February 2025 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

FTX Bankruptcy Lawyers Channel their Inner Sam Bankman-Fried – Bill $21,000 for their Meals Over Just 20 Days
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/02/ftx-bankruptcy-lawyers-channel-their… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 9, 2023 ~ James L Bromley, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell James L Bromley, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell The shenanigans going on in Judge John Dorsey’s bankruptcy courtroom, which is overseeing the FTX bankruptcy proceedings of Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed crypto empire, are reaching levels that should be attracting the attention of federal prosecutors. The head of the newly-created FTX Task Force, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, has called the looted FTX customer accounts “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.” On Monday, February 6, the lead counsel in the bankruptcy case, Sullivan & Cromwell, and its hand-picked CEO for FTX, John Ray, argued vehemently against the appointment of an independent examiner in the FTX matter. The independent examiner has been requested since December 1 by the U.S. Trustee, who works for the U.S. Department of Justice. Sullivan & Cromwell law partner, James Bromley, and Ray, cited the high cost likely to be charged by the independent examiner as one of their arguments against the appointment. The very next day, Tuesday, February 7, Sullivan & Cromwell submitted a compensation request for $7.6 million in legal fees for 19 days work in November, plus $105,000 in expenses. As part of those expenses, Sullivan & Cromwell included a request to be reimbursed for $7,202.19 for “Conference Room Dining,” and $1,840.00 for “overtime” meals. Accentuating the increasingly tone deaf nature of this law firm, just a few months ago Sam Bankman-Fried was making headlines for spending $2500 on lavish lunches for himself and staff while his customers’ accounts were being looted. Bromley, who was so concerned about the cost that might be incurred if an independent examiner was hired, billed at an hourly rate of $2,165 for a total of $381,689.50 in legal fees for the period of November 11 through November 30, 2022. Another Sullivan & Cromwell law partner, Andrew Dietderich, also billed at an hourly rate of $2,165 for a total of $465,042.00 over the same span of time. (Emails recently surfaced in another crypto bankruptcy case where Dietderich had written in an email to a different law firm on November 7 that FTX was “rock solid.” FTX halted customer withdrawals the next day and filed bankruptcy on November 11. See Bombshell Emails Raise Questions about What Sullivan & Cromwell Knew about Fraud at Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Firms.) As lead counsel in the FTX bankruptcy matter, Sullivan & Cromwell is well aware that the bankruptcy estate is missing $8 billion of looted customer funds. What it bills is highly likely to reduce what the defrauded customers get paid. Sullivan & Cromwell’s $7.6 million in legal fees for 19 calendar days comes out to $400,000 per day. Annualized, that’s $146 million over the course of a year. The bankruptcy proceeding is expected to last as long as two years. Another compensation request filed on Tuesday was from a firm advising FTX on restructuring, Alvarez & Marsal. Its legal fees for 20 days in November came in at $5 million while expenses tallied to more than $180,000. Its FTX team devoured meals worth $12,324.88 for which it requested compensation. Another law firm that has been hired to work on the FTX bankruptcy, ostensibly to handle legal work that Sullivan & Cromwell is too deeply conflicted to handle, is Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. For a span of 51 days ending on December 31, 2022, it requested legal fees of $1.2 million and a little over $4300 in expenses. There was zero request for repayment for meals. Judge Dorsey did not rule on the request for an independent examiner on Monday, as had been expected. Instead, he called the lawyers, including the lawyer for the U.S. Trustee, into his chambers and, according to reports, told the lawyers to try to reach an agreement. Dorsey likely fears being overturned on appeal if he rules against the U.S. Trustee in one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. This could cast a decidedly negative light on the numerous times that this Delaware bankruptcy court’s judges (including Judge Dorsey) have ruled from the bench against appointing an independent examiner, despite legal precedent in published decisions and the clear statutory language. Another hearing in the FTX bankruptcy was scheduled for yesterday, when Dorsey was expected to announce how the independent examiner issue had been resolved. Instead, the hearing was abruptly cancelled. One item of business that was to be taken up at that hearing was the appointment of the law firm Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor to serve as Co-Counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors. Judge Dorsey signed that order yesterday appointing the firm, despite the cancellation of the hearing. (See Docket entry 657 at this link.) Judge Dorsey worked as a partner for that law firm for 16 years prior to taking his seat on the bench. Sullivan & Cromwell has come under withering criticism for serving as lead counsel in the bankruptcy despite voluminous conflicts of interest from its prior work for FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried and the hedge fund through which he allegedly looted the FTX customer accounts, Alameda Research. The recently surfaced email by Sullivan & Cromwell partner Andrew Dietderich, in the bankruptcy case of Voyager Digital, means that Dietderich could be called as a witness. Sullivan & Cromwell is also fighting a subpoena from law firms Boies Schiller Flexner and The Moskowitz Law Firm. The law firms want troves of documents and depositions from Sullivan & Cromwell over the work they did for FTX and Alameda in the Voyager Digital case. This is likely to mean that Sullivan & Cromwell will find itself in the problematic position of attempting to be both witness and advocate – which could potentially create unnecessary delays and billings to the FTX bankruptcy estate. It’s not like Judge Dorsey wasn’t warned about this problem. In a letter sent to him on January 9, four sitting U.S. Senators – including bankruptcy law expert Elizabeth Warren – warned as follows: “To name just one challenge: will the firm’s lawyers be able to effectively investigate their current and former partners who were central in FTX’s conduct? Additionally, given their longstanding legal work for FTX, they may well bear a measure of responsibility for the damage wrecked on the company’s victims. Put bluntly, the firm is simply not in a position to uncover the information needed to ensure confidence in any investigation or findings.” An FTX customer, Warren Winter, also filed a formal objection to the appointment of Sullivan & Cromwell, telling the court: “Sullivan & Cromwell was one of the FTX Group’s ‘primary external law firms’ before the FTX Group collapsed. To date, the FTX Group has paid the firm more than $20.5 million in fees and retainers. Now, in the most flagrant attempt by a fox to guard a henhouse in recent memory, Sullivan & Cromwell has applied to be appointed the FTX Group’s bankruptcy counsel with duties that would include ‘investigating all potential estate causes of action’….” Despite the warnings, Judge Dorsey signed an order on January 20 making Sullivan & Cromwell lead counsel in the FTX bankruptcy. It’s time for disinfecting sunshine on what’s going on in this courthouse. We urge our colleagues at mainstream business media to wake from their slumbers and provide it.

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From Jeffrey Epstein to Sam Bankman-Fried to Madoff – JPMorgan Banks the Creepy Crooks
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/02/from-jeffrey-epstein-to-sam-bankman-… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 16, 2023 ~ Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Throughout a Period of Five Criminal Felony Counts Brought by the U.S. Department of Justice If yesterday had been National Creepy Crooks Day, JPMorgan Chase would have taken top honors. Bloomberg News reported on the creepy emails that former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley was sending back and forth from his email account at the bank to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, as the bank was only too happy to handle 55 accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Epstein. One set of emails suggested Staley was having kinky or sexual relationships with individuals dressed up as Disney characters. (Leave it to JPMorgan to take down not only its own brand but taint Disney’s brand as well.) Anyone who has ever worked at a major Wall Street brokerage firm or investment bank knows full well that emails are monitored by the company. This suggests that Staley knew he had nothing to fear from the bank’s email monitors. A 2019 investigation conducted by Wall Street On Parade indicated that Epstein’s ties to JPMorgan Chase date back to at least 2001, when Epstein presided as Chairman over an offshore company incorporated in Bermuda called Liquid Funding Ltd. That company grew to at least $6.7 billion in outstanding liabilities. JPMorgan Chase was one of three banks providing a $250 million liquidity facility to Liquid Funding Ltd. JPMorgan Chase was also listed as its “Security Trustee.” Liquid Funding appeared to be propping up dodgy subprime mortgage dealers by giving them loans. Bear Stearns, where Epstein had worked from 1976 to 1981, owned 40 percent of the equity in the company. If the Bloomberg News article wasn’t enough repulsion for one day, the New York Times reported yesterday that “JPMorgan holds $400 million that FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, invested in an obscure hedge fund, Modulo Capital….” Since federal regulators allege that all of Bankman-Fried’s wealth comes from equity investors he defrauded or the looted accounts of his crypto customers, it appears that, once again, JPMorgan Chase has failed miserably in conducting proper due diligence on its customers, or has simply chosen to look the other way as it did during Bernie Madoff’s decades at the bank. (Bankman-Fried has pleaded innocent to an eight-count indictment. Two of his former top executives, however, Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty to similar charges and are cooperating with federal prosecutors.) One would think that the two criminal felony counts that JPMorgan Chase was hit with by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014 in the Madoff Ponzi scheme matter might have changed its jaded ways. (It didn’t.) The layers of fraud taking place between the bank and Madoff resembled Russian Nesting Dolls – frauds within frauds – as we detailed in our investigation in 2014. The bank even loaned Madoff’s “business” $145 million in 2005 and 2006, which helped to prop up his Ponzi scheme when it was on the verge of collapsing. When the revolting details of the relationship between the bank and Madoff surfaced, the Los Angeles Times made an astute query in a photo caption of a smirking Madoff, asking: “Bernie Madoff: Was he part of the JPMorgan ring, or was JPMorgan part of his ring?” Two trial lawyers literally wrote the book in answering that question. In JPMadoff: The Unholy Alliance Between America’s Biggest Bank and America’s Biggest Crook, Helen Davis Chaitman and Lance Gotthoffer argue that RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, is “the perfect tool” to bring JPMorgan to heel. The lawyers explain: “In enacting RICO, Congress meant business. This powerful law enforcement weapon requires proof that the defendant committed ‘at least two acts of racketeering activity’ within a ten year period, that are related to financial gain. The predicate acts are drawn from a list of 27 federal and eight state law crimes. They include the typical mob crimes like murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, extortion, and drug dealing. But the predicate acts also include a lot of the crimes committed by Wall Street banksters in order to enrich themselves at the expense of others, such as bribery, mail and wire fraud, fraud in the sale of securities, embezzlement, financial institution fraud, obstruction of justice, tampering with or retaliating against a witness, victim or informant, and money laundering.” Yesterday’s Bloomberg News article about Jes Staley’s sick emails to Epstein are derived from a lawsuit brought against JPMorgan Chase by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a secluded island compound. The lawsuit alleges the following: “For two decades, Defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (‘JPMorgan’) facilitated and sustained Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking by handling and [redacted] his payments to young women and girls who were his victims and recruiters. Sex-trafficking was the principal business of Epstein’s accounts held by JPMorgan, and JPMorgan profited handsomely from the hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in those accounts, in addition to Epstein’s connections and referrals of ultrawealthy and powerful clients.” What’s curious about the above paragraph is that the redacted portion appears to be only a one-word redaction. Let’s face it, those two sentences are absolutely devastating to the largest bank in the United States, so what one word could be so much worse that it needs to be blacked out for public digestion? Try finding a word that fit’s in that phrase: “…by handling and [redacted] his payments to young women and girls who were his victims and recruiters.” The dangerous word can’t be “facilitating” because that word appears unredacted throughout the lawsuit in describing the role JPMorgan Chase played in payments to Epstein’s victims. The unredacted words “handling” and “facilitating” suggest an enabler but not a direct participant in the crime. Words like “making” or “processing” on the other hand, sound like direct participation in the crime. As for those creepy references to Disney characters, the Virgin Islands’ lawsuit shares this: “In July 2010, Staley emailed Epstein saying ‘That was fun. Say hi to Snow White[,]’ to which Epstein responded ‘[W]hat character would you like next?’ and Staley said ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Epstein also emailed Staley photos of young women in seductive poses. Following the internal reports of additional law enforcement investigations into Epstein’s sex-trafficking in 2010 and 2011, JPMorgan’s response was to send Staley in 2011 to obtain Epstein’s denial, on which the bank hung its hat.” And there is this: “Throughout its relationship with Epstein, JPMorgan’s internal investigation teams identified evidence that he was engaged in criminal sex-trafficking. In 2006, JPMorgan’s Global Corporate Security Division reported that Epstein was indicted in Florida for felony solicitation of minors for prostitution. In 2008, Epstein pled guilty in Florida to solicitation or procurement of a minor for prostitution and became a registered sex offender. JPMorgan’s continued relationship with Epstein after his criminal plea was reviewed and approved at the highest levels of the bank. An August 2008 internal email states, ‘I would count Epstein’s assets as a probable outflow for ’08 ($120mm or so?) as I can’t imagine it will stay (pending Dimon review).’ Yet the assets did stay [redacted text]. In 2010, JPMorgan’s risk management division discussed new allegations of an investigation of Epstein involving child sex-trafficking. Throughout 2010 and 2011, JPMorgan’s compliance and security divisions reported evidence of Epstein’s engagement in sex-trafficking, including his settlement of a dozen civil lawsuits and his payments of $1 million to the MC2 modeling agency engaged with Epstein in child sex-trafficking, ‘luring’ girls on the pretext of providing modeling opportunities and careers.” Given the five criminal felony counts that the U.S. Department of Justice has brought against JPMorgan Chase in the past nine years and its institutional knowledge of the crimes this bank is willing to tolerate in its search for profits, one has to ask this: why is the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands bringing these charges instead of the government of the United States?

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The Same Day Sam Bankman-Fried Is Hit with a New Count of Bank Fraud, Three Regulators Warn About Crypto Bank Runs
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/02/the-same-day-sam-bankman-fried-is-hi… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 27, 2023 ~ Damian Williams (Photo Source US Attorney's Office, SDNY, via AP) Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for SDNY, Is Leading the Prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried On December 13, the U.S. Department of Justice released an 8-count criminal indictment against the former crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations. Last Thursday, the Department of Justice added four additional criminal counts against Sam Bankman-Fried in a superseding indictment. These include: bank fraud; conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business; and two counts involving the purchase and sale of derivatives. Bankman-Fried’s jury trial is scheduled to start in October. The charge of bank fraud is something that jury members can get their minds around – particularly when the alleged bank fraud is shown to have taken place at federally-insured banks which are backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. And while the new indictment does not name any specific banks, it is well known that Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange and his hedge fund, Alameda Research, were involved with a number of federally-insured banks. (See, for example, Federally-Insured, Crypto-Focused Silvergate Bank Loses 43 Percent of Its Market Value Yesterday as Depositors Flee. Silvergate was a $160 stock in late April of last year. It closed on Friday at $14.33 following a massive bank run on deposits in the last quarter of 2022 as its ties to FTX became publicized.) Here’s a sampling of what’s in the new indictment regarding Sam Bankman-Fried’s alleged diabolical plan to engage in bank fraud: “SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, perpetrated this multi-billion-dollar fraud through a series, of systems and schemes that allowed BANKMAN-FRIED, through Alameda, to access and steal FTX customer deposits without detection. For instance, in 2021, FTX began to accept customer fiat deposits into an Alameda-affiliated bank account that itself was established through a fraudulent scheme that BANKMAN-FRIED directed… “In part to obscure the relationship between FTX and Alameda, and in order to overcome Bank-1 ‘s refusal to open a bank account for FTX without extensive due diligence and licensing, in or about August 2020, SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, directed the incorporation of a new U.S.-based entity, North Dimension. BANKMAN-FRIED was listed as sole owner, CEO, and president of North Dimension, which had no employees or business operations outside of its bank account. BANKMAN-FRIED and others chose the name ‘North Dimension’ in part to conceal that there was a relationship between North Dimension and Alameda from FTX customers and from banks approving transactions with the North Dimension bank account. BANKMAN-FRIED also directed the creation of a website for North Dimension and used a credit card in his name to fund the hosting services for the website… “Once the North Dimension bank account was opened, FTX directed customer dollar deposits to the North Dimension account. Thereafter, when FTX customers deposited or withdrew fiat currency, Alameda personnel, who maintained control over the North Dimension account and acted under the direction and supervision of SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, and his co-conspirators, manually credited or subtracted the customer’s FTX account with the corresponding amount of fiat currency on an internal ledger system…” Investigative reporter, Gretchen Morgenson, reported for NBC News in December that North Dimension went to the trouble of creating a fake company website that marketed itself like this: “Our vision is to become most popular website for purchasing mobile phones and electronics by offering complete product information and a transparent purchasing procedure.” It is more than a little noteworthy that the same day that the Justice Department released details on how easily Bankman-Fried was allegedly able to commit bank fraud, three federal bank regulators released new warnings to U.S. banks about getting involved in crypto. The federal regulators are the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). One paragraph of the various warnings sounds like it is describing the negative impact to all crypto-related banks when a relationship like that between Silvergate and FTX/Alameda makes headlines. It reads: “Deposits placed by a crypto-asset-related entity that are for the benefit of the crypto-asset-related entity’s customers (end customers). The stability of such deposits may be driven by the behavior of the end customer or crypto-asset sector dynamics, and not solely by the crypto-asset-related entity itself, which is the banking organization’s direct counterparty. The stability of the deposits may be influenced by, for example, periods of stress, market volatility, and related vulnerabilities in the crypto-asset sector, which may or may not be specific to the crypto-asset-related entity. Such deposits can be susceptible to large and rapid inflows as well as outflows, when end customers react to crypto-asset-sector-related market events, media reports, and uncertainty. This uncertainty and resulting deposit volatility can be exacerbated by end customer confusion related to inaccurate or misleading representations of deposit insurance by a crypto-asset-related entity.” There is no such thing as federal deposit insurance for crypto assets.

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Munich Security Conference: Trump's Russia-Ukraine Plan Sharpens Leaders' Focus - Bloomberg
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

Munich Security Conference: Trump's Russia-Ukraine Plan Sharpens Leaders' Focus - Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2025-02-14/munich-security-confere… Zelenskiy Says Will Only Meet With Putin on His Terms Russia’s war in Ukraine dominates discussions; Speeches highlight growing US-Europe rift on path to end the conflict Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says he’s ready for talks, but not to concede territory US Vice President Vance addresses Europe’s loss of “fundamental values,” makes little reference to Ukraine EU’s Von der Leyen warns unjustified tariffs will be answered

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Fwd: Exclusive: From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Information <hello(a)theinformation.com> Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2025, 9:34 AM Subject: Exclusive: From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto To: <g(a)xny.io> Read the latest article from The Information. Subscribe today and save 25% on all of our business, tech and finance reporting. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ [image: The Information] [image: The Information] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> February 14, 2025 State Street and Citi are among * banks looking to launch crypto services * <https://www.theinformation.com/articles/from-bny-to-citi-wall-street-moves-…> as Trump quickly loosens regulations. Read the full article <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Yueqi Yang ------------------------------ Give yourself an advantage with a Pro subscription, granting you access to these exclusive benefits: [image: Icon] *Industry-specific org charts* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> with reporting lines for 3,000+ executives and directors across a growing list of over 60 companies [image: Icon] *Proprietary databases* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> offering previously unreported insights into startup funding, investors, and more. This includes our Cloud, Chip, and AI Databases [image: Icon] *IPO Tracker* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> that maps out startups on the verge of going public and performance of recent IPOs [image: Icon] *Exclusive events & live conversations* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> where you can engage with experts and exchange ideas with peers [image: Icon] *Weekly Pro Newsletter* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> that features the biggest updates to our data to keep you up-to-date on evolving trends [image: Icon] *Subscriber surveys* <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> that create transparency for industry sentiment across today’s most relevant topics Subscribe today <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> ------------------------------ Popular articles <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Exclusive Apple Partners With Alibaba to Develop AI Features for iPhone Users in China <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Qianer Liu and Jing Yang <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Exclusive Meta Curbs Privacy Teams’ Sway Over Product Releases <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Kalley Huang <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> AI Agenda OpenAI Investor Kushner Tells Startup’s Staff: Leaving Is a Bad Idea <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Natasha Mascarenhas, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> AI Agenda Anthropic Strikes Back <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> By Stephanie Palazzolo <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Follow us [image: X] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: LinkedIn] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Facebook] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Threads] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> [image: Instagram] <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> Sent to g(a)xny.io <g@xny.io?utm_campaign=RTSU%3A+From+BNY+to+Ci&utm_content=7124&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio&utm_term=4871> | Manage your preferences or unsubscribe <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> | Help <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…> The Information · 251 Rhode Island Street, Suite 107, San Francisco, CA 94103 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/251+Rhode+Island+Street,+Suite+107,+San+…> <https://e.customeriomail.com/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnU2kwUVlEQU8yWGxBSHNsNV…>

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SoCal Judge Admonished For 'Demeaning' Female Lawyers
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

SoCal Judge Admonished For 'Demeaning' Female Lawyers <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2298114?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…> By Rachel Scharf A Southern California judge was publicly reprimanded by the state's judicial discipline agency Thursday for a yearslong "pattern of discourteous, undignified and impatient behavior" toward female attorneys, including the use of profanities and inappropriate gestures meant to convey the act of pumping breast milk. Decision attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2298114?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2298114?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…>

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Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2293109?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…> The American Bar Association’s recently published guidance, clarifying the duties outside counsel owes to both organizational clients and those organizations' constituents, provides best practices that attorneys representing companies in white collar and other investigative matters should heed, say attorneys at MoFo. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2293109?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/2293109?nl_pk=87c9365b-e736-431…>

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Donald Trump Gives the Greenlight to Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to Return to Bribing Foreign Officials
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2025/02/donald-trump-gives-the-greenlight-to… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 11, 2025 ~ President Donald Trump Tells Fox News that Americans Would End Up Poor Without His Brain in the White House President Donald Trump Tells Fox News that Americans Would End Up Poor Without His Brain in the White House The President of the United States appears to be on a mission to Make Corruption Great Again. Just yesterday, Trump’s Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Also, Trump issued a pardon to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted in 2011 on corruption charges, including an FBI-recorded attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated when Barack Obama took the office of the President. Trump had commuted Blagojevich’s sentence during his first term as President. In a further jaw-dropping move yesterday, Trump issued an Executive Order that suspends the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for 180 days, giving a greenlight to megabanks on Wall Street and other U.S. corporations to bribe officials in foreign countries to get business deals approved. The order bars federal prosecutors from starting any new FCPA investigations, enforcing new actions and orders a review of existing FCPA investigations to “restore proper bounds” on applying the FCPA law. Two of the megabanks on Wall Street – Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase – had previously been charged with outrageously brazen violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). (See here and here.) The FCPA has been the law of the United States for almost half a century. It was enacted in 1977 and protects the reputations of giant publicly-traded companies in the U.S., the stock of many of which are held to the tune of billions of dollars in public pension funds. It also supports the reputation of the United States as a country that will not allow its largest corporations to engage in predatory practices against vulnerable countries through bribery. Trump’s moves yesterday to normalize corruption are being interpreted by some media outlets as an effort by Trump to normalize his own history of corruption as simply what smart dealmakers do. Trump is, after all, the first convicted felon (a 34-count convicted felon to be precise) to serve as President of the United States in 248 years. Trump’s unprecedented moves since taking office just last month are ringing more and more alarm bells. Trump has stunned the world at large with his announcement last Tuesday that the U.S. would take ownership of Gaza, the homeland of the Palestinian people, and develop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump expanded on that in an interview with Fox News, portions of which were released yesterday. In that interview, Trump said the Palestinians would not be allowed to return to Gaza. From firing Inspectors General, to shuttering federal agencies, to allowing the unprecedented breaches of U.S. government payment and computer systems, to appointing grossly disqualified individuals to lead critical federal agencies, Trump is increasingly appearing to be destabilizing the U.S. government. Yesterday, five former U.S. Treasury Secretaries (Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Jack Lew and Janet Yellen) jointly penned an OpEd at the New York Times. In it, they wrote the following about Elon Musk and his band of young techies gaining access to the U.S. Treasury’s $6 trillion payment system: “These political actors have not been subject to the same rigorous ethics rules as civil servants, and one has explicitly retained his role in a private company, creating at best the appearance of financial conflicts of interest. They lack training and experience to handle private, personal data — like Social Security numbers and bank account information. Their power subjects America’s payments system and the highly sensitive data within it to the risk of exposure, potentially to our adversaries. And our critical infrastructure is at risk of failure if the code that underwrites it is not handled with due care. That is why a federal judge this past weekend blocked, at least temporarily, these individuals from the Treasury’s payments system, noting the risk of ‘irreparable harm.’ ” One member of Congress who appears to have sized up the machinations of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and his 19-25 year old tech bros running amok in the computer systems of critical federal agencies is Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). When the news of the mass firings of Inspectors General by Trump made their way to Whitehouse, he summed up the Trump agenda with one sentence at X (formerly Twitter): “Corruption 101: Clear out the cops before you send in the thieves.” Over the weekend, another cop has been gutted by the Trump administration in a brazen coup d’état. The building of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been shuttered for at least this week, its government website gives a 404 error notice, and its major operations have been suspended by a Trump appointee, Russell Vought (a key author of Project 2025), who has also been installed as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The CFPB was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, duly passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. It allows average Americans to file complaints directly with the CFPB against financial institutions that have ripped them off. That complaint database is publicly available and allows journalists to mine it, looking for the latest predatory actions against vulnerable Americans. Taking down the CFPB has been on Wall Street’s wish list since its creation. Senate and House Democrats funneled their outrage against the Trump administration’s unlawful actions against the CFPB in a quickly launched protest rally in front of its shuttered building yesterday.

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Bloomberg Live Event - EMEA
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

Bloomberg Live Event - EMEA https://www.bloomberg.com/live

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The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory
by Gunnar Larson 14 Feb '25

14 Feb '25

The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-02-14/elon-musk-s-tesla-spacex… Cristy was in her early 50s when she took a job with a cleaning subcontractor on a construction project, reporting for 12-hour shifts vacuuming, mopping floors and scrubbing toilets. Despite her exposure to dust and other debris, most days she wasn’t provided with gloves, face masks or other personal protective gear, and she had only limited access to water. The shifts included two 15-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch, with managers keeping strict watch on the time. Workers who were tempted to complain had to mind the threat of deportation.

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