset cap imposed by the Federal Reserve that limited its size.

☆ Justice Department, SEC Investigating Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Securities filings show that two top Silicon Valley Bank executives sold shares in the company the week before it collapsed. WASHINGTON—The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to people familiar with the matter, after the California lender was taken over by regulators last week amid a historic run on its deposits. The separate probes are in their preliminary phases and may not lead to charges or allegations of wrongdoing. Prosecutors and regulators often open investigations after financial institutions or public companies suffer big, unexpected losses. Shares in SVB Financial Group , which formerly owned the bank, fell 60% last week and have been stopped from trading since Friday.

☆ Justice Department Sues to Block JetBlue-Spirit Merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Dave Michaels | Andrew Tangel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to block JetBlue Airways Corp. from merging with Spirit Airlines Inc., arguing the deal would stifle competition and lead to higher fares. The DOJ filed its lawsuit Tuesday in Massachusetts federal court. The states of New York and Massachusetts and the government of the District of Columbia are also plaintiffs on the civil case, which says the merger would eliminate Spirit as a low-cost competitor to the major carriers.

☆ Justice Department Sues to Block JetBlue From Buying Spirit Airlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Dave Michaels | Andrew Tangel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to block JetBlue Airways Corp. from merging with Spirit Airlines Inc., arguing the deal would stifle competition and lead to higher fares for tens of millions of travelers. Justice Department officials said JetBlue’s proposed takeover would exacerbate concentration in the U.S. airline industry, eliminating the country’s largest ultra-low-cost competitor to major carriers and reducing available capacity.

☆ Healthcare CEO Faces Charges of Making Illicit Stock Sales in Prearranged Trades
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The founder of telehealth provider Ontrak Inc. was charged in a first-of-its-kind criminal insider-trading case, with prosecutors alleging he sold millions of dollars worth of stock while misusing a trading plan that executives normally deploy to shield themselves from such suspicions. Ontrak Chief Executive Terren Peizer set up the prearranged trading plans in May and August 2021, just before his company disclosed the loss of health insurer Cigna Corp. as a major customer, according to a federal grand-jury indictment unsealed Wednesday. Mr. Peizer sold about 641,000 shares of Ontrak stock when he was aware of the undisclosed bad news, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also sued him. When Ontrak revealed on Aug. 19, 2021—three days after he began trading—that Cigna cut ties with Ontrak, the stock dropped 45%.

☆ CFTC Picks Former Cybercrime Prosecutor as Enforcement Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The CFTC has played a less conspicuous role than the SEC in policing the crypto market but has brought enforcement cases against BitMEX and Coinbase. WASHINGTON—The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hired a former cybercrime prosecutor who oversaw some early federal cases involving cryptocurrencies as its enforcement chief, the latest example of regulators adapting to the risks posed by digital assets and other financial innovations. In his new post, Ian McGinley oversees a team of 120 civil-enforcement attorneys who investigate fraud and misconduct in futures markets tied to energy and agricultural commodities, as well as the newer world of digital assets that qualify as commodities, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam said Monday in an interview.

☆ Justice Department Says Google Destroyed Evidence Related to Antitrust Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Google spokeswoman said the company disputes the Justice Department’s allegations. WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said Google destroyed written records needed for an antitrust lawsuit that focuses on how the company preserved its dominance in internet search. The government asked a federal judge Thursday to sanction Google for its past practice of setting employee chats to auto-delete, despite the company having told the court it would preserve records required for litigation. Google employees routinely discussed “substantive and sensitive business” using an instant-messaging product that was set to delete chats after 24 hours, the Justice Department said.

☆ Stablecoins Attract Scrutiny in SEC’s Drive to Control Crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A stablecoins lawsuit might be difficult for the Securities and Exchange Commission to win because stablecoin users don’t expect profits from owning the tokens. Washington’s battle to rein in crypto has a new front: stablecoins. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that maintain a price of $1, are among the products that were issued in violation of investor-protection laws. SEC enforcement lawyers have told Paxos Trust Co. that regulators plan to take enforcement action over its stablecoin, BUSD, although that decision isn’t final.

☆ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Its Investment Adviser Settle SEC Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to pay a $1 million fine, while the money manager agreed to pay $4 million. WASHINGTON–The money manager that oversees a $32 billion equities portfolio for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will pay $4 million to settle regulatory claims that it obscured the church’s investment holdings. The church will also pay a $1 million fine, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., the money manager, and the church settled the SEC’s investigation without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

☆ Amazon Purchase of One Medical Health Clinics Won’t Be Blocked by FTC
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON— Amazon.com Inc. will be able to close its purchase of 1Life Healthcare Inc., the operator of the One Medical line of primary-care clinics, without a legal challenge by antitrust enforcers. The Federal Trade Commission won’t sue in time to block the $3.9 billion deal, including debt, but will continue its investigation of the merger, an agency spokesman said. The decision clears a path for Amazon to substantially expand its healthcare offerings and operate physical medical clinics. Amazon has invested in the healthcare space for years, including with an online pharmacy and other health ventures.

☆ Fugitive Stablecoin Founder Do Kwon Accused of Securities Fraud in U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Do Kwon is the developer behind the failed cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and Luna. WASHINGTON—The founder of failed cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and Luna and his company misled U.S. investors who purchased billions of dollars of the digital assets, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. The SEC filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Do Kwon and Singapore-based Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. in Manhattan federal court, accusing them of misrepresenting the risk of TerraUSD and misleading investors about how Luna was used in South Korea.

☆ Crypto Giant Binance Expects to Pay Penalties to Resolve U.S. Investigations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, expects to pay monetary penalties to settle existing U.S. regulatory and law-enforcement investigations of its business, the firm’s chief strategy officer said in an interview. Binance grew quickly and began as a business powered by software engineers unfamiliar with laws and rules written to address the risk of bribery and corruption, money laundering, and economic sanctions, Patrick Hillmann said. The company has been working to fill gaps in its early compliance efforts, he said, but still expects regulators will impose fines for past conduct.

Apple has said that it embraces competition on the App Store, including when apps compete directly with iPhone and other Apple products. The Justice Department has ramped up work in recent months on drafting a potential antitrust complaint against Apple Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The investigation into whether Apple has monopoly power that it abuses began in 2019, but enforcers have escalated their efforts in recent months, with more litigators now assigned to the case and new requests for documents and consultations with companies involved, the people said.

☆ FTC’s Only Republican Commissioner Is Stepping Down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson has been one of Chair Lina Khan most prominent critics. WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission’s lone Republican member said Tuesday she was resigning, describing her move as a protest against the leadership strategy and ethics of the Democratic chair of the antitrust and consumer-protection agency. Commissioner Christine Wilson decided to step down from her position after battling Chair Lina Khan over “abuses of regulatory power,” including “dishonesty and subterfuge,” Ms. Wilson wrote in an Op-Ed article in The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Wilson said she would leave the agency soon but didn’t provide a date.

The walls are closing in around crypto. Regulators hadn’t taken action against many of the industry’s biggest players, but are now cutting off access to products and services central to the digital-currency business. On Monday, New York regulators shut down new issuance of the world’s third-largest stablecoin, BUSD, prompting investors to flee the coin and raising worries about the future of crypto exchange giant Binance, which gives the coin the “B” in its name.

The SEC issued a letter to Paxos known as a Wells notice, which the agency uses to inform companies of a possible enforcement action. The Securities and Exchange Commission has told crypto firm Paxos Trust Co. that it plans to sue the company for violating investor protection laws, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest move in the agency’s escalating campaign in crypto enforcement. The SEC’s enforcement staff issued a letter to Paxos known as a Wells notice, which the agency uses to inform companies and individuals of a possible enforcement action, according to the people.

☆ Mormon Church’s Investment Arm Under Investigation by SEC
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Dave Michaels | Jonathan Weil | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Mormon Church’s past efforts to keep its giant investment portfolio a secret, a practice that ended after a former employee revealed in 2019 that the church had amassed $100 billion of holdings. The SEC’s investigation has focused on whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as LDS, complied with disclosure requirements for large money managers. It is at an advanced stage and is likely to lead to a settlement in the coming months, people familiar with the matter said.

☆ Activision Blizzard Paying $35 Million to Resolve SEC Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Activision Blizzard has settled an investigation without admitting or denying SEC allegations. WASHINGTON— Activision Blizzard Inc. agreed to pay $35 million to settle regulatory claims tied to its process for deciding how its disclosures to investors should reflect employee complaints about workplace misconduct. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation also alleged that Activision violated a whistleblower-protection rule. The company settled the probe without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations.

☆ FTC Denies Meta’s Bid to Disqualify Chair Lina Khan From Antitrust Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Members of the Federal Trade Commission rejected a complaint from Meta Platforms Inc. asking them to disqualify the agency’s chair from judging the company’s proposed acquisition of virtual-reality company Within Unlimited Inc. The FTC voted 2-1, along partisan lines, to allow Lina Khan to participate in the legal case against the Meta-Within deal, according to an order made public Thursday. The agency’s Democratic commissioners said federal ethics rules don’t require Ms. Khan’s disqualification, even if her prior work and statements were critical of Meta, the Facebook owner that rebranded itself as a company focused on developing immersive virtual worlds, or metaverses.

☆ FTC Loses Antitrust Challenge to Facebook Parent Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Dave Michaels | Jan Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—A federal judge declined to halt Meta Platforms Inc.’s acquisition of the virtual-reality startup Within Unlimited, delivering a setback to antitrust enforcers at the Federal Trade Commission seeking to block the deal, a person familiar with the ruling said. In a sealed court decision issued overnight, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, Calif., denied the FTC’s request for an injunction blocking the proposed merger, the person said.

☆ House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Meet With Biden, Expected to Discuss Debt Ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Dave Michaels | Andrew Restuccia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said Congress should look at paring back expenditures incurred by every federal department. President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plan to meet at the White House on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers push to tie spending cuts to an increase in the debt ceiling. Mr. McCarthy, who unveiled the timing of the previously announced meeting in an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said lawmakers should implement a plan to cut spending and lower the country’s future debt load and not simply raise the existing $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.

☆ DOJ Suit to Break Up Google Was Years in the Making for Antitrust Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON— Jonathan Kanter has been one of Google’s main legal foes for nearly 15 years. Last week, as the nation’s top antitrust cop, he delivered a threat to break up the internet company. Mr. Kanter, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for antitrust, filed a lawsuit alleging that Google is an illegal monopolist in the market for brokering ads on the internet. Some of the complaints trace back to early 2000s, when Mr. Kanter started questioning Google’s role in the digital economy on behalf of his then-legal clients, including Microsoft Corp.

☆ 737 MAX Crash Victims’ Families Seek Monitor for Boeing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A 2021 settlement let Boeing avoid an indictment and the risk of a criminal trial, while clearing its top management of responsibility for the crashes. Family members of victims who died in two Boeing Co. 737 MAX jet crashes are seeking an independent monitor to oversee the plane maker’s compliance with parts of a criminal settlement related to the tragedies. A federal judge is expected to hear from victims’ family members at an arraignment scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas. The judge ruled in October that the families had standing to challenge the 2021 settlement between Boeing and the U.S. Department of Justice under a law known as the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

The Justice Department is seeking the breakup of Google’s business brokering digital advertising across much of the internet, a major expansion of the legal challenges the company faces to its business in the U.S. and abroad. A lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Justice Department’s second against the Alphabet Inc. unit following one filed in 2020, alleges that Google abuses its role as one of the largest brokers, suppliers and online auctioneers of ads placed on websites and mobile applications. The filing promises a protracted court battle with wide-ranging implications for the digital-advertising industry.

Big tech companies such as Google are under a barrage from lawmakers and regulators across multiple continents. The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Google abuses its role brokering digital advertising across much of the internet, a major expansion of the legal challenges the company faces to its business in the U.S. and abroad. Write to Miles Kruppa at miles.kruppa@wsj.com and Sam Schechner at Sam.Schechner@wsj.com

Search resuls for: "Dave Michaels"

25 mentions found