August 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Citigroup Is Having a Helluva Summer: A Protest on Thursday Will Turn Up the Heat
by Gunnar Larson 07 Aug '24

07 Aug '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/08/citigroup-is-having-a-helluva-summer… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 6, 2024 ~ If you are sick of reading about Americans dying of heat stroke as summer temperatures in the U.S. continue to break records; as unprecedented flooding occurs from coast to coast; as wild fires destroy more homes and wildlife habitat; and, as the Republican candidate for President raises his fist at rallies and yells “Drill, baby, drill”; this Thursday presents an opportunity for you to take a stand. John Mark Rozendaal, a 63-Year Old Grandfather and Accomplished Cellist, Will Risk Imprisonment By Playing Bach Outside Citigroup Headquarters You can join with a 63-year old grandfather, John Mark Rozendaal, and fellow activists in front of Citigroup’s headquarters at 388 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan at 11 a.m. this Thursday. The peaceful protesters, who have been targeting the bank all summer, will be calling continued attention to Citigroup’s outsized role in financing fossil fuel expansion and the deadly impact it is having across the globe. Rozendaal is an accomplished cellist who recently retired as an adjunct instructor in the music department at Princeton University. He will be playing Bach’s Suites for Cello at the demonstration, despite Citigroup’s efforts to silence him with a restraining order based on what organizers of the event call “trumped up” charges from his appearance at a prior protest at the bank this summer. The activist group, Stop the Money Pipeline, writes in their recent newsletter that Citigroup is targeting leaders of these protests with false allegations and having them arrested by the NYPD. It might be helpful for these activist groups to know that the NYPD has what is called a “Paid Detail” that allows armed, uniformed police officers to get paid directly by Wall Street megabanks in their off hours, with the ability to make arrests – raising deeply disturbing conflict of interest questions. In addition, as we reported previously, for years the NYPD has shared a high-tech surveillance center in lower Manhattan, sitting elbow to elbow with security staff from the felon megabanks on Wall Street, and spying on the lawful comings and goings of people in the streets of Manhattan. (See more recent information here.) Thursday’s action at Citigroup’s headquarters is being supported by Extinction Rebellion NYC, Stop the Money Pipeline, Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, and Planet over Profit and is part of Third Act’s “Summer of Heat” campaign. Third Act explains its “Summer of Heat” campaign as follows: “We believe nonviolence is strategic. The state and major corporations have a monopoly on violence; they have far greater means to inflict harm than we do. For our campaign, we do not believe we can win against major corporations if we engage them on the field of violence. “Violence would undermine our chances of success, whether through triggering police repression, turning away engaged activists, or repelling the public. US social movement history is replete with instances of police and FBI infiltrators who encourage activists to engage in physical violence against their opponents. “We believe we are most likely to be successful in our campaign by using nonviolent civil disobedience to disrupt the status quo, shine a light on injustice, and inspire many more people to act. “We are aware that our nonviolent actions may provoke violence from others, whether from the police or from members of the public who disagree with our aims or tactics. We are committed to maintaining nonviolent discipline even when met with violence from others. The violence we face juxtaposed with our continued nonviolence will underscore the moral integrity of our cause compared to that of our opponents.” While JPMorgan Chase is actually the largest lender to fossil fuel projects according to the Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2024, with $430.9 billion in financings since 2016, Citigroup is ranked as the number one lender to fossil fuel expansions since 2016, according to the same report, with $396.3 billion in financings. Doctors and nurses protesting JPMorgan Chase’s role in funding fossil fuel projects broke windows at the bank’s European headquarters in London in July of 2022. A jury failed to reach a majority decision on their guilt earlier this year.

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Gov't Warned Over Tapping Pensions For Economic Growth
by Gunnar Larson 06 Aug '24

06 Aug '24

Gov't Warned Over Tapping Pensions For Economic Growth <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866306?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Joel Poultney The Labour government must remember that the "primary role" of pensions is to support retirees in later life amid growing efforts to use the trillion-pound sector to drive economic growth, Royal London has warned. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866306?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866306?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Ukraine War Shifts Contours Of Russian Litigation Landscape
by Gunnar Larson 06 Aug '24

06 Aug '24

Ukraine War Shifts Contours Of Russian Litigation Landscape <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1859501?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Joanne Faulkner The war in Ukraine and global sanctions have caused the number of Russian litigants using England's commercial courts to tumble dramatically, and lawyers expect that the consequences of the invasion will continue to influence the disputes landscape. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1859501?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1859501?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Azeri Banker's Wife Forfeits Golf Club, Knightsbridge Home
by Gunnar Larson 06 Aug '24

06 Aug '24

Azeri Banker's Wife Forfeits Golf Club, Knightsbridge Home <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866309?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Sophia Dourou The wife of a jailed Azeri banker has agreed to forfeit a house and golf course that the National Crime Agency says were bought with embezzled money, the agency announced on Monday. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866309?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1866309?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Nikkei Has Biggest Drop in History: Here’s What’s Causing the Global Market Selloff
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/08/nikkei-has-biggest-drop-in-history-h… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 5, 2024 ~ Japan’s Nikkei stock market index fell a stunning 4,451.28 points in overnight trading, marking the worst tumble in point terms in the entire history of the Nikkei. In percentage terms, that was a one-day trading loss of 12.4 percent. Dow futures took their cue from the selloff in overnight foreign markets and tumbled a breathtaking 1200 points by 8:26 a.m. in New York. When the market actually opened at 9:30 a.m. the Dow had shaved off 1,167 points in the opening five minutes. As of 9:40 a.m., the Nasdaq had lost 819.8 points or 4.89 percent. Japanese traders were spooked by the sharp selloffs in U.S. markets on Thursday and Friday of last week, which were ushered in by bad economic data as well as the potential for a broader war in the Middle East. On Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 494.82 points or 1.2 percent while Nasdaq almost doubled that decline with a loss of 2.3 percent. The S&P 500 index closed with a loss of 1.4 percent. Thursday’s selloff was fueled by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) report that its measure of manufacturing activity had slumped to an eight-month low for the month of July, falling to 46.8 from a 48.5 level in June. A reading below 50 indicates a contracting manufacturing sector. The reading cast more doubt on the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to hold steady on its high interest rates – pushing off the possibility of a Fed rate cut until September and raising the stakes for a full-blown recession in the U.S. The markets were further unnerved on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. when the monthly non-farm payroll report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) brought further hints of a recession. Non-farm payrolls had increased in July by a meager 114,000 – far below the average of 215,000 per month over the prior 12 months. Friday’s economic data sent stock markets into another tailspin with the Dow losing 610.7 points or 1.51 percent; Nasdaq tumbling 417.9 points or 2.43 percent; and the S&P 500 (SPX) down 100.12 points or 1.84 percent by the closing bell. The sharp two-day selloff in stocks sent traders into the safe-havens of gold and the 10-year U.S. Treasury note. As money moved into the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, its price moved higher with a concurrent drop in yield. From a 4 percent handle on Tuesday, the Treasury’s benchmark note is trading this morning to yield 3.70 percent. Gold’s December contract traded intraday on Comex on Friday at $2,522.50 an ounce – a new historic intraday high, before closing lower at $2,469.80. Bitcoin, on the other hand, showed itself to be anything but a safe-haven trade or the much-touted substitute for gold. Bitcoin has fallen from a price level of more than $60,000 at the beginning of last week to around $50,000 this morning. To put that another way, Bitcoin is viewed just as risky – if not more risky – than stocks. The CBOE’s Volatility Index known as the Vix is reflecting the wild gyrations in the stock market, moving from a range of 30 to 25 on Friday to spike as high as 65.73 this morning – the highest since the COVID-19 panic in 2020. As of 9:42 a.m. EDT, the Vix was trading at 54.16. Not helping matters this morning is the fact that the megabanks on Wall Street are continuing their sharp losses from last week. (See chart below.) As of 9:37 a.m. this morning in New York trading, Citigroup is off by another 7.37 percent while Goldman Sachs has lost 6.96 percent. Citigroup, parent of the giant federally-insured Citibank, has now moved from a closing price of $64.30 last Monday to trading intraday this morning at $54.20 or a loss of 16 percent in a week. Veteran traders on Wall Street remember that Citigroup was the megabank that destabilized the market in 2008, requiring secret infusions of $2.5 trillion in revolving loans from the Fed between December 2007 to July 2010 according to the eventual audit by the Government Accountability Office that was released to the public in July 2011. The bank’s stock traded as low as 99 cents in early 2009. (See our reporting on Citigroup’s woes as it happened in the fall of 2008.) Also not helping the stock market was the headline at CNN on Saturday that suggested the U.S. could be drawn into a wider war in the Middle East. The news outlet wrote that “The US is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian retaliation to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.” Adding to market jitters was a report at CNBC on Saturday that Warren Buffett had raised his cash levels to an historic $277 billion after slashing his stock holdings. All in all, not the stuff that bull markets are made of.

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Bid To Get Ex-Judge Jones' Phone Records Blocked, For Now
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Bid To Get Ex-Judge Jones' Phone Records Blocked, For Now <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1866030?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> By Rose Krebs A Texas judge has temporarily barred JCPenney's bankruptcy administrator from accessing former Judge David R. Jones' cellphone records amid the scandal involving his concealed romantic relationship with an ex-Jackson Walker LLP partner and firm fees he approved in various cases, including JCPenney's bankruptcy. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1866030?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1866030?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…>

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Defamation, Assault Suit Among Ex-Atty Colleagues Trimmed
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Defamation, Assault Suit Among Ex-Atty Colleagues Trimmed <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1866085?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> By James Boyle A Pennsylvania federal judge this week tossed part of a former Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP attorney's defamation suit against two former colleagues, saying the statements the colleagues made about his actions were found credible by a Delaware court when it confirmed a protection for abuse order. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1866085?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1866085?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…>

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Prosecutors To Remain On Young Thug Trial, Judge Rules
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Prosecutors To Remain On Young Thug Trial, Judge Rules <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1865915?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> By Chart Riggall Two of the prosecutors in the long-running gang trial of rapper Young Thug will be allowed to stay on the case over defense attorneys' objections that they should be disqualified for their role in a secret meeting with the trial's former judge, the case's new presider ruled Thursday. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1865915?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1865915?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…>

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Boeing's New CEO To Steer Daunting Safety Culture Rebound
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Boeing's New CEO To Steer Daunting Safety Culture Rebound <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1864429?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Linda Chiem Boeing's selection of an engineer and longtime aerospace industry executive as its next CEO demonstrates an eagerness to correct course amid daunting legal and regulatory troubles, as victims' families relentlessly press for Boeing to face a criminal trial over the two 737 Max 8 crashes. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1864429?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1864429?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Boeing Wins Trim Of Rival Engineering Co.'s IP Case, For Now
by Gunnar Larson 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Boeing Wins Trim Of Rival Engineering Co.'s IP Case, For Now <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1866212?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Hailey Konnath A Washington federal judge has significantly trimmed an aerospace engineering firm's suit accusing Boeing of stealing patented technology, agreeing with Boeing that many of the claims are inadequate to proceed at this stage, but giving the firm the opportunity to amend them. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1866212?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1866212?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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