April 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Jackson, Barrett Seek Enron Law Compromise In Jan. 6 Case
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Jackson, Barrett Seek Enron Law Compromise In Jan. 6 Case <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1810572?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Katie Buehler The U.S. Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether an obstruction of Congress statute enacted in the wake of an accounting scandal can be read broadly enough to prosecute alleged U.S. Capitol rioters. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1810572?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1810572?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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BofA Draws Scorn From Republican AGs Over 'De-Banking'
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

BofA Draws Scorn From Republican AGs Over 'De-Banking' <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1825935?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Jon Hill Republican state attorneys general are calling out Bank of America over what they claim has been its discriminatory account closures of Christian religious groups and hostile treatment of conservative customers, allegations the banking giant strongly denies. Letter attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1825935?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1825935?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Pro-Israel Fart Sprayer Sues Columbia Univ. Over Suspension
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Pro-Israel Fart Sprayer Sues Columbia Univ. Over Suspension <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1826243?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Hailey Konnath A Jewish Columbia University student on Tuesday lobbed discrimination claims at the university, which he said unfairly suspended him for spraying non-toxic fart spray at a protest over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a move he said was designed to "silence" him for his views. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1826243?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1826243?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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CIA Says Litigating Assange Spying Suit Would Reveal Secrets
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

CIA Says Litigating Assange Spying Suit Would Reveal Secrets <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1825689?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> By Daniel Wilson The Central Intelligence Agency has asked a New York federal judge to toss a case accusing it of unlawfully spying on lawyers and journalists who met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying it cannot address those allegations without revealing protected state secrets. Memorandum attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1825689?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1825689?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…>

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Zuckerberg Dodges Liability In Meta Addiction MDL, For Now
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Zuckerberg Dodges Liability In Meta Addiction MDL, For Now <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1826022?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> By Dorothy Atkins A California federal judge has tossed certain fraud-by-omission claims seeking to hold Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable in sprawling multidistrict litigation over social media platforms' allegedly addictive design, but she allowed the plaintiffs to amend their allegations to assert a new theory of corporate officer liability against Zuckerberg. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1826022?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1826022?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…>

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Atty Fights $268K Sanction Over Fake Newspaper Filing
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Atty Fights $268K Sanction Over Fake Newspaper Filing <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825791?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> By Rose Krebs A Seattle attorney ordered to pay $268,000 after being accused of filing a fake newspaper called the "The Saudi Sun" as a court exhibit wants the Ninth Circuit to overturn the sanction, arguing that it resulted from judicial misconduct and corruption. Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825791?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825791?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…>

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Justices Say Army Vet Owed More Education Benefits
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Justices Say Army Vet Owed More Education Benefits <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794876?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Kellie Mejdrich An Army veteran who sought additional education benefits to attend Yale Divinity School is owed more federal assistance, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, upending an en banc Federal Circuit ruling that took a narrower view of what he is entitled to based on his multiple tours of duty. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794876?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794876?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Mich. Justices Flag Bias Potential In Lost-Pay Damage Awards
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Mich. Justices Flag Bias Potential In Lost-Pay Damage Awards <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1825933?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Carolyn Muyskens Michigan Supreme Court justices asked about double-dipping damages and whether implicit bias could skew projections of a child's lifetime earnings as they examined whether to back lost wages awards in wrongful death cases Tuesday. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1825933?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1825933?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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Ga. Justices Nix Backdated Discipline For Atty In Forgery Case
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

Ga. Justices Nix Backdated Discipline For Atty In Forgery Case <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825863?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> By Emily Johnson The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously denied an attorney's request for a retroactive suspension for forging a court order for his client, ruling that it would be "inappropriate" if he resumed practicing law while in the process of a pretrial diversion program to have his felony forgery case dismissed. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825863?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1825863?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…>

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Gold Has Set Historic Highs this Year as the Federal Reserve Has Reported Historic Losses
by Gunnar Larson 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/04/gold-has-set-historic-highs-this-yea… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 17, 2024 ~ According to Federal Reserve data, for the first time in its history, the Fed has been losing money on a consistent basis since September 28, 2022. As of the last reporting date of April 10, those losses came to a cumulative $162.9 billion. As the chart above from the Fed indicates, the monthly losses thus far in 2024 have ranged from a high of $13.4 billion in January to $5.5 billion in March. We are not talking about unrealized losses on the debt securities the Fed holds on its balance sheet, which it acquired under its various Quantitative Easing programs. (The Fed does not mark to market the gains or losses on those securities on the basis that it plans to hold them to maturity.) We’re talking about real cash operating losses the Fed is experiencing from earning approximately 2 percent interest on its $6.97 trillion of mostly low-yielding debt securities while it continues to pay out 5.4 percent interest to the mega banks on Wall Street (and other Fed member banks) for the reserves they hold with the Fed; 5.3 percent interest it pays on reverse repo operations with the Fed; the eye-popping 6 percent dividend the Fed pays to member shareholder banks with assets of $10 billion or less; and the lesser of 6 percent or the yield on the 10-year Treasury note at the most recent auction prior to the dividend payment to banks with assets larger than $10 billion. An interesting market action is happening in tandem with the Fed’s growing operating losses. The price of gold has been setting historic new highs this year. From a futures front month price of around $2050 at the beginning of March, gold has topped $2,400 in recent days – dramatically outperforming the year-to-date performance of the S&P 500. Gold Price in the Futures Market Gold typically moves up when there is the threat of inflation, financial instability, or geopolitical threats. Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East crisis are providing plenty of geopolitical threats; inflationary pressures have yet to be fully tamed. The Office of Financial Research’s Financial Stress Index, however, is showing a negative -1.6 reading, meaning it sees no major financial threat on the horizon. (It should be noted that the Index didn’t foresee the worst financial crash in 2008 since the Great Depression until it was in progress.) In a note last week, the international investment bank, UBS, noted the following factors impacting the price of gold: “The rally thus far has been driven by buyers who haven’t traditionally made material purchases, while the usual ETF [Exchange Traded Fund] buyers have remained net sellers. In fact, ETF holdings stand at a 4-year low. A combination of market concerns—including the sanctioning of USD-based assets, CNY [Chinese currency] devaluation fears, and renewed inflation risks—have supported solid demand from central banks and Asian investors. In January and February, preliminary data indicates central banks bought around 64 metric tons of gold and China imported 132 metric tons from Switzerland, a key gold refinery hub. We expect these buyers, who are less price sensitive, to continue accumulating gold in the months ahead.” Is it possible that the unprecedented losses at the Fed – the central bank of the United States – are also creating a flight to safety into gold? Wall Street’s veteran traders know that since 2007, it’s been the Fed that has rushed in with trillions of dollars in loans to bail out Wall Street mega banks when their share prices tank from their latest fiasco. A Fed crippled with its own ongoing losses and negative capital itself under GAAP accounting might have a tough time justifying more Wall Street bailouts to Congress. In addition, when the Fed is operating in the green, as it was on an annual basis for 106 years from 1916 through 2022, the Fed, by law, turns over its excess earnings to the U.S. Treasury – thus reducing the amount the U.S. government has to borrow. According to Fed data, between 2011 and 2021, the Fed’s excess earnings paid to the U.S. Treasury totaled more than $920 billion. The loss of remittances from the Fed means the U.S. government will go deeper into debt, adding to the risk of another credit rating agency downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June 2023, Fed Chair Jerome Powell downplayed the operating losses at the Fed, stating that “these are paper losses, they have absolutely no effect on our ability to conduct monetary policy, or really on the economy, it’s just an accounting effect.” In January, two researchers, Paul Kupiec and Alex Pollock, put the negative capital problem and cash operating losses at the Fed into sharper perspective with an insightful report published at the think tank, American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The researchers wrote: “Notwithstanding the claims made by current and former Federal Reserve officials, the Fed’s cash operating losses and unrealized interest rate losses have already changed the way the Fed conducts monetary policy. In the past, when the Fed wanted to raise rates or shrink member bank reserve balances, it would sell SOMA [System Open Market Account] securities. But today, with the market value of its SOMA securities approximately $1 trillion less than their book value, selling these securities would immediately turn huge unrealized mark-to-market losses into actual cash losses. To avoid reporting such embarrassing losses, the Fed has committed to hold these securities until they mature to ‘avoid’ a loss, thus constraining its monetary policy options. “The Fed’s official plan is to shrink the size of its balance sheet by letting its SOMA securities mature over time. But if interest rates stay elevated, the Fed’s unrealized market value losses will systematically turn into cash operating losses because the Fed will keep paying more to finance its securities than the yield it earns on SOMA securities. FRBs’ [Federal Reserve Banks’] operating losses could continue for a long time.” Kupiec and Pollock further explain how the Fed is gambling on a dangerous confidence game: “As long as the public and financial market participants retain confidence in the FRB’s unsecured deposits, FRBs [Federal Reserve Banks] can continue to pay banks billions in interest and dividend payments while operating at a loss, deeply technically insolvent, and with asset shortfalls. Aided by an implicit guarantee, taxpayers will bear the burden of accumulating Federal Reserve losses that are hidden by Federal Reserve accounting policies and not included in reported government deficit statistics.” Editor’s Note: Nothing in this article should be construed as a recommendation from us to buy gold. Always consult with a professional financial advisor before making any investment decision.

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