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☆ The most expensive home in the Caribbean just listed for $200 million – take a look inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Ray Parisi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's located on the small private island of Mustique, which lies in the southern Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Last year, Mustique's largest transaction was recorded at about $35 million, according to de Mallet Morgan. Here's a closer look at the most expensive home to ever hit the market in the Caribbean. The Bali Cottages house four more guest bedrooms and surround the estate's third swimming pool. De Mallet Morgan said the estate is currently operated by 18 staff.

☆ The response to HBO's 'The Last of Us' shows homophobia is still a major issue in gaming
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Homophobia has long been an issue in the gaming community and larger fandoms. HBO's series is based on the 2013 video game of the same name and is set 20 years after a fungal pandemic leaves the world in ruins. Sunday's episode, titled "Long, Long Time," depicts a gay romance between Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray Bartlett. Echoes of "gamergate" could be seen in criticism against "The Last of Us Part II," the 2020 video game sequel, in which Ellie's sexuality is further explored. On Metacritic, it has a 5.8 user score, while the first game received a 9.2 user rating.

☆ 'The Last of Us' made a major change to a game character. The showrunners explain why it was important to expand on Bill and his love story.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Kirsten Acuna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sunday's episode expands greatly on a minor survivor from the video game, Bill (Nick Offerman). The showrunners told Insider why it was important to show Bill's love story with Frank. In the game, Joel and Ellie seek out Bill, shown as a paranoid loner who speaks to himself, to help them fix up a vehicle and carry on across the country. Frank, also his partner in the game, is only seen dead, hanging after committing suicide some time ago after the infected bit him. Bill tells Joel to keep his partner, Tess, safe in the same way he protected Frank for years.

☆ 11 details you may have missed on Sunday's heartbreaking episode of 'The Last of Us'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Kirsten Acuna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill dies on Sunday's episode, but he's still alive in the game. Frank and Bill get to play out their lives differently on "TLOU" series. HBOSunday's episode is a complete expansion on Bill and Frank's game characters. "There's this lovely thread that indicated this hint of a relationship between Bill and Frank in the game," Mazin said. You can watch our conversation with the showrunners on Sunday's episode here.

☆ U.S. targets '08 crisis trader conflicts in new rule, decade after 1st try
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Douglas Gillison | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The rule is among the last to be adopted under the landmark Dodd Frank Wall Street reform legislation of 2010, according to SEC officials. An earlier version of the conflicts rule first proposed in 2011 was never finalized. SEC officials say it would provide exceptions for legitimate activities, such as hedging to mitigate risk, market-making and meeting liquidity commitments. Better Markets, an advocacy organization that promotes more strict financial sector regulation, welcomed Wednesday's rule proposal but vowed to study it. Without citing prominent recent examples of such conflicts of interest in the asset-backed securities market, SEC officials said the conflicts rule was needed to remove the opportunity and incentive for such conduct.

☆ SEC readies Wall Street 'conflicts' rule, a decade after first try
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Douglas Gillison | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

An earlier version of the conflicts rule first proposed in 2011 was never finalized. When made effective with an SEC rule, the section would prohibit traders from betting against asset-backed securities they sold to investors. According to SEC officials, the rule would ban such actions for up to a year following sale of the securities. According to SEC officials, traders who disclosed bets contrary to clients' investments would still run foul of the rule. Without citing prominent recent examples of such conflicts of interest in the asset-backed securities market, SEC officials said the conflicts rule was needed to remove the opportunity and incentive for such conduct.

☆ How Charlie Javice's Frank Sale to JP Morgan Wound up in Allegations of Fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

Her financial aid startup, Frank, was featured in the New York Times, CNBC and Wall Street Journal. After leaving the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school, Javice traded on her reputation, bolstered by glowing profiles, as a successful entrepreneur. In a 2018 interview with Insider, Javice claimed Frank secured an average of $28,000 for its users, and was helping students get "thousands off their tuition." "Charlie's first company fizzled after 18 months, so after losing all her investors' money, she convinced every one of them to fund her next company, Frank." At Frank, Javice admitted she sometimes painted a more positive picture of the company's health than was supported by the facts.

☆ What's next for Goldman following deep cuts and organization overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On tap we've got stories on JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon fielding questions about the bank's acquisition strategy, another bank plans to make cuts, and fast food options that won't completely crush your diet. On Wednesday the bank conducted a majority of its cuts, reducing its global workforce by about 6.5%. A few days later, on Friday, the bank reported losses of more than $3 billion since 2020 in the unit that houses the bank's consumer lending business. Meanwhile, some of the recently axed Goldman employees have been left in the dark on what's next for them, according to reporting from Hayley and Emmalyse Brownstein. Here are some fast food options that won't completely wreck your diet.

☆ Frank, the college loan start-up JPMorgan is suing for fraud, was warned by the FTC for misleading students about Covid relief money
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

JP Morgan Chase has accused the student loan platform Frank and its founder Charlie Javice of inventing millions of fake customers to juice its value. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission warned Frank that it "may be unlawfully misleading consumers" about student COVID relief. The company promised students help accessing the grant money, but all Frank was doing was generating a form letter students could send to university administrators. "We are concerned that Frank is creating false hope and confusion for students while contributing to unnecessary extra work for financial aid administrators," the representatives wrote. The advance wouldn't need to be paid back until "your aid comes in," the company wrote on its website.

☆ JPMorgan's acquisition strategy is coming under fire. Here are the 15 fintech and consumer-focused deals done by the bank since 2020.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Carter Johnson | Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

NutmegDeal details: JPMorgan announced the acquisition in June 2021, paying approximately $1 billion. cxLoyaltyDeal details: JPMorgan said it would buy cxLoyalty's global loyalty division in December 2020. ProxymityDeal details: JPMorgan, Citi, HSBC, and other firms together invested $20.5 million in Proxymity in May 2020. Viva WalletDeal details: JPMorgan said it would acquire 49% of Viva Wallet in January 2022, pending regulatory approval. Christian Petersen-Clausen/Getty ImagesRenovite TechnologiesDeal details: JPMorgan announced on September 12 it plans to acquire Renovite.

☆ JPMorgan says college-planning firm it bought lied about its scale. Consumers may have been misled, too
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

watch nowIn response, the FTC sent a warning letter to Frank, pointing out a number of claims on its website could be "unlawfully misleading consumers." Besides the problems flagged by government officials, higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz said he noticed other questionable claims made by Frank. At one point, the company said it could complete people's Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, in just four minutes. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is," Kantrowitz said. Student loan, financial aid help is available for free

Companies JPMorgan Chase & Co FollowJan 12 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Thursday shut down the website of Frank, a college financial planning platform it acquired in 2021, after suing the startup's founder Charlie Javice and Chief Growth Officer Olivier Amar for creating nearly 4 million fake customer accounts. The largest U.S. bank by assets had paid $175 million for Frank in a bid to deepen its ties with students. The bank said it was led to believe more than 4.25 million students had created accounts on Frank. However, when JPMorgan sent marketing test emails to a list of Frank's customers that the company had provided, only 28% of them were delivered, the bank alleged. JPMorgan said it generally sees a delivery rate of 99% with similar campaigns.

☆ Before JPMorgan accused Charlie Javice of inventing millions of fake customers, the Frank founder settled with the federal government over accusations she was misleading students
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Visitors to Frank's website could get the mistaken impression that the company was affiliated with the federal government, the Department of Education said in 2017. The Department argued that Frank's website was "likely to confuse consumers." The Department stated in a cease and desist letter that Frank could be misleading applicants looking for the government's official FAFSA website. On social media and elsewhere, Frank sometimes referred to the form as "Frank's FAFSA," according to the settlement. In numerous media interviews, including with Insider, Javice has cast herself as a mold-breaking entrepreneur.

☆ JPMorgan shutters website it paid $175 million for, accuses founder of inventing millions of accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

JPMorgan Chase on Thursday shut down the website for a college financial aid platform it bought for $175 million after alleging that the company's founder created nearly 4 million fake customer accounts. JPMorgan touted the deal as giving it the "fastest-growing college financial planning platform" used by more than five million students at 6,000 institutions. Specifically, after being pressed for confirmation of Frank's customer base during the due diligence process, Javice used a data scientist to invent millions of fake accounts, according to JPMorgan. "Javice represented in documents placed in the acquisition data room, in pitch materials, and through verbal presentations [that] more than 4.25 million students had created Frank accounts." Instead of gaining a business with 4.25 million students, JPMorgan had one with "fewer than 300,000 customers," JPMorgan said in the suit.

☆ JPMorgan sues the founder of the college financial-planning website it acquired, alleging she falsely inflated its user numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

JPMorgan alleged that college financial-planning website Frank lied about its growth and users. JPMorgan's suit accused Frank's founder Charlie Javice and its former chief growth officer Olivier Amar of being in on a scheme to juice its user numbers. The pair used that list to make the inflated user numbers seem credible. The bank claimed that the startup provided the false user numbers while it was conducting due diligence when looking into acquiring the company. As of Thursday morning, JPMorgan had closed down Frank's website, a representative for the bank confirmed to Insider.

☆ The top 5 cities around the world where even the rich soon won't be able to afford renting an apartment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Prime rents have been rising in major cities around the world as pandemic restrictions ease. That's according to the latest Knight Frank Prime Global Rental Index report. Out of the 10 cities tracked by the real estate consultancy, only two of them — Hong Kong and Auckland — registered declines in prime rental prices. Financial hub Hong Kong was affected by pandemic restrictions, while supply was strong in Auckland's luxury property segment, Knight Frank wrote in its report. Keep reading for a look at the five major cities where prime — or luxury — rentals rose the fastest in the third quarter of 2022.

☆ ‘Power Rangers’ star Jason David Frank's wife opens up about how her husband died
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Lindsay Lowe | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Tammie Frank, the wife of “Power Rangers” star Jason David Frank, has confirmed that her husband died by suicide. “My name is Tammie Frank, and my husband was Jason David Frank, who tragically lost his life to suicide just last week,” she said in an exclusive statement to People. He died at the age of 49 last month, his manager, Justine Hunt, said in a statement at the time. Speaking to People, Tammie Frank said she had been “shocked and saddened” to see speculation about her husband’s death in the media. “Between losing (Shayla) and helping raise her baby son, Jason and I started having marital issues,” she said.

☆ Flying taxis, robotic avatars and holograms — Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with its sci-fi city vision
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Emma Procter | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The future Site of the city Neom, a planned cross-border city, stands empty before development begins in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia, December 18, 2019. NEOM political map of the 500 billion dollar megacity project in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea coast. Granger's firm has been working closely with Neom and she believes the view of Saudi Arabia among the business community has changed inexorably. The aim is to transform and grow the kingdom's media industry — another key focus of the Vision 2030 plan. Visitors watch a 3D presentation during an exhibition on 'Neom', a new business and industrial city, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 25, 2017.

Royal Bank of Scotland signs are seen at a branch of the bank, in London, Britain December 1, 2017. RBS agreed to settle Justice Department and FHFA investigations over its sales of residential mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The SEC did not pursue its own action against RBS in this instance. The petition Hong filed on Monday asks the Supreme Court to consider what constitutes an "action" within the SEC's whistleblower incentive program. "The better a whistleblower's information, the larger the sanctions, the larger the whistleblower award, and the greater the self-interested motivation for the SEC to take enforcement actions that it has conveniently placed outside of Dodd-Frank's reach," it added.

☆ The 6 most popular European destinations for Americans to buy homes as the strong dollar boosts US wealth overseas
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-04 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Six places are especially popular among American buyers, per real estate company Knight Frank. As the US dollar rises, more wealthy Americans are investing their money overseas — especially in European real estate. According to global real estate company Knight Frank, Paris, St. Tropez, Tuscany, Venice, Barcelona, Mallorca, and Sardinia, have become the most popular European real estate markets for American home buyers. The researchers also noted that real estate in Venice is more receptive to negotiation than in other parts of the country. Real estate in Spain is also proving popular among Americans, with Barcelona and Mallorca being the standouts, according to Knight Frank.

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