DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Elon Musk drops suit against OpenAI and Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In this photo illustration, the logo of 'OpenAI' is displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying the photographs of Elon Musk and Sam Altman in Ankara, Turkiye on March 14, 2024. Elon Musk on Tuesday withdrew his lawsuit against OpenAI and two of the company's co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, in California state court. Musk's decision to file to dismiss the suit came just one day after he publicly criticized OpenAI and its new partnership with Apple. In February, Musk had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman and Brockman — the current CEO and president of OpenAI, respectively — for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. Last year, Musk debuted his own AI startup and OpenAI competitor, xAI, which last month announced a $6 billion Series B funding round.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, Musk, Altman, Brockman, It's, Kevin O'Brien, Ford O'Brien Landy, I'm, Andreessen Horowitz, X.AI, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: Tuesday, Apple, CNBC, OpenAI, Microsoft, Elon, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Musk Locations: Ankara, Turkiye, California, San Francisco

Last week, Musk sued OpenAI and co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. "It's certainly a good advertisement for the benefit of Elon Musk," Kevin O'Brien, partner at Ford O'Brien Landy LLP and former assistant U.S. attorney, told CNBC. In the suit, Musk's lawyers say they want OpenAI to return to its work as a research lab and no longer exist for the "financial benefit" of Microsoft. Musk's attorneys didn't respond to a request for comment. Musk has an AI company of his own, X.AI, which introduced a competing chatbot called Grok in November after two months of training.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Beata Zawrzel, Elon, Musk, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, It's, Kevin O'Brien, Ford O'Brien Landy, I'm, O'Brien, isn't, Shannon Capone Kirk, Ropes & Gray, Chris Ratliffe, Kirk, —, X.AI, He's, bigwigs, Andrej Karpathy, Kyle Kosic, OpenAI's, Jason Kwon, Kwon Organizations: Nurphoto, Microsoft, Elon, CNBC, Ropes &, Ropes & Gray LLP, Bloomberg House, Economic, Bloomberg, Getty, The New York Times, SEC, Tesla, X.AI, OpenAI Locations: Krakow, Poland, Davos, Switzerland, OpenAI

Unlike federal prosecutors – who kept their indictments carefully restricted to easily understood and more provable infractions, with few co-defendants – Willis went big. Under the agreement, Powell entered a guilty plea in six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to intentionally interfere with the election in Georgia, a state that President Joe Biden won narrowly. And it's bad for Trump," O'Brien says. Trump once considered appointing Powell as a special counsel investigating election fraud in late 2020, after he lost the election. Her guilty plea, entered in a Fulton County courthouse Thursday, means Powell is formally acknowledging her role in attempting to subvert the election Trump lost.

Persons: Fani Willis, Donald Trump, –, – Willis, Rudy Giuliani, Scott McAfee, Willis, Sidney Powell, Trump, Scott Hall, Hall, Kevin O'Brien, Ford O'Brien Landy, O'Brien, Powell, Joe Biden, it's, Mai Ratakonda, Ratakonda, Giuliani, It's, Neal Katyal, Barack Obama Organizations: Fulton, Trump, United Democracy Center, of Locations: Fulton County, Coffee County, New York City, Georgia, of Georgia

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday took aim at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC accuses Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao of operating a "web of deception". The SEC said Coinbase traded at least 13 crypto assets that are securities that should have been registered, including tokens such as Solana, Cardano and Polygon. Reuters GraphicsFounded in 2012, Coinbase recently served more than 108 million customers and ended March with $130 billion of customer crypto assets and funds on its balance sheet. Tuesday's SEC lawsuit seeks civil fines, the recouping of ill-gotten gains and injunctive relief.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Kevin O'Brien, Ford O'Brien Landy, Coinbase, Nansen, Paul Grewal, Coinbase's, Ed Moya, bitcoin, Oanda's Moya, Dado Ruvic, Gary Gensler, Gensler, Kristin Smith, Jonathan Stempel, Hannah Lang, Michelle Price, Kevin Buckland, Leslie Adler, Christopher Cushing Organizations: YORK, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Global Inc, Exchange, REUTERS, Securities, Supreme, Beaxy Digital, Bittrex Global, CNBC, Blockchain Association, Reuters Graphics, U.S, Binance's U.S, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, Solana, Cardano, bitcoin, Binance, Binance.US, Binance's, Cayman Islands, New York, Washington, Tokyo

A 30-year veteran of the DA's office told Insider that Bragg will lay the specifics out in a so-called "bill of particulars" down the road. "When you have an indictment, anything you put in the indictment, you must prove it," Florence, who ran against Bragg for DA in 2021, told Insider in an interview. Bragg laid out 4 alleged underlying crimes in post-arraignment presserThough Bragg didn't include the specifics of Trump's alleged underlying crimes in the charging documents, he laid them out in his post-arraignment news conference. Bragg elaborated on that alleged underlying falsehood in a statement of facts included as an addendum to the indictment. "The prosecution is boxed in at this stage of the game," Ty Cobb, who served as White House special counsel during the Trump administration, told Insider.

☆ Trump might try these 3 defense strategies, but none are likely to get the Manhattan DA's case dismissed, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Trump is now expected to challenge the charges on several fronts, and his defense will start from a stronger place than you might assume. But if his lawyers are hoping to get the charges dismissed altogether, they'll likely be disappointed, experts say, and the case is almost certainly headed toward a blockbuster trial. Of the alleged state law violations, Brand said that "these are misdemeanors under New York law, and the only way you get to felonies is by coupling it with another crime." "To the extent that is based on federal law, I don't know that a state can do that," Brand said. But legal experts say that, whatever the flaws in the indictment itself might be, the case will almost certainly go to trial.

☆ The criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison could put jilted FTX customers in the backseat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The parallel criminal case against SBF, Caroline Ellison, and Gary Wang may be to blame. But they told a Delaware bankruptcy court recently that they hit a roadblock, accusing Sam Bankman-Fried and those close to him of not playing ball with them. The criminal case takes priorityEllison and Wang separately reached plea deals with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, copping to charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. But, experts told Insider, the deals require them to focus on working with prosecutors in the criminal case — even if it could be at the expense of other parties. But when both criminal and civil proceedings are ongoing, it's the criminal case that goes first in line, Snyder said.

☆ The house that helped secure Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bail package reportedly sits on land his parents leased from Stanford
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's parents lease the land for their home from Stanford, the LA Times reports. They'd put up the $4 million home as collateral for the former FTX CEO's $250 million bail release. Bail terms are about flight-risk rather than if collateral can cover the full amount, legal experts said. The revelation once again prompts questions about how and why courts set bail terms, which are meant to ensure that a defendant doesn't flee while awaiting trial. Prosecutors are now also arguing that Bankman-Fried's bail restrictions must go further, and impose limits on whom he communicates with and how.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's not-guilty plea keeps his options open, says a former federal prosecutor who explains what the criminal case means for investors-turned creditors of FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's lawsuit had alleged that both Ellison and Wang knowingly deceived the public under Bankman-Fried's direction. O'Brien, a former assistant US Attorney for the Department of Justice, specializes in white-collar criminal defense and commercial and securities litigation. "When you get indicted, your first appearance in court, you don't know what the charges are. You're presented with a piece of paper, an indictment, but you don't know what the evidence is." But Bankman-Fried's plea doesn't have much to do with what the outcome will be for investors who lost funds on the exchange, O'Brien noted.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is set to testify before Congress on Tuesday. He could be grilled on his past statements — and expose himself to more legal risks.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sam Bankman-Fried plans to appear remotely before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. The House Financial Services committee has its own investigative mandate, outlined by its role in inquiring into financial failures, and in helping to craft legislation to prevent similar episodes in the future. Participating could expose Bankman-Fried to more legal risksTestimony provided to House lawmakers would usually be under oath, thought not necessarily so. The House Financial Services committee, chaired by Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California, comprises progressive political stars like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The House Financial Services committee hearing is scheduled to kick off at 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

☆ Political experts don't think the Trump Org's felony status is enough to kill Donald Trump's chances in 2024: 'At some point, the Republican party has to decide how much they're willing to overlook'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lauren Frias | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But experts don't think the conviction is enough to tamp down his chances in the 2024 election. "But at some point, the Republican party has to decide how much they're willing to overlook before they just cut him loose," Crouse said. "That's not really a logical analysis, that's more a poetic analysis, but I think it does have symbolic significance in that sense." "Even though [Trump] wasn't a defendant, it's at his feet, and it can be portrayed that way by his enemies both inside the Republican party and outside the Republican party," O'Brien added. "And I think that's going to weaken his candidacy" in 2024, especially as his hold on the GOP is challenged by a potential presidential hopeful: Florida Gov.

☆ Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics wins $50 million deal to help develop driverless Army vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics said Tuesday that it won a two-year, $49.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to help develop automated combat vehicles for the U.S. Army. The company said the vehicles will be tailored for reconnaissance, surveillance and other missions that would present a high risk to a human driver. The contract was awarded by the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and is part of the Army's ongoing Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. DIU said it received 33 responses to its initial solicitation in October, and selected Kodiak and another vendor, development software provider Applied Intuition, after an extensive review process. The award marks the latest development in the DoD's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge self-driving competitions, which began in 2004.

Search resuls for: "Kevin O'Brien"

12 mentions found