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☆ Ukraine Appoints New Anticorruption Head as It Seeks to Allay West’s Concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Isabel Coles | Gordon Lubold | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, here displaying seized U.S. dollar notes before the war, was launched with FBI support. Ukraine appointed a new anticorruption chief as Kyiv seeks to show Western allies funneling billions of dollars in aid to the country that it is serious about tackling graft. The appointment of Semen Kryvonos as director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday comes at a time when the mounting costs of subsidizing Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion have brought concerns around corruption back into focus.

The case stems from a sweeping probe of corruption in international soccer and its world governing body, FIFA. The government’s case hinges largely on the testimony of Argentine businessman Alejandro Burzaco, who has pleaded guilty to bribing soccer officials but has yet to be sentenced. Burzaco told jurors that Martinez and Lopez were aware of and approved the scheme, which he said they discussed during multiple meetings. Lawyers for Martinez and Lopez told jurors during closing arguments on Friday that their clients were unaware of Burzaco’s scheme. Prosecutors said Burzaco’s testimony was “devastating” and alleged that emails showed him discussing the bribes with Martinez and Lopez in coded terms.

☆ A big landlord who controls 60,000 homes is funneling money into a political action group that could urge lawmakers to curb renter protections
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Corporate owners of US rental homes are being scrutinized for making homes unaffordable. The landlords that control thousands of homes are girding for a political fight over regulation. As tenant advocates met with the White House and pushed the Biden administration to take action on high housing costs in November, one of America's largest single-family landlords was preparing its own move. AMH, formerly known as American Homes 4 Rent, did not respond to an Insider request for comment. Companies like AMH, Pretium Partners, and Invitation Homes have been building large portfolios of homes across the country since the last financial crisis.

☆ Warren Buffett lashed out against critics of stock buybacks. The White House says it isn't anti-repurchases, it just wants to encourage smart spending.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Warren Buffett slammed critics of stock buybacks as economically "illiterate" in his annual letter. But a White House official said Biden isn't anti-repurchases, he just wants to encourage smart spending. The 92-year-old billionaire investor — who has touted the value of stock buybacks for decades — slammed opponents of stock buybacks in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. But Biden isn't an opponent of share repurchases — he just wants to encourage smart spending, a National Economic Council official told MarketWatch. Berkshire has been one of the US's leaders in stock buybacks, spending nearly $8 billion on its own shares in 2022.

☆ Premarket stocks: Share buybacks could beat last year's record $1.2 trillion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Companies have announced about $175 billion worth of planned stock buybacks so far this year. This year will likely be the first with at least $1 trillion in completed S&P 500 company buybacks, said Howard Silverblatt at S&P Dow Jones Indices. ▸ GM (GM) just inked an exclusive deal for the hottest product in automaking: Semiconductors. The strong dollar is hurting multinationalsThe rip-roaring dollar cut deeply into the earnings of multinational companies selling their wares overseas last quarter. “We got hit with that.”McDonald’s (MCD) and 3M (MMM) also said in earnings reports that they were worried that the strong dollar would affect future sales.

☆ War in Ukraine Tips Power Balance Inside EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Laurence Norman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Ukraine—When Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and intervened in the country’s east, France and Germany led Europe’s response and officials in Brussels played a side role. Today the positions have flipped, placing the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, in a central leadership role. The EU’s new muscle was evident Thursday when commission President Ursula von der Leyen brought 15 EU commissioners to Kyiv. The commission is overseeing billions of euros of economic aid to Ukraine, funneling military assistance to its military and planning its postwar reconstruction.

☆ Microsoft rolls out ChatGPT-powered Teams Premium
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Wednesday rolled out a premium Teams messaging offering powered by ChatGPT to simplify meetings using the AI chatbot that has taken Silicon Valley by a storm. The premium service will cost $7 per month in June before increasing to $10 in July, Microsoft said. OpenAI-owned ChatGPT will generate automatic meeting notes, recommend tasks and help create meeting templates for Teams users. ChatGPT on Wednesday announced a $20 per-month subscription plan, which will let subscribers receive access to faster responses and priority access to new features and improvements. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse just keeps losing money, as Meta's Reality Labs division posts a loss of $13.7 billion for the year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reality Labs is the business and research unit of Meta that focuses on the metaverse. It reported a loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the quarter prior. The company posted its fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, with Reality Labs showing an operating loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the previous quarter. In the past 12 months, Reality Labs has sucked up more than $13.7 billion. However, in an internal email sent in late December, Bosworth reportedly told the 18,000 members of Reality Labs that the company has solved too many problems simply "by adding headcount."

☆ 3 people share why they're paying as much as $4 million to live on a cruise ship all
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Storylines MV Narrative luxury cruise ship is poised to set sail in 2025. StorylinesBut like a commercial cruise ship, residents of the MV Narrative will have plenty to do. Holt said when he signed on in 2021 to live aboard, the annual fee for a single guy like himself was $72,000 a year. Holt plans to give up his Virginia rental and live aboard the ship full time. Angela NuranThe MV Narrative won't set sail until 2025, but Angela Nuran and Paul Cosentino are ready.

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday launched a fresh attack against U.S. oil companies, accusing them of using profits to pay shareholders instead of boosting supply, after Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said its annual profit doubled for 2022. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit. "Companies clearly have everything they need – record profits and thousands of approved permits – to increase production," White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan said in a statement. "The only thing getting in the way is their own decision to keep plowing windfall profits into the pockets of executives and shareholders instead of using them to boost supply." Hasan's comments mark the latest set of attacks from the White House lambasting oil companies for funneling a windfall of profits to investors.

☆ School lunch, eggs and airfare: Why inflation soared for 10 items in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here's a look at the 10 items with the largest price gains, as measured by the annual inflation rate in December. Food at school: 305.2%The price of a meal at elementary and secondary schools spiked the most in 2022, by a whopping 305%. Overall food prices have been pressured on many fronts, too, funneling into school meals. Oil prices retreated in the second half of the year, though, as fears mounted of a possible recession and an accompanying weakness in oil demand. Monthly milk production among major suppliers fell each month from September 2021 to June 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

☆ New guidelines for treating childhood obesity include medications and surgery for first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Kaitlin Sullivan | Kaitlin Sullivan Is A Contributor For Nbcnews.Com Who Has Worked With Nbc News Investigations. She Reports On Health | Science | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Intensive behavioral and lifestyle changes should be the first-line approach, but the AAP also includes recommendations for anti-obesity medications and surgery for the first time. The guidelines say that pediatricians should offer weight-loss drugs for children age 12 and up with obesity. She also acknowledged that these lifestyle changes can be really hard to adopt, especially for overworked and low-income parents. The more adverse the environment around you, the harder it is to live a healthy lifestyle,” Hassink said. Medications and surgery are expensive, and asking overstretched parents to implement lifestyle changes is not always realistic.

[1/3] Donna Heinel (L), former associate athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 25, 2019. Donna Heinel, the school's former senior associate athletic director, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston for helping get about two dozen students admitted as fake athletic recruits in exchange for money. Prosecutors said Heinel also personally pocketed $160,000 after she and Singer entered into "sham" consulting agreement. She has agreed to forfeit that money, though defense lawyer Nina Marino said, adding Heinel did not view it as a bribe at the time. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's $470 million Robinhood stake is set to be seized by US authorities, attorney says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's Robinhood shares are set to be seized by US authorities, an attorney said Wednesday. Bankman-Fried, FTX's new bosses, bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi and FTX creditor Yonatan Ben Shimon have all laid claim to the Robinhood stake, per a December 22 court filing. Bankman-Fried disclosed a 7.6% stake in Robinhood in May, acquiring 56.3 million shares in the trading platform for $648 million through an Antigua-based holding company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies. Robinhood shares traded at $8.36 as of Wednesday's closing bell – meaning that Emergent's position is now worth just over $470 million. Read more: Sam Bankman-Fried is facing off against FTX's new bosses in a 4-way battle for $450 million of Robinhood shares

BOSTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The architect of the largest U.S. college admissions fraud scheme ever uncovered will be sentenced on Wednesday for helping wealthy parents secure the admission of their children to elite universities through cheating and bribery. The former college admissions consultant played a key role as a cooperating witness in the "Operation Varsity Blues" investigation. Singer admitted in 2019 to facilitating cheating on college entrance exams and funneling money from wealthy parents to corrupt university coaches to secure the admission of their children as fake athletic recruits. The years-long investigation into the scheme resulted in the conviction of more than 50 people, including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, two of the many wealthy parents Singer had as clients. Singer took in more than $25 million from his clients while running a California-based college admissions counseling service called The Key and a related charity.

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street's biggest winners and losers in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The S&P 500 is down nearly 20% and with two trading days left in the year, investors’ hopes of a miraculous recovery have been dashed. The energy sector has so far returned more than 60% this year, significantly outperforming every other S&P 500 sector. Occidental Petroleum has been the biggest gainer of the year in the S&P 500, up 122% year-to-date. The energy sector reported the highest year-over-year earnings growth of all 11 sectors, at 137.3%. Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) is also down about 70%, making the auto tech company the third worst performer this year.

BOSTON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence the mastermind of the largest U.S. college admissions fraud scheme ever uncovered to six years in prison after he helped them secure the convictions of dozens of wealthy parents including Hollywood celebrities. Prosecutors made the recommendation a week before William "Rick" Singer, the college admissions consultant at the center of the "Operation Varsity Blues" investigation, goes before a judge for sentencing after pleading guilty in 2019. Prosecutors said Singer, operating through his California-based college admissions counseling service The Key and a related charity, took in more than $25 million from his clients. They said he paid out more than $7 million to bribe coaches and administrators at schools including Georgetown University, the University of Southern California, Yale University and Stanford University. Singer, who now lives in a Florida trailer park, in his own filing wrote that he lost everything by "ignoring what was morally, ethically, and legally right in favor of winning what I perceived was the college admissions 'game.'"

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried borrowed $546 million from his hedge fund to buy a Robinhood stake
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In an affidavit that emerged Tuesday, Bankman-Fried said he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang borrowed more than $546 million from the hedge fund, Alameda Research, which they used to purchase the Robinhood shares via a holding company primarily controlled by Bankman-Fried. Wang has since pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and conspiracy, in cooperation with US prosecutors investigating FTX’s collapse. Four separate entities have laid claim to the approximately 56 million shares, worth about $450 million. Also claiming the Robinhood shares are bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, and an individual FTX creditor. BlockFi is suing Bankman-Fried for the Robinhood shares, which BlockFi claims it is owed after Alameda defaulted on $680 million in collateralized loan obligations.

☆ North Korea has delivered rockets, missiles to Russian Wagner Group mercenaries for use in Ukraine, White House says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Courtney-Kube-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Courtney Kube | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

North Korea has delivered rockets and missiles to the Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group for use in Ukraine, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. “Today we can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, which paid for that equipment. Last month, North Korea delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner,” he said Thursday. There are likely to be more actions, like sanctions, taken against the Wagner Group in the coming days, Kirby said. After the White House said North Korea had supplied arms to the Wagner Group, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “The U.K. supports the U.S. assessment that North Korea has completed an arms delivery to Russia for use by the Wagner Group, which paid for this equipment and has thousands of troops in Ukraine.

The co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the former CEO of Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, Alameda Research, have pleaded guilty to fraud, a federal prosecutor in New York said Wednesday. The SEC complaint alleges that Wang "created FTX’s software code that allowed Alameda to divert FTX customer funds," and that Ellison used those funds for Alameda's trading. The SEC complaint alleges a complex scheme to trick both investors and customers into believing that FTX had strict and advance risk mitigation. "From the inception of FTX, Defendants and Bankman-Fried diverted FTX customer funds to Alameda, and continued to do so until FTX’s collapse in November 2022," the SEC complaint reads. “If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” he said.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried could be bailed and placed under house arrest after he's extradited to the US, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried could be bailed and placed under house arrest after extradition to the US. One option being explored, alongside house arrest, is electronically monitoring Bankman-Fried. Two people familiar with the matter told the Times that the deal could see Bankman-Fried placed under house arrest. Since then, Bankman-Fried has spent just over a week in the notoriously-harsh Fox Hill prison, which reports say is overcrowded and understaffed. One official at the prison told The Washington Post that the FTX founder appeared "awfully scared," but seemed like a "nice guy."

☆ Elon Musk says the US has been 'harmed' by having Elizabeth Warren as a senator after she wrote a scathing letter to Tesla's board
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk has lashed out at Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she wrote a letter to Tesla's board. Musk said on Twitter that the US had been "harmed" by having Warren as a senator. Responding to a Twitter user who posted about the senator's letter, Musk said: "The United States has definitely been harmed by having her as a senator lol." On Sunday, Warren wrote to Tesla's board saying Musk's Twitter takeover had "raised questions about possible violations of securities or other laws." Instead, he responded to a Twitter user who said only Blue subscribers should be able to vote in policy related polls.

☆ An FTX exec bought $6 million of real estate and restaurants in a small Massachusetts town. The crypto giant's collapse has local officials worried about its future.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ryan Salame, a co-CEO at FTX, bought $6 million of restaurants and real estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. A local newspaper reported last year that Salame owned almost half the town's restaurants. As first reported by local news outlet The Berkshire Eagle, Ryan Salame, who was co-CEO at FTX Digital Markets, invested $6 million in restaurants and real estate in Lenox. Bankman-Fried has been accused of funneling customer funds into his trading firm, Alameda, and using some customer money to buy luxury real estate and fund political donations. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Salame vomited upon hearing about FTX's impending collapse.

Investors have urged Musk to step down as Twitter CEO and punished Tesla stock, which is down nearly 60% this year and hit a fresh two-year low on Monday. On a Twitter poll from Musk on Sunday asking whether he should step down as Twitter CEO, 57.5% of 17.5 million people voted "yes." Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management and a big Tesla bull, said last week that he would run for Tesla board and had notified Tesla. Leo KoGuan, a major individual Tesla shareholder, wrote on Twitter earlier that Musk had "abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO." "The whole situation is just weird, and weird is being kind," said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management.

☆ Sen. Warren warns Tesla board that Musk may have failed to meet his legal duties due to Twitter takeover
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote to the chair of Tesla's board Robyn Denholm expressing concern that CEO Elon Musk has failed to meet his legal duties since buying Twitter for $44 billion. "This use of Tesla employees raises obvious questions about whether Mr. Musk is appropriating resources from a publicly traded firm, Tesla, to benefit his own private company, Twitter," Warren wrote, adding that it could violate Musk's "legal duty of loyalty to Tesla." She also suggested the arrangements could violate legal requirements to make public employment agreements with executive officers, which Warren said Tesla has not done. Warren added that the debt Musk took on to buy Twitter could also create conflicts, like incentivizing him to have Tesla overpay for Twitter advertising to infuse it with cash. WATCH: Twitter is now Elon Musk's company — Here's how experts responded to the news

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