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☆ JPMorgan’s Dimon Denied Having Any Contact With Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When it comes to JPMorgan Chase’s nearly 15-year business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Jamie Dimon, the bank’s longtime chief executive, claims to have little firsthand knowledge about the disgraced financier. During a deposition taken on Friday, Mr. Dimon repeatedly denied meeting Mr. Epstein, or communicating with him, and also said he had no recollection of being briefed by his top lieutenants at the nation’s largest bank on one of its most notorious customers. Mr. Dimon said he had barely heard of Mr. Epstein before his July 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges and death by suicide in a New York jail cell a month later. “I don’t recall knowing anything about Jeffrey Epstein until the stories broke sometime in 2019, and I was surprised that I didn’t even — had never even heard of the guy, pretty much. And how involved he was with so many people,” Mr. Dimon said during an all-day deposition taken at JPMorgan’s headquarters in Manhattan.

Persons: Jeffrey Epstein, Jamie Dimon, Dimon, Epstein, Epstein’s, Mr, — Organizations: JPMorgan Chase’s, The New York Times Locations: Florida, United States, New York, Manhattan

☆ JPMorgan Tries to Deflect Blame for Long Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Staley was Mr. Epstein’s advocate in the bank and was the senior relationship manager for Mr. Epstein,” Ms. Erdoes said. The lawsuits contend that JPMorgan chose to keep Mr. Epstein as a client after he became a registered sex offender because he was bringing business to the bank. A blame game is also going on at JPMorgan, with some suggesting that Mr. Staley should have known about Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking at the time, and that he had the duty to let others know. The bank has named Mr. Staley as a third-party defendant in the lawsuits in a bid to hold him liable for any damages JPMorgan may have to pay. Mr. Staley, who is scheduled to be deposed as soon as next week, has argued in court papers that he did nothing wrong or inappropriate.

Persons: Mr, Staley, Epstein’s, Epstein, ” Ms, Erdoes, ” Organizations: JPMorgan, U.S . Virgin Locations: U.S, New York , Florida, Virgin

☆ Should You Get a Credit Card Just for the Sign-Up Bonus?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +12 min

Card perksMany credit cards, especially travel credit cards, offer a variety of perks that can add value to your cardholder experience. If a specific premium travel credit card offers benefits on brands you already use, it could make sense to choose that card even if its sign-up bonus isn’t the best around. Credit scoreCredit card issuers typically don’t disclose a minimum score requirement, but most rewards credit cards with sign-up bonuses stipulate that you need good credit. That said, your credit score is just one factor that card issuers consider when you apply for a credit card. A new credit card isn’t worth it if it threatens your financial security—no matter how good the sign-up bonus.

Persons: Ben Luthi, Chase, you’ll, ”, Derek Flanzraich, you’re, Matthew Goldman, Hyatt, Goldman, FICO Organizations: Chase, Target, Walmart, Express, “, American, Citi, Venture, Southwest Airlines, Marriott, Hilton Locations: Chase, Ness, Europe

More than six million pages of emails, Slack messages and other digital records. For months, federal prosecutors building the criminal case against the fallen cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried have assembled a vast and unusually varied array of evidence. The documents include crypto transaction logs and encrypted group chats from Mr. Bankman-Fried’s collapsed exchange, FTX, as well as strikingly personal reflections recorded by a key witness in the case. The mountain of evidence ranks among the largest ever collected in a white-collar securities fraud case prosecuted by the federal authorities in Manhattan, according to data provided by a person with knowledge of the matter. In the 2004 securities fraud prosecution of Martha Stewart, for example, prosecutors produced 525,000 pages of evidence to the defense team, but the numbers have increased significantly in recent years.

Persons: Slack, Sam Bankman, Bankman, Fried’s, Martha Stewart Locations: Manhattan

☆ Bats carry killer viruses. Scientists suggest ways to cope.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

“I have to think on a landscape scale.”Research in Australia also is deepening scientists’ understanding of bats. Flying foxes travel long distances in search of food, dispensing seeds and pollinating trees along the way. As deforestation destroyed habitats and further disrupted the food supply, the bats have increasingly formed year-round roosts near people, they noticed. Native gums flowering around Gympie lured the flying foxes away from horse paddocks and more urban areas. In fact, the most dangerous areas for spillover aren’t rare, pristine habitats absent of humans, scientists say.

☆ 'He'll do anything to come for you': Bang Bang, the tattoo artist to stars like Rihanna and Justin Bieber, is a controlling, vindictive boss, ex-employees say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Melkorka Licea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Yet some former Bang Bang employees said that McCurdy's meticulously curated image as a thoughtful progressive in a rough-and-tumble industry wasn't much more than good PR. At Bang Bang, "they just woke-wash everything," one former employee said. This kind of behavior extended to other Bang Bang employees. Ganser, the Bang Bang manager, also sent Wang a text comparing her behavior to her father's, who was in prison. Photo by Gotham/GC ImagesNearly a decade after opening the first Bang Bang shop, McCurdy still sees himself as a trailblazer.

☆ Peter Thiel Is Latest Billionaire Said to Have Met With Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | Ryan Mac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2014, the venture capitalist Peter Thiel was gaining prominence as one of Silicon Valley’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors. That made him an ideal contact for Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender with a knack for cultivating the rich and powerful. Mr. Thiel apparently had several meetings with Mr. Epstein that year, according to scheduling records of the disgraced financier that were reviewed by The New York Times. The records — in the form of emails that Mr. Epstein’s assistant sent to remind him of upcoming events — show that in September 2014 Mr. Thiel was scheduled to meet with Mr. Epstein on at least three occasions, either in one-on-one meetings or with others over lunch or dinner. Two other times, Mr. Thiel was listed among more than a dozen other well-known people Mr. Epstein should try to see while at his New York mansion.

☆ Mortgage demand drops as interest rates hit a 2-month high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Higher mortgage rates and a severe shortage of homes for sale are taking their toll on mortgage demand. Mortgage applications to purchase a home dropped 4.8% last week, compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. Mortgage rates increased last week, even as Treasury yields were essentially flat, with the spread between the two rates widening to 310 basis points. "Mortgage rates have generally been struggling versus Treasuries since the Fed ended reinvesting its bond portfolio proceeds in late 2022," explained Matthew Graham, chief operating officer. "More recently, elevated supply of mortgage debt owing to the FDIC's various liquidation efforts have weighed on the sector."

☆ Deutsche Bank Will Pay $75 Million to Victims of Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein to settle a lawsuit filed last year in Manhattan, according to the lawyers for the victims. The settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, would resolve a proposed class-action suit that alleged the bank had helped enable the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking of young women by missing warning signs in Mr. Epstein’s accounts that he was engaged in wrongdoing. Dylan Riddle, a spokesman for the German bank, declined to comment on any proposed settlement. But in a statement, Mr. Riddle said the bank “has made considerable progress in remedying a number of past issues,” while investing in bolstering its internal controls. David Boies and Brad Edwards, the lawyers for the women who brought the case, said $75 million would be made available to the more than 125 victims of Mr. Epstein who previously obtained payouts from a restitution fund established by his estate after his death in 2019.

In 2017, with Mr. Connors’ help, Mr. Maichle started his own company, Precision Compliance Consulting. ‘Boss Man’Mr. Connors, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Maichle were all active in college conservative politics in Wisconsin about 15 years ago, when Mr. Connors was the leader of campus Republicans at Marquette University. Of that, about $102,000 went to Campaign Now, the firm started by Mr. Connors, and another $112,000 to companies where Mr. Connors, Mr. Maichle or Mr. Lewis was either the owner or a partner, tax records show. Most of the money — more than $4.4 million — went to fund-raising companies via tens of thousands of small payments. Most of the money — more than $4.4 million — went to fund-raising companies via tens of thousands of small payments.

☆ Who Would Want to Be a C.E.O.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ravi Mattu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But what does modern-day management look like, and how are business leaders confronting some of their thorniest challenges? The narrative of the post-Cold War world was economic integration, international supply chains and deepening trade ties. China’s economic development underpinned global growth for decades and was fundamental in helping the west recover after the 2008 financial crisis. The fight over companies’ approach to the environment has run straight into a political culture war. Shareholders, policymakers and commercial imperatives are pushing companies to put sustainability at the heart of their operations.

☆ The Business Nightmare of Dealing with Government
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Matthew Gwyther | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

How business leaders should engage with politics is a vexed question, especially in these febrile times. Democracy and capitalism are supposed to go hand in hand. Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, argues in his recent book “The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism” that the two work best for business when each complements and constrains the other. “The strengths of democracy are representation and legitimacy, while its weaknesses are ignorance and irresponsibility,” he writes. “The strengths of capitalism are dynamism and flexibility, while its weaknesses are insecurity and inequality.”

☆ Twitter’s new encrypted message feature criticized by security and privacy experts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In addition, encrypted messages may only be sent between two individuals, not groups. Both participants must either have exchanged direct messages in the past, or the recipient of an encrypted message must already follow the sender. Twitter’s former chief information security officer, Lea Kissner, publicly pleaded with Twitter’s current engineering team to improve the feature quickly. And it announced that its goal is to provide a similar level of protection as other privacy-preserving apps that come highly recommended by security experts, such as Signal. The lack of so-called end-to-end encryption makes Twitter’s implementation largely meaningless, security experts said.

☆ Carl Icahn’s Firm Faces Federal Inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Maureen Farrell | Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The investment firm controlled by the billionaire activist investor Carl C. Icahn has fielded questions from federal prosecutors about its management and operations, according to a securities filing made on Wednesday. On May 3, federal prosecutors in Manhattan requested documents from Mr. Icahn and his firm just one day after his publicly traded company, Icahn Enterprises, became a target of Hindenburg Research, the short-seller firm that has made its name in recent years by taking on the Indian tycoon Gautam Adani and the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. News of the inquiry was the latest setback for Mr. Icahn, who is best known for targeting publicly traded companies and their chief executives and pressuring management to make changes. Short sellers profit when stock prices fall, and shares of Icahn Enterprises have fallen nearly 40 percent since Hindenburg Research released a report last week, accusing the company of running “Ponzi-like economic structures.” On Wednesday, the stock fell about 15 percent on news of the federal inquiry.

☆ ‘Don’t freak out’: Notes from defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. In one note, however, someone at the defense table took issue with prosecutors’ characterization of the Proud Boys marches. A note from the defense table during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial. It’s unclear what the doodle refers to, though the Proud Boys have adopted the rooster as a symbol.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried, in First Detailed Defense, Seeks to Dismiss Charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( David Yaffe-Bellany | Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has issued his first detailed legal defense since prosecutors accused him of fraud, seeking to dismiss several of the charges and claiming that the high-powered law firm representing FTX in its bankruptcy has been doing the government’s bidding. In court filings late Monday, lawyers for Mr. Bankman-Fried said FTX and its lawyers at the firm Sullivan & Cromwell had become de facto agents of federal prosecutors building the criminal case against him and might be withholding crucial evidence. “FTX’s legal advisors went to the government to accuse Mr. Bankman-Fried behind his back without knowing the full facts, and ultimately forced him to step down as C.E.O.,” the lawyers wrote. For months, Sullivan & Cromwell has funneled documents and other evidence to the prosecution, the filings say. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers claimed that prosecutors had been seeking only the most incriminating documents, even though FTX might also be sitting on material that could help the defense.

☆ Microsoft M12 boss departs tech giant's VC arm to help turn London-based investor Systemiq Capital into the Sequoia of climate tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A founding partner at Microsoft's VC arm M12 has left to take up a GP role at a climate tech investor. Goldstein has joined Systemiq Capital and plans to turn it into the Sequoia of climate tech. One of the founding partners of Microsoft's venture arm M12 has left the company to join London-based investor Systemiq Capital, which he wants to help turn into the Sequoia of climate tech. Systemiq Capital, meanwhile, was spun out of advisory firm Systemiq in 2022 to allow it to thrive on its own, Goldstein said. The climate tech investor expects to reach final close on its second fund, worth $200 million, towards the end of 2023.

☆ A new sign of panic in the US banking industry: Law firm Wachtell Lipton calls on SEC to crack down on short selling of bank stocks.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jeffrey Cane | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Influential law firm Wachtell Lipton says the SEC needs to respond by stopping bets against bank stocks in the form of short sales. Read the law firm's memo here. On Thursday, the law firm Wachtell Lipton sent a memo to clients asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on the short selling of bank stocks. Calls for limits on short selling can be seen as a sign of stress in the financial system. Other longer-term solutions may include reinstitution of the traditional up-tick rule, and aggressive enforcement combating abusive short sales, market manipulation and groups acting in concert.

A cluster of regional banks scrambled on Thursday to convince the public of their financial soundness, even as their stock prices plunged and investors took bets on which might be the next to fall. PacWest and Western Alliance were in the eye of the storm, despite the companies’ protestations that their finances were solid. PacWest’s shares lost 50 percent of their value on Thursday and Western Alliance fell 38 percent. They are also much smaller than Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic, which each had about $200 billion in assets when they collapsed. PacWest, based in Los Angeles, has about $40 billion in assets, and Western Alliance, with headquarters in Phoenix, has $65 billion in assets.

☆ Billionaire Investor Buys Epstein’s Private Islands for $60 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A billionaire investor with ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands paid $60 million to buy Jeffrey Epstein’s island residences off the coast of St. Thomas — closing another chapter in the financial dealings of the disgraced financier who died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The investor, Stephen Deckoff, paid roughly 50 percent less than the price Mr. Epstein’s estate listed for the two private islands last year. A portion of the sale proceeds will go toward a $105 million settlement that Mr. Epstein’s estate reached last year with the government of the U.S. territory in the Caribbean. Mr. Deckoff, in a news release, said he planned to build a 25-room resort on the islands. A lawyer for Mr. Epstein’s estate confirmed the sale but declined to comment further.

Lawmakers and regulators have spent years erecting laws and rules meant to limit the power and size of the largest U.S. banks. But those efforts were cast aside in a frantic late-night effort by government officials to contain a banking crisis by seizing and selling First Republic Bank to the country’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase. The F.D.I.C.’s decision appears, for now, to have quelled nearly two months of simmering turmoil in the banking sector that followed the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in early March. “This part of the crisis is over,” Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, told analysts on Monday in a conference call to discuss the acquisition. For Mr. Dimon, it was a reprise of his role in the 2008 financial crisis when JPMorgan acquired Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual at the behest of federal regulators.

☆ What every consumer should know about bank failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Let’s be frank: If you have a US bank account, hearing about bank failures in the past couple of months hasn’t felt great. Here’s what you need to know to keep things in perspective despite the recent closures of First Republic, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. How do I know my money is safe? How can I know if my bank will fail? The FDIC will issue information within a day or so of taking over a failed bank to let the bank’s customers know what steps if any they need to take and when.

☆ F.B.I. Searches Home of Top FTX Executive
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | David Yaffe-Bellany | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

carried out a search on Thursday morning at the Potomac, Md., home of Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who was a major campaign contributor to Republican political candidates, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Mr. Salame, who ran FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, was part of the close circle of advisers around Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, before the firm filed for bankruptcy in November. Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a vast fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme at FTX. Mr. Salame has been under particular scrutiny over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year’s midterm elections. In court filings, federal authorities have claimed that most of the $90 million contributed to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, had been misappropriated from customers of the exchange.

A real estate investment fund recently defaulted on $750 million of mortgages for two Los Angeles skyscrapers. And a big New York landlord is trying to extend the deadline for paying down a loan for a Park Avenue office tower. Office districts in nearly every U.S. city have been under great stress since the pandemic emptied workplaces and made working from home common. But in recent months, the crisis has entered a tense phase that could damage local economies and cause financial hits to real estate investors and scores of banks. Lenders are increasingly reluctant to make new loans to owners of office buildings, especially after the collapse of two banks last month.

For years, the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance has had a reputation for dodging regulators and skirting financial rules, all without significant consequences. Now the world’s largest crypto exchange is facing mounting legal pressure. Justice Department prosecutors are investigating the exchange for money laundering violations, as the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the company’s business practices. Last month, another agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, sued Mr. Zhao, accusing him of compliance failures that allowed criminals to launder money on Binance. “It’s the biggest exchange for crypto, and if it gets clamped down on, that’s going to be a big deal,” said Hilary Allen, a crypto expert at American University.

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