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Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced an agreement Wednesday to pay $50 million to resolve a New York investigation into lapses concerning its anti-money laundering and know-your-customer practices. "That failure exposed the Coinbase platform to potential criminal activity requiring the Department to take immediate action including the installation of an Independent Monitor,” she said. In one instance, a former Coinbase customer who had been criminally charged with crimes related to child sexual abuse material conducted suspicious transactions potentially associated with illicit activity on the exchange. (Eventually, Coinbase discovered the activity and with the help of law enforcement recovered the funds.) In a statement on its website, Coinbase acknowledged the $100 million settlement and outlined other steps it was taking to address the lapses.

The union, which remains locked in heated contract negotiations with Southwest Airlines, published the letter Dec. 31. Kelly served as Southwest CEO from 2004 until last February, and replaced Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher as chairman in 2008. This is not an employees of Southwest Airlines problem. The union, Nekouei wrote, "has been beating this drum to management for nearly a decade pleading with them to spend the necessary capital to prevent the ultimate consequence someday." In an emailed statement responding to the union's letter, Southwest said that "it has a more than 51-year history of allowing — and encouraging — its Employees to express their opinions in a respectful manner."

Some airlines, including Southwest, no longer have automatic agreements in place that allow for rebooking on another airline free of charge, she said. He and his family spent Christmas in Austin, Texas, and intended to fly home to Raleigh, North Carolina, on Dec. 26 via Southwest. “What are you going to do if the airline can’t save you?” Bangs said. Sallyann Koontz got stuck in Austin after her Southwest Airlines flight home to Charleston, South Carolina, was canceled. "It has served the public with affordable flights and possibly allowed travel for less affluent families for decades," Koontz said of the airline.

A one-way flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles International Airport leaving Thursday starts at $1,527. After her original flight was canceled, she was able to rebook another flight on Southwest leaving later in the week, but she had a feeling that the flight would be canceled, too. So she decided to book an additional flight on American Airlines for more than $900, she said. Durham, who vented her frustrations Monday on Twitter, said an American Airlines representative responded by noting that "fares are up to some destinations." An American Airlines representative pointed NBC News to a tweet buried in response to a user saying selected cities would see price caps.

Critically, experts say, nothing that's transpired in the crypto market in 2022 undermines the inherent value of the blockchain. "So while this has been a shock to the market, a lot of people in the space remain sanguine about the future of blockchain technology." He said stock trading, buying and selling real estate, and borrowing and lending money remain ripe for disruption by blockchain technology. "The ethereum blockchain could turn out to be this major infrastructure layer for the future of technological services," Abner said. He said prospective crypto users must prepare for a steep learning curve going forward, because it ultimately involves trusting only yourself to be in charge of your assets.

At a news conference in Houston, Southwest spokesman Jay McVay said cancellations snowballed as storm systems moved across the country, leaving flight crews and planes out of place. In normal times, this can allow Southwest to operate more flights over a given 24-hour period than other carriers, said Scott Meyerowitz, executive editor of The Points Guy travel site. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said Southwest had not adequately prepared flights for the storm, which hampered ground transportation and maintenance vehicles. Adding to the difficulty: Large swaths of Southwest crews remain in contract negotiations with the carrier. Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to questions about ongoing contract negotiations with its crews.

Amazon is extending its program that allows customers to send their delivery drivers a $5 tip, following unprecedented demand in the program's initial rollout. The program allows Amazon customers to use Alexa-enabled devices like Echo or Echo Show, and Amazon’s mobile app, to tip their most recent delivery driver. When a customer says, “Alexa, Thank My Driver” into the device, the driver will receive the $5. "After extraordinary participation by the community, starting December 21, we are extending the 'Alexa, Thank My Driver' $5 appreciation program by an additional one million 'thank yous'!" An Amazon spokesperson said in an email that there was no connection between the thank-a-driver program and the suit.

New legislation working its way through Congress could improve retirement security for U.S. workers. The plan is part of a stopgap spending bill, and it includes a provision that would automatically enroll eligible employees into their company's retirement plan. Under the new legislation, employers could consider a worker's student loan payment to be the equivalent of a 401(k) contribution and match it accordingly. Finally, the legislation offers a 100% tax credit to businesses with 50 employees or fewer for the cost of maintaining a 401(k) plan. "It’s a bill that helps all income levels and all different types of workers and retirees," Richman, of the Insured Retirement Institute, said.

Those are some of the infractions allegedly committed by Wells Fargo that has led the bank to agree to a $3.7 billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “The CFPB is ordering Wells Fargo to refund billions of dollars to consumers across the country. “As we have said before, we and our regulators have identified a series of unacceptable practices that we have been working systematically to change and provide customer remediation where warranted," Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said. "This far-reaching agreement is an important milestone in our work to transform the operating practices at Wells Fargo and to put these issues behind us. Wells Fargo has been the target of regulators since at least 2011, when reports of its strategy to cross-sell multiple products to customers first emerged.

The maker of the popular online video game "Fortnite" has agreed to pay a record settlement to resolve charges it violated children's privacy, exposed children and teenagers to potential harassment, and duped players of all ages into making unwanted in-game purchases. The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that North Carolina-based Epic Games will pay a total of $520 million to settle allegations that it collected personal data from children without first obtaining the consent of their parent or guardian. "The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players." According to The Wall Street Journal, Epic was most recently valued at $32 billion.

The winter holidays are quickly approaching, including Christmas Day one week from Sunday. For anyone who plans to ship holiday items via the U.S. Postal Service, time is running out to get your cards and gifts to your destination on time. The agency has posted its recommended shipping dates for making sure whatever you're sending gets there with time to spare. Holiday shopping volumes are expected to increase by as much as 8% this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

How is it legal to track someone's private jet? It's a question that has emerged in light of Twitter's decision to ban accounts that tracked private planes, including one — @ElonJet — that reported the flight activity of its own CEO, Elon Musk. ADS-B technology is now mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration on all aircraft to avoid such events. But ADS-B technology also allows airplanes to be easily tracked by anyone with a compatible receiver. The website is where Sweeney appears to have sourced some of the information used to set up the @ElonJet tracking account.

Twitter has suspended an account that tracked CEO Elon Musk's private jet — just one month after Musk himself said he'd allow the account to stay put. Wednesday morning, the account, @elonjet — which had amassed more than half a million followers — was listed as suspended for having violated unspecified Twitter rules. “Well it appears @ElonJet is suspended,” Sweeney tweeted Wednesday. Other social media accounts created by Sweeney tracking Musk's jet, including ones on Instagram and Telegram, remain active. Sweeney told CNBC he started the Twitter account in June 2020 because he was a fan of Musk’s work at the business mogul's Tesla and SpaceX companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged seven social media influencers with securities fraud, saying Wednesday that they were part of a $100 million scheme to use social media platforms Twitter and Discord, as well as podcasts, to manipulate the price of certain stocks. Discord is a private chatroom and messaging platform that is popular with gaming influencers and, more recently, financial influencers. According to the SEC, seven of the defendants promoted stocks to their hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers and in stock trading rooms on Discord since at least January 2020. They would then promote the stock to their followers and inflate the share price, announcing price targets and teasing upcoming news about the company. Those stocks are often ripe for manipulation because they receive less attention and have lower trading volumes.

On the heels of Tuesday's lower-than-expected inflation reading, the Federal Reserve is expected to tap the brakes Wednesday on its aggressive rate-raising plan designed to cool price growth in the U.S. economy. In addition to the slower price growth, layoff announcements are mounting. Notably, demand for bonds has increased, reflecting growing interest in more stable returns that are often correlated with slower economic growth. Out with inflation worries, in with recession fearsKey stock market gauges, meanwhile, continue to decline on concerns about flagging corporate earnings. If it was still worried about inflation, then interest rates, energy and banks would all be higher.

The first Social Security checks and bank deposits featuring the largest cost-of-living-adjustment in 40 years will start arriving in January. Social Security recipients will have benefited from timing, as well. So, anyone with a birthdate in this initial range can expect the first payment to land Jan. 11, according to the Social Security Administration. Except for SSI payments, Social Security benefits remain taxable and tax brackets are also changing as a result of inflation. A Social Security recipient filing as an individual with total earnings — including anything received outside Social Security — between $25,000 and $34,000 may have to pay income tax on up to 50% of their Social Security benefits.

Consumer price growth cooled in November, indicating a slowing economy and a sign that the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate-raising campaign to fight inflation is starting to pay off. On a year-over-year basis, inflation hit 7.1%, a slowdown from the 7.7% in October and lower than the 7.3% expected by analysts. On a monthly basis, inflation climbed just 0.1%, compared to 0.4% in October. Still, there are signs across the economy that price growth is cooling. Last week, an alternative measure of inflation that tracks producers of goods and services also showed slowing price growth.

☆ Karma for Taylor Swift fans as Ticketmaster offers second chance for 'Eras Tour' tickets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Kaetlyn Liddy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"We apologize for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor's team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets." The news comes one month after the public sale of Swift's "Eras Tour" was canceled due to "extraordinarily high demand." Ticketmaster claimed that 3.5 million fans pre-registered for Swift's Verified Fan program, the largest registration in its history. After they register as a "verified fan," Ticketmaster provides them with a code and a link to the purchase site. When tickets go on sale, the link leads fans to a "Smart Queue" that "keeps ticket bots out."

Airport workers across the country are rallying and walking off the job Thursday to draw attention to their current working conditions and legislation that could improve them. Workers at 15 U.S. airports, including ones in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Phoenix, plan to participate in on-site rallies. Formal strikes — which could disrupt operations — are planned at Boston's Logan International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport. The rallies are in support of the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, introduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. It would set a minimum wage of $15 for airport service workers, as well as ensure the workers have paid time off, holidays, adequate health care and other benefits.

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former business partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, will be sentenced Wednesday for his role in the disgraced blood-test company's years-long fraud. During Balwani's trial, prosecutors called witnesses who said Theranos' inaccurate blood tests caused real-world harm. “I am responsible for everything at Theranos,” Balwani wrote in a 2015 text message to Holmes. “All have been my decisions too.”Balwani's defense team said the former software executive had acted in good faith. As she mounted her defense, Holmes attempted to portray herself as a victim of Balwani's abuse.

Minnesota regulators have sued a marijuana edibles company, alleging it was selling products 50-times more powerful than what the state permits. State law limits THC-based products to five milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per package. The FDA has not determined whether the products caused the adverse events, the Minnesota regulators said. The regulators said they were also asking the court to prevent Northland from continuing to manufacture and sell edible cannabinoid products that violate state law. This is the first time it has gone to court to stop products from being sold, the station reported.

Even as inflation persists, there are some bright spots where high prices are easing, Walmart's CEO said Tuesday. Toys, clothing, and sports equipment categories are all seeing prices come down, Doug McMillon told CNBC. “In toys, sporting goods, apparel, and categories like that, prices have come down more aggressively,” McMillon said in the interview. The categories are all ones in which big-box retailers placed large backlogs of orders as the pandemic set in. In the same interview on Tuesday, Walmart's McMillon warned that some grocery prices are still rising, including chicken and some dry goods.

You can blame the persistently high prices seen throughout the economy right now. But for many families, prices "are not coming down but just stabilizing at a higher level," he said. Although prices for beef and produce are coming down a bit, the cost of chicken remains high. Rising wages for cashiers and the cost of dealing with theft are two additional factors causing prices to shift upward at Walmart stores. "If that is not corrected, over time prices will be higher and stores will close," McMillon said.

The tech industry accounts for about one-quarter of this year's job cuts, Challenger data show. The automotive industry has had 30,669 job cuts announced, compared with 10,277 through November 2021. And real estate has had 7,919 cuts announced this year, compared with 2,762 in 2021 year-to-date. "We've seen a lot of job cuts around mortgage origination and fintech firms in mortgages. U.S.-based employers announced 76,835 cuts in November alone, more than double the 33,843 cuts announced in October and four-times the number of cuts announced last November, Challenger data show.

U.S. air travelers now have until May 7, 2025, to obtain a driver's license or other government ID that complies with the federal REAL ID Act. How do you know if you have a REAL ID? Your passport will remain a suitable alternative if you do not have a REAL ID-compliant card by the new deadline, DHS says. And minors will not be required to carry a REAL ID card. According to The Washington Post, just under half of Americans currently have REAL ID-compliant cards.

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