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☆ SVB's failure is being investigated by US authorities, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Silicon Valley Bank's failure is being investigated by US authorities, the WSJ reported. The DOJ fraud squad and the SEC are looking into stock sales by SVB officers before the bank collapsed. US investigators are looking into stock sales made by executives at SVB Financial — the group that owns the lender — only days before the bank collapsed, the report said. From April to December last year, SVB didn't have a chief risk officer at work, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The DOJ and SVB didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the probe.

☆ Silicon Valley is on a knife-edge after the collapse of SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

With the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, we're witnessing the biggest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. On the agenda today:Before we dive in: Insider's Warehouse Nation series was recognized with a Best in Business Award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW). And up first today: Alison Brower, Insider's LA bureau chief, explains whether the Oscars still matter in Hollywood. The Slap still stings across Hollywood, and Academy Awards organizers are working hard to make sure tonight's ceremony sparkles, Insider's Alison Brower writes. Silicon Valley Bank's implosionSilicon Valley Bank employees react to the bank's collapse Getty ImagesSilicon Valley Bank had been a pillar of the startup ecosystem for four decades.

☆ The Justice Department investigated Jeffrey Epstein's death. Then it went silent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail was seen as a shocking Justice Department failure. But more than three years later, the office still hasn't released its report into the circumstances of Epstein's death. "We all took it by surprise," Mark Epstein told Insider. Barr tasked the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, and the FBI with investigating "the circumstances of Mr. Epstein's death." Mark Epstein told Insider that he spoke to his brother about once a month in the years before his death.

The Justice Department’s decision to subpoena government witnesses who would normally testify voluntarily to help build the government’s criminal case was highly unusual, according to a half-dozen legal and animal welfare experts. The inspectors wanted APHIS to take a tougher stance against the company for the mistreatment of the beagles. Yet, this did not happen with any of the agency's inspections of Envigo, public records show. TENSIONS RISETensions between Gibbens and Miller escalated shortly after Envigo appealed some of the findings from the October inspection, emails show. Gibbens told Envigo APHIS would strike the citation because the company ultimately provided the requested information.

☆ Tyre Nichols death: Memphis mayor and police chief requested DOJ's review of the police department
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Justice Department is reviewing the Memphis Police Department after Tyre Nichols' beating death. The review was requested by Memphis' mayor and police chief, the Justice Department said. The investigation was prompted by the death of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by Memphis police officers. It will also review specialized street crime units like the SCORPION Unit, which the department deactivated after Nichols' death. The review was requested by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis, according to the DOJ.

☆ JetBlue and Spirit undeterred by the DOJ's merger lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJetBlue and Spirit undeterred by the DOJ's merger lawsuitCNBC's Phil LeBeau joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss the Department of Justice announcing a lawsuit against JetBlue and Spirit over their attempted merger, the response from the airlines and the timeline for litigation.

☆ U.S. Justice Dept opposes Google bid to move advertising antitrust case to New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mike Scarcella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The case, alleging anticompetitive abuses of advertising technology, was filed in January in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court and threatens to break up a key part of Google's business. But moving the case to the Southern District of New York won't eliminate the chance of divergent trial judgments or appellate decisions, the DOJ's lawyers said. The cases consolidated in New York can return to their originating district courts for trial, the government told Brinkema. In its bid seeking to get the DOJ case to New York, Google's lawyers said the government's "case lags far behind other pending ad tech antitrust cases" and "adds nothing of substance to those earlier-filed cases." The case is United States et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 1:23-cv-00108-LMB-IDD.

☆ Trump can face civil lawsuits over the Jan. 6 riot, DOJ says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It does not include incitement of imminent private violence of the sort the district court found that plaintiffs' complaints have plausibly alleged here." A U.S. District Court judge in February 2022 ruled against Trump's efforts to dismiss civil lawsuits by the two police officers and members of Congress. But they stressed that the U.S. was not expressing a view on whether Trump's speech incited the Capitol riot. But denying absolute immunity protection to the "incitement of imminent private violence" should not "unduly chill" the president's speech, they determined. Trump was impeached in the House on an article of "incitement of insurrection" after the riot.

☆ Ted Cruz shouts over Merrick Garland about the DOJ's response to protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Ted Cruz pressed AG Merrick Garland over the DOJ's response to protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes. Cruz accused Garland and the DOJ of being politically biased. The Texas Republican condemned the protestors as rioters and extremists organizing harassment campaigns against the justices and accused Garland of inaction. Other Republicans on the committee, including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, similarly raised concerns about DOJ's handling of the protests outside Supreme Court justices' homes last year. "It's very clear that they're trying to influence in one way or another those serving on the United States Supreme Court," Lee said.

☆ DoJ moves to seize 6 luxury properties in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida worth $75 million from sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Department of Justice has moved to seize six luxury properties owned by a sanctioned oligarch. Viktor Vekselberg's homes in New York, the Hamptons, and Florida, are worth $75 million. Vekselberg bought the homes via shell companies in Panama and The Bahamas, prosecutors alleged. Court documents show Vekselberg purchased the properties using two shell companies based in Panama, and The Bahamas. Prosecutors say Vekselberg attempted to sell two properties without informing the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

☆ The Senators who grilled Ticketmaster's executives over Taylor Swift tickets want the Department of Justice to keep examining the company's merger with Live Nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee are asking the DOJ to keep examining Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The letter and hearing come after renewed interest in the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Neither Live Nation Entertainment nor the Department of Justice immediately replied to Insider's request for comment. The senators note that, following their hearing on Ticketmaster and Live Nation, they, like Swift, had a question. They said they asked how many concerts every year were simultaneously promoted by Live Nation and ticketed by Ticketmaster.

☆ DOJ alleges Google destroyed chat messages that it was required to save during antitrust investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

According to the DOJ, Google should have adjusted its defaults in mid-2019, "when the company reasonably anticipated this litigation." Meanwhile, DOJ alleged, Google "falsely" told the government it had "'put a legal hold in place' that 'suspends auto-deletion.'" The alleged issue is one that previously came up in Epic Games' antitrust litigation against Google. The DOJ alleged that even after Epic confronted Google about the chat deletion concerns in that case, Google still withheld its deletion policy from the federal government "and continued to destroy written communications in this case." Scallen said that if Google "didn't give clear directions to retain" relevant chats "this notion that they left it to the individuals, that's just not responsible."

Companies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowFeb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Justice Department lawyers say that Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) destroyed internal corporate communications and have asked a federal judge to sanction the company as part of the government's antitrust case over its search business. The DOJ's sanctions bid marks at least the second time in the case that the government has sought to punish Google. Last year, the DOJ alleged Google unfairly kept internal documents away from antitrust investigators, claiming they were protected by attorney-client privilege. The judge declined in April 2022 to sanction Google for conduct that occurred prior to the start of the litigation in 2020. The case is United States v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No.

☆ Even hackers are getting laid off: As companies beef up cybersecurity, one hacker group reportedly let go of 45 telemarketers tricking people into inviting ransomware
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

More countries are targeting payments made to appease ransomware attackers, according to Gartner. As US Department of Justice investigators and companies beef up their oversight of cybersecurity threats, the impact of ransomware attacks — hackers demand ransom payments from targets — has been blunted, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Ransomware hacks can have high stakes, especially when hackers blackmail targets over private information in order to extract payments. In 2021, the agency created new groups internally, including the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force. Countries are generally also stepping up their oversight of ransomware attacks and trying to improve privacy regulations, according to the research and consulting firm Gartner.

☆ The top investigator for the House Jan. 6 committee said the Justice Department could charge these 4 Trump allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The top investigator for the House Jan. 6 committee spoke to The New York Times in a story out Sunday. Heaphy said the DOJ's decision on who to charge will depend on them going beyond what the House committee was able to get. Giuliani, Meadows, Eastman, and ClarkJohn Eastman appeared alongside Rudy Giuliani at a pro-Trump rally on January 6. He and other Trump allies spread the false claims of election fraud across the the country in the lead-up to the insurrection. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Meadows, testified that he was warned about potential violence on January 6 in advance.

☆ The DOJ will brief lawmakers on the classified documents recovered from Trump and Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The DOJ will brief some lawmakers on the nature of the classified records recovered from Trump and Biden. The DOJ has so far resisted bipartisan calls from lawmakers to get access to the documents themselves. FBI personnel swept Biden's properties at least three times as part of its investigation into his handling of classified documents. The documents were turned over to the Archives shortly after, and the FBI also searched the office in mid-November and began assessing whether classified documents had been mishandled. Trump, meanwhile, is facing his own criminal investigation after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago property last August and recovered troves of classified documents that Trump had resisted turning over to the government.

U.S. Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers remarks in the House Chamber during the fourth day of elections for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Department of Justice has decided not to criminally charge Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in the agency's two-year probe of alleged sex trafficking, his lawyers said Wednesday. The DOJ's decision was not a surprise, as nearly two years had passed without prosecutors filing charges against Gaetz, despite obtaining cooperation in their probe from his former friend, disgraced Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg. Gaetz's office in a statement, said, "The Department of Justice has confirmed to Congressman Gaetz's attorneys that their investigation has concluded and that he will not be charged with any crimes." The Washington Post in September reported that career prosecutors had recommended against charging Gaetz due to concerns about Greenberg and another potential witness.

☆ Similac maker Abbott could face criminal penalties of up to $500,000 per offense in DOJ probe of factory conditions amid the baby formula shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Similac maker Abbott is under federal criminal investigation for its role in the baby formula shortage. The possible charges carry penalties of up to $500,000 for corporations and up to a year of prison time for individuals. "It's a layup for a misdemeanor charge against Abbott," a food-safety attorney told Crain's Chicago. "It's a layup for a misdemeanor charge against Abbott and/or particular executives who were in charge of that plant," food-safety attorney Bill Merler told Crain's Chicago Business. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control said it could not conclusively link the multiple strains of bacteria found at the Abbott plant with those that led to the deaths of two infants in Ohio.

☆ We're concerned about Alphabet’s ad-based business model due to AI competition and the DOJ's lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's Alphabet (GOOGL) versus Microsoft (MSFT) in artificial intelligence — and after decades of owning search, Google finds itself looking over its shoulder. The back-to-back decline last Wednesday and Thursday in Alphabet stock was the biggest two-session losing streak since March 2020. "The quality of large AI models is highly dependent on quality of data," and Google search has a huge lead given usage of Search, Chrome and Android, Jefferies analysts argued. "It is tough when you have the Justice Department saying you have a monopoly and when you have the monopoly being destroyed at the same time by Microsoft," Jim said. Alphabet's business is largely run off ads and there's a growing possibility that the improved capabilities of Bing could attract at least some users away from Google search.

Former VP Mike Pence was subpoenaed by the Department of Justice on Thursday, per ABC News and CNN. DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is focused on Trump investigations, sent the notice, per reports. CNN reported that the subpoena was tied to the DOJ's investigation into the January 6 insurrection. According to a new report by ABC News, which cited multiple unnamed sources, Pence was subpoenaed after negotiations between federal officials and his legal team. Jack Smith, the DOJ's special counsel, has been leading investigations into Trump since November 2022, when Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned him to lead probes into attempts to overturn the 2020 election and Trump's mishandling of classified documents.

☆ 'Search unlikely to be uprooted by ChatGPT': From AI competition to massive layoffs, here's what Wall Street is watching for in Alphabet's 4th-quarter earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Analysts will likely fire off competition questions about the buzzy ChatGPT tool alongside those about the company's traditional search business. The company heads into the earnings report after saying last week it's laying off 12,000 employees, following two years of "dramatic growth." "ChatGPT vs Google -- Bottom Line: Search Unlikely to be Uprooted by ChatGPT," Jefferies Brett Thill in outlining its "bullish" view on Alphabet in a note published last week. "We continue see Google as defensive stock in sector, layoffs & other cost-cutting could lead to 2H margin improvement thesis," he said. BofA expects fourth-quarter core Google margins to be down 566 basis points year over year as headcount growth outpaces search.

The morning search by FBI agents appeared to represent an expansion of the probe into Biden's handling of classified documents. The White House counsel's office did not have representatives present at the search, White House spokesperson Ian Sams told reporters. Classified documents have also been found in the home of Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, giving some political cover to Biden. Trump resisted efforts to return materials in his possession, prompting a FBI search of his Florida home and resort last year. It is unlawful to knowingly or willfully remove or retain classified material, although no current or former president or vice president has been charged with wrongdoing.

☆ The FBI is searching Biden's second home in Delaware as part of the DOJ's classified documents investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The Department of Justice said it's searching President Biden's second home in Rehoboth, Delaware. It's part of an ongoing investigation into Biden's handling of classified information. The DOJ says the search is happening "with the President's full support and cooperation." "Today, with the President's full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware," Bob Bauer said in a statement. The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate.

REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department was searching President Joe Biden's second home, a beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware, on Wednesday as part of its investigation into improper storage of classified materials from his time as vice president. The search by FBI agents appears to represent an expansion of the probe into Biden's handling of classified documents. It has stripped him and fellow Democrats of a weapon against former President Donald Trump, who also had classified documents found at his home. Classified documents have also been found in the home of Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, giving some political cover to Biden. It is unlawful to knowingly or willfully remove or retain classified material, although no current or former president or vice president has been charged with wrongdoing.

☆ Department of Justice calls to bar Sam Bankman-Fried from contacting FTX employees after allegations of witness tampering
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The DOJ asked the court to stop him from contacting employees via encrypted apps like Signal. Prosecutors requested that the conditions of Bankman-Fried's bond be changed so he is no longer allowed to contact employees, who the DOJ considers potential witnesses against the former executive, without a lawyer present. While witness tampering is often associated with threats or intimidation, the DOJ's letter notes that conversations can also be deemed as interference in an investigation. "Efforts by the defendant to improve his relationship with potential witnesses that may testify against him may itself constitute witness tampering," the letter states. "Were the defendant to 'vet' his version of relevant events with potential witnesses, that might have the effect of discouraging witnesses from testifying in a manner contrary to the defendant's narrative."

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