Federal prosecutors on Monday sought to chip away at FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s credibility, pointing to discrepancies between his public comments and actions taken behind the scenes as the company collapsed.
In a steady drumbeat of questions, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon tried to paint Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old former wunderkind of the crypto world, as someone who lied to his customers about the safety of their investments, while secretly raiding their accounts to fund his own risky investments, luxury real estate purchases, costly celebrity endorsements and political contributions.
In his second day of testimony before a jury in his criminal fraud trial in Manhattan’s federal court, Bankman-Fried repeatedly said he couldn’t remember exactly what he had said in numerous media interviews in the days and weeks after FTX had declared bankruptcy and $8 billion in customer deposits had vanished.
He also sought to distance himself from decision-making at FTX’s sister investment firm, Alameda Research, whose risky bets helped bring the crypto trading platform down.
Sassoon pointed to multiple public comments by Bankman-Fried in which he claimed FTX’s risk management protocols made it safer than other crypto currency trading platforms, while the company allowed its own investment arm, Alameda Research to make risky bets without limit.
FTX ultimately collapsed largely as a result of the billions in loans it had extended to Alameda, which prosecutors allege was done using customer money.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that Alameda was effectively granted carte blanche to use FTX customer money to make risky bets. One key element was that certain risk-management systems that FTX used to to liquidate customer accounts that had entered into negative territory were disabled for Alameda, allowing it unfettered ability to make high-risk moves.
Throughout his testimony, Bankman-Fried claimed he had limited visibility as to what was happening at Alameda, which he founded and mostly owned, but which had ceased running day-to-day in 2021, when his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison took over as CEO.
He said he only became aware of how bad a liquidity issue Alameda faced well after a financial crisis began sweeping through the crypto industry in the summer of 2022. Bankman-Fried said he had told Ellison, who had pleaded guilty and testified against him, that she should have taken hedge positions earlier to lessen the company’s risk.
But he said he continued to believe up until just days before the companies collapsed, that both Alameda and FTX were on firmer financial footing.
“I viewed Alameda as solvent and FTX as solvent and decently liquid,” he testified. “Had that analysis come up any other way, I would have been in full on crisis mode. But in my view at the time that wasn’t the case.”
Bankman-Fried did admit that he consulted frequently with Ellison about moves that Alameda made and even signed off on several billion-dollar investments.
“I think a few billion of them were my decision,” he said when asked about several large investments made by Alameda in 2021 and 2022.
Bankman-Fried is expected back in court for further cross examination on Tuesday. The judge in the case said he expected the case may go to the jury as early as Friday.
With China’s property bust threatening to sink the country’s economic recovery, Xi Jinping is looking for someone to blame.
After putting the billionaire founder of Evergrande, a heavily indebted property firm, under investigation for possible crimes, Beijing is expanding its probes to include bankers and financial institutions that facilitated developers’ risky behavior, people familiar with the matter say.
Rite Aid plans to shutter 154 stores, many of them in Pennsylvania and California, as part of its bankruptcy plans, according to an initial list of those closures published in court documents filed on Tuesday.
That list was released Wednesday after the drugstore chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey over the weekend, amid billions in debt related to opioid lawsuits. The company at that time said it would “continue assessing its footprint and close additional underperforming stores” and announced the appointment of Jeffrey Stein as chief executive.
Here are the store locations slated to close:
California 4044 Eagle Rock Boulevard, Los Angeles 4046 South Centiela Avenue, Los Angeles 7859 Firestone Boulevard, Downey 4402 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach 935 North Hollywood Way, Burbank 139 North Grand Avenue, Covina 13905 Amar Road, La Puente 920 East Valley Boulevard, Alhambra 3813 Plaza Drive, Oceanside 1670 Main Street, Ramona 6505 Mission Gorge Road, San Diego 8985 Mira Mesa Boulevard, San Diego 25906 Newport Road, Menifee 24829 Del Prado, Dana Point 30222 Crown Valley Parkway, Laguna Niguel 19701 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda 1406 West Edinger Avenue, Santa Ana 2738 East Thompson Boulevard, Ventura 720 North Ventura Road, Oxnard 20572 Homestead Road, Cupertino 2620 El Camino Real, Santa Clara 901 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz 571 Bellevue Road, Atwater 5409 Sunrise Boulevard, Citrus Heights 1309 Fulton Avenue, Sacramento 3029 Harbor Boulevard, Costa Mesa 959 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles 3000 South Archibald Avenue, Ontario 15800 Imperial Highway, La Mirada 8509 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine 499 Alvarado Street, Monterey
Connecticut 289 Greenwood Avenue, Bethel
Delaware 25 Chestnut Hill Plaza, Newark 3209 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington
Idaho 1600 North Main Street, Meridian 5005 West Overland Road, Boise
Maryland 5 Bel Air South Parkway, Suite 1347, Bel Air 728 East Pulaski Highway, Elkton 5624 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore 5804 Ritchie Highway, Baltimore 7501 Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie 7967 Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, Glen Burnie
Massachusetts 80 East Main Street, Webster
Michigan 924 West Main Street, Fremont 507 North Lafayette Street, Greenville 715 South Clinton Street, Grand Ledge 15250 24 Mile Road, Macomb 102 North Centerville Road, Sturgis 47300 Pontiac Trail, Wixom 35250 South Gratiot Avenue, Clinton Township 51037 Van Dyke Avenue, Shelby Township 3100 East Michigan Avenue, Jackson 9155 Telegraph Road, Taylor 1243 U.S. 31 South, Manistee 29447 Ford Road, Garden City 2838 East Court Street, Flint 1900 East 8 Mile Road, Detroit 36485 Garfield Road, Clinton Township 25922 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills 109 North Whittemore Street, St. Johns 1124 North Ballenger Highway, Flint 2701 South Cedar Street, Lansing
New Hampshire 420 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack
New Jersey 4057 Asbury Avenue Suite 8, Tinton Falls 431 Haledon Avenue, Haledon 35 Mill Road, Irvington 1636 Route 38 Suite 49, Lumberton 773 Hamilton Street, Somerset 1434 South Black Horse Pike, Williamstown 3 Marshall Hill Road West, Milford 210 Bridgeton Pike, Mantua 108 Swedesboro Road Suite 20, Mullica Hill 2370 Route 33, Robbinsville 1726 Route 37, East Toms River 86 B Lacey Road, Whiting
New York 2887 Harlem Road, Cheektowaga 2002 Avenue U, Brooklyn 2 Whitney Avenue, Floral Park 71-18 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing 3131 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown 2981 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn 3199 Long Beach Road, Oceanside 198 West Merrick Road, Valley Stream 836 Sunrise Highway, Bay Shore 2784 Sunrise Highway, Bellmore 901 Merrick Road, Copiague 577 Larkfield Road, East Northport 695 East Jericho Turnpike, Huntington Station 700-43 Patchogue-Yaphank Road, Medford 273 Pine Hollow Road, Oyster Bay 397 Sunrise Highway, West Patchogue 593 Old Town Road, Port Jeff Station 65 Route 111, Smithtown 2453 Elmwood Avenue, Kenmore 1567 Penfield Road, Rochester
Ohio 3129 Lincoln Way East, Massillon 120 South Main Street, New Carlisle 146 Woodman Drive, Dayton 2701 Market Street, Youngstown 401 West North Street, Springfield 230 South Main Street, Bellefontaine
Oregon 2440 Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard, Portland
Pennsylvania 2715 Parade Street, Erie 5612 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia 350 Main Street, Pennsburg 4011 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia 1441 Old York Road, Abington 300 Market Street, Johnstown 8716 New Falls Road, Levittown 1750 Bustleton Avenue, Philadelphia 169 West Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore 1315 East Washington Lane, Philadelphia 801 Wyoming Avenue Suite 9, West Pittston 657 Heacock Road, Yardley 2801 West Dauphin Street, Philadelphia 1709 Liberty Street, Erie 674 Route 196, Suite 14, Tobyhanna 2722 West 9th Street, Chester 950 East Baltimore Pike, Yeadon 8235 Stenton Avenue, Philadelphia 7941 Oxford Avenue, Philadelphia 5440 Lansdowne Avenue, Philadelphia 700 Stevenson Boulevard, New Kensington 208 East Central Avenue, Titusville 1080 South West End Boulevard, Quakertown 136 North 63rd Street, Philadelphia 351 Brighton Avenue, Rochester 5235 Library Road, Bethel Park 5990 University Boulevard Suite 30, Moon Township 2501 Saw Mill Run Boulevard, Pittsburgh 5410 Keeport Drive, Pittsburgh 6090 Route 30, Greensburg 4830 William Penn Highway, Export 1730 Wilmington Road, New Castle 2178 West Union Boulevard, Bethlehem 1628 South Fourth Street, Allentown 2401 East Venango Street, Philadelphia 6327-43 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia 200 West Ridge Avenue Suite 112, Conshohocken 301 Eisenhower Drive, Hanover 7036 Wertzville Road, Mechanicsburg
Virginia 833 North Battlefield Blvd, Chesapeake 1458 Mount Pleasant Road, Chesapeake
Washington 601 South Grady Way Suite P, Renton 3202 132nd Street Southeast, Mill Creek 110 Southwest 148th Street, Burien 10103 Evergreen Way, Everett 8230 Martin Way East, Lacey 22201 Meridian Avenue East, Graham 9600 15th Avenue Southwest, Seattle 2518 196th Street Southwest, Lynnwood 3620 Factory Blvd Southeast, Bellevue 11919 Northeast 8th Street, Bellevue 7370 170th Avenue Northeast, Redmond
BRUSSELS (AP) — Police in Belgium on Tuesday shot dead a suspected Tunisian extremist accused of killing two Swedish soccer fans in a brazen shooting on a Brussels street before disappearing into the night.
Hours after a manhunt began in the Belgian capital, Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told broadcaster VRT: “We have the good news that we found the individual.” She said that the weapon believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered.
The federal prosecutor’s office was more cautious, saying in a text message to The Associated Press: “There are strong presumptions but no certainties” that the man was the shooter. He was shot by police in the Schaerbeek neighborhood where the rampage had taken place.
Amateur videos posted on social media of Monday’s attack showed a man wearing an orange fluorescent vest pull up on a scooter, take out a large weapon and open fire on passersby before chasing them into a building to gun them down.
“Last night, three people left for what was supposed to be a wonderful soccer party. Two of them lost their lives in a brutal terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at a news conference just before dawn. “Their lives were cut short in full flight, cut down by extreme brutality.”
De Croo said his thoughts were with the victims’ families and that he had sent his condolences to the Swedish prime minister. Security has been beefed up in the capital, particularly around places linked to the Swedish community in the city.
“The attack that was launched yesterday was committed with total cowardice,” De Croo said.
Not far from the scene of the shooting, the Belgium-Sweden soccer match in the Belgian national stadium was suspended at halftime and the 35,000 fans held inside as a precaution while the attacker was at large.
Prosecutor Eric Van Duyse said “security measures were urgently taken to protect the Swedish supporters” in the stadium. More than two hours after the game was suspended, a message flashed on the big stadium screen saying, “Fans, you can leave the stadium calmly.” Stand after stand emptied onto streets filled with police as the search for the attacker continued.
“Frustrated, confused, scared. I think everyone was quite scared,” said Caroline Lochs, a fan from Antwerp.
De Croo said the assailant was a Tunisian man living illegally in Belgium who used a military weapon to kill the two Swedes and shoot a third, who is being treated for ”severe injuries.”
Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw described how the suspect, a 45-year-old man who wasn’t identified, had posted a video online claiming to have killed three Swedish people.
The suspect is alleged to have said in the video that, for him, the Quran is “a red line for which he is ready to sacrifice himself.”
TEL AVIV, Israel — President Joe Biden will travel to Israel and on to Jordan Wednesday to meet with both Israeli and Arab leadership, as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s travel to Israel as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire and as Israel prepares for a possible ground attack on the 141-square-mile territory to root out Hamas militants responsible for what U.S. and Israeli officials say was the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust.
Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the U.S. is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged military support, sending U.S. carriers and aid to the region. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of $2 billion in additional aid for both Israel and Ukraine, which is fighting Russia’s invasion.
It’s a chance for Biden to burnish his national security credentials to U.S. voters with the 2024 election just over a year away. It’s also an opportunity to demonstrate that he’s making good on his campaign promise of exercising American leadership after four years of former President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
But Biden’s presence could be seen as a provocative move by Hamas’ chief sponsor, Iran, or potentially viewed as tone-deaf by Arab nations as civilian casualties mount in Gaza. Blinken has already been traveling around the Mideast this past week trying to prevent the war with Hamas from igniting a broader regional conflict.
Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials.
“He is coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Blinken said.
Shortly after in Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that Biden would also go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,” Kirby said. “That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”
Truckloads of aid idled Monday at Egypt’s border with Gaza, barred from entry, as residents and humanitarian groups pleaded for water, food and fuel for dying generators, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after last week’s rampage by Hamas was near total collapse.
Biden had been scheduled to travel to Pueblo, Colorado, on Monday but decided to postpone the visit so he could consult with his aides and speak with fellow leaders about the unfolding situation in the Middle East.
The announcements came after Biden consulted with a trio of world leaders and his own national security team on Monday amid growing global concern about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip and fears that the Israel-Hamas war could metastasize into a broader regional conflict.
Biden spoke by phone with Egypt’s el-Sissi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the fallout from Hamas militants’ surprise attacks on Israel that left 1,400 dead and retaliatory strikes that have killed at least 2,778 Palestinians.
European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit on Tuesday as concern mounts that the war between Israel and Hamas could fuel tensions in Europe and bring more refugees in search of sanctuary.
Biden’s call with the Egyptian leader came one day after el-Sissi met with Blinken in Cairo. Egypt’s state-run media said el-Sissi told Blinken that Israel’s Gaza operation has exceeded “the right of self-defense” and turned into “a collective punishment.”
Kirby declined to comment on el-Sissi’s concerns about how Israel is conducting the war.
“The humanitarian situation was high on the list of the discussion with President el-Sissi,” Kirby said.
Iran’s foreign minister warned Monday that “preemptive action is possible” if Israel moves closer to its looming ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Iran is a chief financial sponsor of Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The comments by Hossein Amirabdollahian follow a pattern of escalating rhetoric from Iran.
“Leaders of the resistance will not allow the Zionist regime to do whatever it wants in Gaza and then go after other resistance groups after it’s done with Gaza,” he told state television. “Therefore any preemptive action is possible in the coming hours.”
Kirby said the U.S. has not seen any signs that Iran might try to get directly involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
White House officials have said that U.S. intelligence shows that Iran has been broadly aware that Hamas had been preparing for a possible strike against Israel. But the U.S. says it has yet to uncover evidence of direct Iranian involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel is also preparing for the potential of a new front opening on its northern border with Lebanon, where it has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. The military ordered residents of 28 Israeli communities near the border to evacuate.
Air raid sirens interrupted Blinken’s meetings with Israeli officials on three different occasions Monday, including twice as he huddled with Netanyahu and his war cabinet.
In Washington, Biden was briefed in the Oval Office by their national security team on the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients joined the briefing led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns, according to the White House.
Blinken was in Israel on Monday for his second visit in less than a week for talks with Israeli leaders. He has been crisscrossing the Middle East with stops in Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken, in talks Monday with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, carried back some of the feedback he received from Arab leaders. He also “underlined his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorism and reaffirmed U.S. determination to provide the Israeli government with what it needs to protect its citizens,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
White House officials said Biden’s talks with Arab leaders in Amman will largely focus on humanitarian concerns for Gaza’s 2.3 million people. He’ll also make clear that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination.
Still, White House officials bristled about whether Biden would ask Netanyahu and Israel officials to show restraint or set any conditions on any new U.S. military aid that could be in the pipeline.
“We are not putting conditions on the military assistance that we are providing to Israel,” Kirby said. “They have a right to defend themselves. They have a right to go after this terrorist threat.”
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. filed for bankruptcy Sunday, as it faces billions of dollars of debt related to opioid lawsuits.
In a statement Sunday night, Rite Aid RAD, -16.81%
said it will close some “underperforming” stores and announced Jeffrey Stein as its new chief executive and chief restructuring officer. Interim CEO Elizabeth Burr will remain on the company’s board.
The bankruptcy filing had been expected for months, and the Wall Street Journal reported in August that Rite Aid was more than $3.3 billion in debt, due largely to hundreds of lawsuits related to its distribution of opioid painkillers. The bankruptcy filing stays pending litigation against the company.
Earlier this month, the New York Stock Exchange warned Rite Aid that it was “no longer in compliance” with the exchange’s minimum pricing and valuation standards, and gave it six months for the stock to regain compliance. Rite Aid shares have plunged about 80% year to date.
Rite Aid said Sunday that lenders will provide $3.45 billion in financing for the chain to continue operating through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
“With the support of our lenders, we look forward to strengthening our financial foundation, advancing our transformation initiatives and accelerating the execution of our turnaround strategy,” Stein said in a statement. “In doing so, we will be even better able to deliver the healthcare products and services our customers and their families rely on — now and into the future.”
Rite Aid said it would work to minimize the effect of store closures on its customers so there is no disruption of services, and will transfer affected workers to different locations when possible.
Rite Aid has about 2,100 stores and employs around 47,000 people. It has closed more than 200 stores in the past couple of years.
Rite Aid also said it had reached a deal for pharmacy benefit-solutions company MedImpact Healthcare Systems Inc. to acquire its Elixer Solutions business. A price for the transaction was not disclosed.
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. filed for bankruptcy Sunday, as it faces billions of dollars of debt related to opioid lawsuits.
In a statement Sunday night, Rite Aid RAD, -16.81%
said it will close some “underperforming” stores and announced Jeffrey Stein as its new chief executive and chief restructuring officer. Interim CEO Elizabeth Burr will remain on the company’s board.
The bankruptcy filing had been expected for months, and the Wall Street Journal reported in August that Rite Aid was more than $3.3 billion in debt, due largely to hundreds of lawsuits related to its distribution of opioid painkillers. The bankruptcy filing stays pending litigation against the company.
Earlier this month, the New York Stock Exchange warned Rite Aid that it was “no longer in compliance” with the exchange’s minimum pricing and valuation standards, and gave it six months for the stock to regain compliance. Rite Aid shares have plunged about 80% year to date.
Rite Aid said Sunday that lenders will provide $3.45 billion in financing for the chain to continue operating through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
“With the support of our lenders, we look forward to strengthening our financial foundation, advancing our transformation initiatives and accelerating the execution of our turnaround strategy,” Stein said in a statement. “In doing so, we will be even better able to deliver the healthcare products and services our customers and their families rely on — now and into the future.”
Rite Aid said it would work to minimize the effect of store closures on its customers so there is no disruption of services, and will transfer affected workers to different locations when possible.
Rite Aid has about 2,100 stores and employs around 47,000 people. It has closed more than 200 stores in the past couple of years.
Rite Aid also said it had reached a deal for pharmacy benefit-solutions company MedImpact Healthcare Systems Inc. to acquire its Elixer Solutions business. A price for the transaction was not disclosed.
When Eyal Waldman thinks of his youngest daughter and her boyfriend, he sees them dancing.
“Danielle and Noam loved dancing, and I hope they continue dancing somewhere up there,” Eyal Waldman told MarketWatch.
Danielle Waldman and Noam Shay were killed at a music festival in southern Israel last week, part of a campaign by the Hamas terrorist group that has led to further bloodshed.
Danielle’s father — an Israeli tech executive who co-founded Mellanox, which became the largest acquisition in Nvidia Corp.’s NVDA, -3.16%
history — spoke with MarketWatch as Friday turned to Saturday in Israel, in hopes of increasing attention on the hostages who are still held in Gaza as well as to memorialize his daughter, who was 24, and Shay, who was 26.
“They loved to celebrate life,” Eyal Waldman said of his daughter and her boyfriend, before adding “they went down on Friday night to celebrate life, love and freedom, and they were massacred.”
Courtesy of Eyal Waldman
Danielle Waldman — who was born in Palo Alto, California, but moved back to Israel with her family at age 4 — and Israeli native Shay were students who met six years ago in the army, and her father said they had been inseparable since. They attended the Supernova music festival in early October with friends, and were killed while attempting to escape Hamas terrorists in a car that Eyal Waldman found bullet-riddled near the festival’s location.
“Danielle and Noam have done nothing bad to anyone, and they were murdered only because they were Israelis,” he said.
Eyal Waldman, a onetime Israeli combat fighter, founded Mellanox in 1999, and sold it 20 years later to Nvidia for $6.9 billion. He is known internationally for attempting to foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians through his work in technology — Mellanox hired Palestinian tech workers in Gaza, Nablus and the West Bank town of Rawabi, which led to a “60 Minutes” appearance.
“We wanted to make peace, to work together, to bring prosperity to the Palestinian people, the same as we have in Israel,” he said. “I brought even Apple AAPL, -1.03%
to open a design center in Rawabi and I brought other companies to open design centers in Rawabi.”
The death of his daughter and Shay and the scope of the attacks and counter-attacks dominating headlines in recent days have not changed Waldman’s hope for peace in the future, he said, but not the near future. He believes this time, the violence “took us back several years, if not decades.”
“We need time to build the trust, if at all, between the two nations and start working together to be able to talk about peace,” he said. “Until then, we will continue protecting ourselves in a very direct manner in Gaza and everywhere else around Israel.”
Waldman also said he would continue to try to hire Palestinians and work with them to be a part of the Israeli tech ecosystem, as long as they state “that they are working for peace, and they are not supporting — not financially and not in any other way — any terror actions, or any actions that are not civilian economics between the two nations.”
“Our hands are always reaching out for peace. But at the same time, before we do this, we need people to understand that Israel is strong, Israel is united, and we will never let anyone harm the citizens of the state of Israel again.”
Waldman was thankful for U.S. aid and was forceful in discussing the need to find hostages that were still missing. One of Nvidia’s current employees was kidnapped, according to an email that Chief Executive Jensen Huang sent to employees that was obtained by Insider, which reported that the employee was also at the Supernova music festival.
Nvidia has more than 3,000 employees in Israel mostly working for Mellanox, which makes networking gear that connects Nvidia’s high-performance data-center products. In an emailed statement, an Nvidia spokesman said “our focus now is working with our Israel leadership to ensure our employees and their families are safe and well cared for. We will then turn our focus to shoring up [the company’s] execution if necessary to ensure continued operations of our business.”
Waldman said the return of hostages is top of mind.
“What’s important now is to focus on bringing back the hostages, and that is the No. 1 priority for the State of Israel and for the international community,” he said.
Continuing to worry about others while suffering his own tragedy is a trait that Eyal Waldman seems to have passed down to his youngest daughter. He said that he had received a note from another festival attendee who was wounded in the eye in the initial attack. That victim told him that Danielle Waldman had stopped to attend to her and make sure she was safe before attempting to escape in a car that was later believed to have been attacked by Hamas terrorists with rifles.
“They loved to celebrate life,” Waldman said of his daughter and her boyfriend.
“And they went down on Friday night to celebrate life, love and freedom, and they were massacred.”
David Scott, the head of Exxon Mobil Co.’s shale oil and gas production business, was arrested in Texas and faces a charge of sexual assault.
According to public records from the Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office, Scott, 49, was arrested Thursday afternoon on second-degree felony sexual-assault charges. According to the records, he was released on $30,000 bond. Police records show he was arrested at a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Magnolia, Texas, near Exxon’s headquarters in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston.
No further details of the incident were made clear.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Scott is vice president of Exxon’s upstream unconventional unit, and has worked for Exxon for 26 years at the company’s operations in Australia, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Angola and the U.S.
In a statement Sunday, Exxon Mobil XOM, -1.67%
said it was “aware of the allegations and cannot comment on a personal matter.” However, “we can say that this individual will not continue work responsibilities as the investigation proceeds.”
Oil traders on Sunday said crude prices were likely to remain supported in the near term, as investors assessed the fallout from the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel and focused on the role played by Iran and the potential impact on that country’s petroleum exports.
The conflict may also hold market-moving consequences for talks aimed at normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“While in the short term there is no impact directly on supply, it’s obvious how things play out over the next 24 to 48 hours could change that,” Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, told MarketWatch.
Brent crude futures BRN00, +4.17%,
the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate oil futures CL00, +4.35%
CL.1, +4.35%
jumped more than 3% when the market opened Sunday night. U.S. stock-index futures ES00, -0.66% traded lower, while traditional havens, including gold GC00, +0.98%
and the U.S. dollar DXY
rose.
Movements in oil prices, meanwhile, will also serve as a gauge for broader market worries around the conflict, analysts said.
Hamas, the Iran-backed, Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, staged a sweeping attack on southern Israel early Saturday. News reports put Israeli deaths at more than 700. The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory as Israel retaliated, according to the Associated Press. Injuries in Israel and Gaza were both said to be around 2,000.
Israeli troops on Sunday were engaged in fierce fighting in an effort to retake territory in southern Israel as Hamas launched further barrages of missiles. Israeli citizens and soldiers were captured and are being held hostage in Gaza, according to the Israeli military.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the attack. U.S. officials said they haven’t seen evidence of Iran’s involvement, the report said.
“Iran remains a very big wild card and we will be watching how strongly [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu blames Tehran for facilitating these attacks by providing Hamas with weapons and logistical support,” said Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, in a Sunday morning note.
Iranian crude exports have risen in recent years, indicating the Biden administration has adopted a soft approach to sanctions enforcement, Croft said. Some analysts have put Iranian crude production at more than 3 million barrels a day and exports above 2 million barrels a day — the highest levels since the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sales fell to around 400,000 barrels a day in 2020 as the U.S. reimposed sanctions.
RBC Capital Markets
Hedge-fund manager Pierre Andurand, one of the world’s best energy traders, said in a social-media post that a large price spike for oil isn’t likely in coming days, but emphasized the market focus on Iran.
“Now, over the last six months we have seen a very large increase in Iranian supply due to weak enforcement of sanctions. As Iran is also behind Hamas’ attacks on Israel, there is a good probability that the U.S. administration will start enforcing those sanctions on Iranian oil exports more tightly,” he wrote. “That would further tighten the oil market. Also the probability that this will lead to direct conflict with Iran is not zero.”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal late Friday reported that Saudi Arabia had told the White House it would be willing to boost oil production next year if crude prices remained high, as part of an effort aimed at winning goodwill in Congress for a deal that would see the kingdom recognize Israel and in return get a defense agreement with the U.S.
A Saudi production cut of 1 million barrels a day that was implemented in July and recently extended through the end of the year has been given much of the credit for a rally that took global benchmark Brent crude within a few dollars of the $100-a-barrel threshold before retreating this past week. The U.S. benchmark last week briefly topped $95 a barrel for the first time in 13 months.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry called on both sides to halt the escalation and exercise restraint, but also recalled its “repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities.”
With the Israeli government vowing an unprecedented response, “it is hard to envision how Saudi normalization talks can run on a parallel track to a ferocious military counteroffensive,” said RBC’s Croft.
Beyond oil, much will depend on the potential for the conflict to widen.
Stocks have stumbled, retreating from 2023 highs set in late July, as yields on U.S. Treasurys have jumped. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
rose 23.2 basis points last week to end Friday at 4.941%, its highest since Sept. 20, 2007. The 10-year Treasury note yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
topped 4.80% on Oct. 3, its highest since Aug. 8, 2007, and ended the week at 4.783%. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other.
The U.S. bond market will be closed Monday for the Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day holiday, while U.S. stock markets will be open.
The S&P 500 index SPX
rose 0.5% last week, breaking a streak of four straight weekly declines, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA
fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP
gained 1.6%.
“I think there will be a negative reaction. However, I don’t see a meltdown,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, told MarketWatch.
Traditional haven plays, including gold, the dollar and U.S. Treasurys may see a strong move upward, with price gains for Treasurys pulling yields down.
“Geopolitical crises in the Middle East have usually caused oil prices to rise and stock prices to fall,” said economist Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc., in a note. “More often than not, they’ve also tended to be buying opportunities in the stock market.”
The broader market reaction will depend on whether the crisis turns out to be a short-term flare-up or “something much bigger, like a war between Israel and Iran,” he said. The latter is unlikely, but tensions between the two are likely to escalate.
“The price of oil may be a good way to assess the likelihood of a broader conflict,” he said.
The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea, catching the country off guard on a major holiday.
Several hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gun battles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country.
Israel’s national rescue service said at least 40 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.
At least 561 wounded people were being treated in Israeli hospitals, including at least 77 who were in critical condition, according to an Associated Press count based on public statements and calls to hospitals.
There was no official comment on casualties in Gaza, but AP reporters witnessed the funerals of 15 people who were killed and saw another eight bodies arrive at a local hospital. It was not immediately clear if they were fighters or civilians.
Social media was replete with videos of Hamas fighters parading what appeared to be stolen Israeli military vehicles through the streets and at least one dead Israeli soldier within Gaza being dragged and trampled by an angry crowd of Palestinians shouting “God is Greatest.”
Videos released by Hamas appeared to show at least three Israelis captured alive. The military declined to give details about casualties or kidnappings as it continued to battle the infiltrators.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ’round,’ but at war.”
“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”
At a meeting of top security officials later on Saturday, Netanyahu said the first priority was to “cleanse the area” of enemy infiltrators, then to “exact a huge price from the enemy,” and to fortify other areas so that no other militant groups join the war.
The serious invasion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Israel’s enemies launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Comparisons to one of the most traumatic moments in Israeli history sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the government over its failure to anticipate what appeared to be a Hamas attack unseen in its level of planning and coordination.
The Israeli military struck targets in Gaza in response for some 2,500 rockets that sent air raid sirens wailing constantly as far north as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. It said its forces were engaged in gunfights with Hamas militants who had infiltrated Israel in at least seven locations. The fighters had sneaked across the separation fence and even invaded Israel through the air with paragliders, the army said.
Israeli TV broadcast footage of explosions tearing through the Gaza-Israel border fence, followed by what appeared to be Palestinian gunmen riding into Israel on motorcycles. Gunmen also reportedly entered on pickup trucks.
It was not immediately clear what prompted Hamas to launch the attacks, which would have likely required months of planning.
But over the past year Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, announced the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.” The Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, and is located on the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
“Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message, as he called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
In a televised address, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”
Western nations condemned the incursion and reiterated their support for Israel, while others called for restraint on both sides.
“The U.S. unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council. “We stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and extend our condolences for the Israeli lives lost in these attacks.”
In the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, terrified residents who were huddled indoors said they could hear constant gunfire echoing off the buildings as firefights continued even hours after the initial attack.
Watson said Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, has spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.
Cars are seen on fire following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, released a statement calling on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about ” the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”
The attack comes at a time of historic division within Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have sent hundreds thousands of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted hundreds of military reservists to avoid volunteer duty — turmoil that has raised fears over the military’s battlefield readiness and raised concerns about its deterrence over its enemies.
The infiltration of fighters into southern Israel marked a major escalation by Hamas that forced millions of Israelis to hunker down in safe rooms. Cities and towns emptied as the military closed roads near Gaza. Israel’s rescue service and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza appealed to the public to donate blood.
“We understand that this is something big,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, told reporters. He said the Israeli military had called up the army reserves.
Hecht declined to comment on how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard. “That’s a good question,” he said.
Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled leader of Hamas, said that Palestinian fighters were “engaged in these historic moments in a heroic operation” to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
“With rockets we somehow feel safer, knowing that we have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) and our safe rooms. But knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear,” said Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mother of three in Nahal Oz.
Israel has built a massive fence along the Gaza border meant to prevent infiltrations. It goes deep underground and is equipped with cameras, high-tech sensors and sensitive listening technology.
The escalation comes after weeks of heightened tensions along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Saturday’s wide-ranging assault threatened to undermine Netanyahu’s reputation as a security expert who would do anything to protect Israel. It also raised questions about the cohesion of a security apparatus crucial to the stability of a country locked in low-intensity conflicts on multiple fronts and facing threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
Hezbollah congratulated Hamas on Friday, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes” and saying the militants had “divine backing.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then. There have also been numerous rounds of smaller fighting between Israel and Hamas and other smaller militant groups based in Gaza.
The blockade, which restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep militant groups from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure amounts to collective punishment.
The rocket fire comes during a period of heavy fighting in the West Bank, where nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military raids this year. In the volatile northern West Bank, scores of militants and residents poured into the streets in celebration at the news of the rocket barrages.
Israel says the raids are aimed at militants, but stone-throwing protesters and people uninvolved in the violence have also been killed. Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets have killed over 30 people.
The tensions have also spread to Gaza, where Hamas-linked activists held violent demonstrations along the Israeli border in recent weeks. Those demonstrations were halted in late September after international mediation.
Clorox Co. shares fell in the extended session Wednesday after the company slashed its outlook stemming from the impact of a cybersecurity attack over the summer.
Clorox CLX, +1.21%
shares fell about 3% after hours, following a 1.2% gain to close the regular session at $131.83. At Wednesday’s close, Clorox shares were down 6.1% for the year, while the S&P 500 index SPX
has gained 11.1%.
The company forecast a loss of 75 cents to 35 cents a share, or a loss of 40 cents to break-even per share on an adjusted basis, for the quarter ending Sept. 30.
Clorox said sales are expected to decrease by 28% to 23% from the year-ago first quarter of $1.74 billion, or in a range between $1.25 billion and $1.34 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast first-quarter earnings of $1.29 a share on revenue of $1.77 billion.
In a statement late Wednesday, Clorox said the reduced outlook was “due to the impacts of the recent cybersecurity attack that was disclosed in August, which caused wide-scale disruption of Clorox’s operations, including order-processing delays and significant product outages.”
The company said shipment and consumption trends prior to the cyberattack factored in its prior forecast.
In early August, Clorox forecast sales in 2024 would be flat to 2% higher than 2023’s $7.39 billion, and adjusted earnings between $5.60 and $5.90 for the year, while analysts had expected $5.62 a share on revenue of $7.4 billion at the time.
Analysts currently forecast, on average, adjusted earnings of $5.78 a share on revenue of $7.5 billion.
Based on the company’s current assessment, Clorox said it expects “to experience ongoing, but lessening, operational impacts in the second quarter as it makes progress in returning to normalized operations,” and restocking retailers.
Analysts also forecast second-quarter earnings of $1.18 a share on revenue of $1.77 billion.
Clorox said it was “in the process of assessing the impact of the cybersecurity attack on fiscal-year 2024 and beyond,” and said it would provide an update during its first-quarter earnings call scheduled in November.
Google’s top executives have long established a reputation of saying as little as possible on most topics: Earnings calls. Product development plans. Management moves.
Legal matters are certainly on the list, as the company’s antitrust trial with the Justice Department concludes its third week. The public is barred from listening to the 10-week federal trial, and reporters often encounter a courtroom sealed to the public.
Secrecy around the nonjury trial belies the magnitude of the case, the biggest of its kind in tech, if not American business, since the DoJ tangled with Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +0.67%
in the 1990s and early 2000s. After years of investigation, the Justice Department claims Google used contracts worth billions of dollars with Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.30%
and other phone makers to elbow aside competing search engines that could lead to changes in Google’s business practices — even a breakup of thetech giant.
Google says it makes the best product, and vendors have a choice to work with other search-engine providers. In his opening statement, Google attorney John Schmidtlein said companies and consumers use Google’s popular search engine “because it delivers value to them, not because they have to.”
Asked by MarketWatch to comment further, a company spokesman declined.
GOOG, -0.96%,
Google’s parent company, has steadfastly redacted information about the contracts at issue in the case, citing confidential company information, and Google’s lawyers — as well as those at Apple — have consistently asked to seal the courtroom. Before opening statements started on Sept. 12, nearly two-thirds of Google’s motions and responses in the case were sealed, according to the New York Times.
At the same time, criticism has rained on U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who has deferred to requests by Google and interested parties like Apple to hold testimony behind closed doors. (On Tuesday, Mehta countered he was relying on federal attorneys to resist persistent attempts by Google and other tech companies to seal the courtroom. He later pushed lawyers to ask more questions in public and wanted to unseal closed-session testimony.)
“A judge’s job isn’t to simply accept a party’s claim that public access to a trial would cause the sky to fall,” The Freedom of the Press Foundation said in a blog post Wednesday.
A cone of silence around such a historic case that could lead to changes to Google’s business practices or a breakup of the company is not surprising, given what is at stake.
“A trial should be open to the public, but there is a balancing act in affording companies some sort of privacy,” lawyer Abiel Garcia said in an interview. “Access to documents does disclose how a company thinks. There is a tension here in how Google wants its users to be transparent about their data, but doesn’t tell you what they are doing.”
Garcia, who presented in a preliminary injunction hearing before Mehta in 2015, said the judge has done an admirable job of respecting Google’s corporate secrets while gradually encouraging more public questioning and disclosures.
Tesla Inc. was sued Thursday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleges the EV maker violated federal law by “tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees” at its Fremont, Calif., plant, and by retaliating against those opposing the harassment.
Black employees at the Fremont factory, Tesla’s TSLA, +2.44%
first assembly plant and for years its only vehicle-manufacturing facility in the U.S., “have routinely endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping and hostility” as well as having racial slurs hurled at them, the lawsuit alleges.
“Slurs were used casually and openly in high-traffic areas and at worker hubs,” the EEOC said. Black employees “regularly” saw graffiti with slurs, swastikas, threats and nooses throughout the facility, including on desks, in bathroom stalls and elevators, according to the suit.
Tesla, which disbanded its media relations team during the pandemic, did not immediately return a request for comment. In August, SpaceX, another one of Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk’s companies, was sued by the Justice Department over its hiring practices.
Employees who spoke up against the racial hostility suffered retaliations that included being fired or transferred, the EEOC said.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after attempts at reaching a settlement before the litigation. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as back pay for the affected workers. It also seeks changes to Tesla’s employment practices to prevent discrimination in the future, the EEOC said.
Shares of Tesla have doubled so far this year, compared with an advance of around 12% for the S&P 500 index SPX.
The first Model S rolled out of the Fremont factory in 2012, and the plant now makes Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y vehicles, with capacity to make more than a million vehicles a year as well as energy products and battery cells.
Tesla opened up its second U.S. vehicle-making factory in the Austin, Texas, area in the spring of 2022.
Retail executives over the past year have talked a lot about “shrink” — or the losses they take due to theft, fraud or employee error — amid a flood of headlines about sometimes violent organized thefts at stores. But results from a retail-industry survey released Tuesday found the metric rose only modestly last year.
The report from the National Retail Federation, a retail industry group, found that the average shrink rate in 2022 crept higher to 1.6% from 1.4% in the prior year, when calculated as a share of sales. The figure from 2022 is in line with those seen in 2020 and 2019.
Still, the losses amounted to billions of dollars — $112.1 billion, up from $93.9 billion in 2021 — according to the report. And the report said that retailers were increasingly concerned about the violence of those crimes.
“Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category,” David Johnston, the NRF’s vice president for asset protection and retail operations, said in a statement.
The NRF, working with the Loss Prevention Research Council — a research group founded by some of the nation’s biggest retailers — surveyed people in the industry who work in loss-prevention and asset protection. The report contained responses or information from 177 retail brands. The survey was distributed in May, June and July.
“In this case, we cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” Target said in a statement.
The chain joins other retailers sounding the alarm about retail theft and closing stores, amid what executives have described as a spike in organized retail theft, or theft with the intent of reselling the goods. However, executives’ takes on earnings calls have differed slightly, and retailers are contending with other issues — like the fallout from inflation — that have hit financials.
The fight over theft has played out, perhaps predictably, on partisan lines, with some blaming what they say are lax crime policies in large cities. But other analysts point to changes in the flow of foot traffic through population centers since the pandemic, and say the data is often too squishy and subjective to make any hard calls about the state of crime — and whether it’s rising or falling, particularly at retailers — in a particular area.
More than two-thirds of the retailers surveyed by the NRF “said they were seeing even more violence and aggression” from organized retail theft compared with a year ago. Twenty-eight percent reported being “forced” to close a specific store location, the report said, while 45% said they cut operating hours, and 30% said they reduced or changed an in-store product selection as a result of retail crime.
“The types of products shoplifters are targeting may not be based solely on price point,” the National Retail Federation said.
“Products can range from high-price, high-fashion items to everyday products that have a fast resale capability,” the group said. “While ORC groups have traditionally targeted specific items or types of goods, that list has expanded to new categories like outerwear, batteries, energy drinks, designer footwear and kitchen accessories.”
As Americans debate whether President Joe Biden, at 80, is too old to run for a second term, here comes the story of a 96-year-old federal appeals court judge fighting to keep her job.
Pauline Newman, a judge based in Washington, D.C., was suspended from her job earlier this week under an order from the Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit.
The order praised Newman for serving “with distinction” over her nearly 40-year tenure and for being “a highly valued and respected colleague,” especially in regards to her work relating to the U.S. patent system. But it also pointed to “evidence of memory loss, confusion, and lack of comprehension” in the judge’s work.
“Unfortunately, earlier this year mounting evidence raised increasing doubts about whether Judge Newman is still fit to perform the duties of her office,” the order said.
Newman, who was appointed to the job in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, has refused “multiple requests to discuss the matter,” according to the order. It was also noted that the judge “was responsible for extensive delays in resolving cases and appeared unable to complete her opinions in a timely fashion” despite a reduced workload.
According to ABC News, Newman has “pushed back against allegations” and has said that she wants to resolve the matter in a cooperative way. ABC News also reported that Newman’s attorney, Greg Dolin, plans to fight the issue and will file a petition for review with the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability.
MarketWatch reached out to Dolin for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.
Newman is not the oldest person to have served as a federal judge. That honor goes to Wesley E. Brown, who was still on the bench a month before his death in 2012 at the age of 104.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife were indicted Friday on bribery charges after an investigation that turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash at their home, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors announced the charges against the 69-year-old Democrat nearly six years after an earlier criminal case against him ended with a deadlocked jury. They said a search of Bob Menendez’s home turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash.
The latest indictment is unrelated to the earlier charges that alleged Menendez accepted lavish gifts to pressure government officials on behalf of a Florida doctor.
The Senate Historical Office says Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in U.S. history to have been indicted on two unrelated criminal allegations.
A lawyer for Menendez’s wife hasn’t responded to a message seeking comment. Messages were left for Menendez’s Senate spokesperson and his political consultant.
The first time Menendez was indicted, he had been accused of using his political influence to help a Florida eye doctor who had lavished him with gifts and campaign contributions.
The new charges follow a years-long investigation that examined, among other things, the dealings of a New Jersey businessman — a friend of Menendez’s wife — who secured sole authorization from the Egyptian government to certify that meat imported into that country meets Islamic dietary requirements.
Investigators also asked questions about the Menendez family’s interactions with a New Jersey developer.
Menendez’s political career had looked as though it might be over in 2015, when a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted him on multiple charges over favors he did for a friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen.
Menendez was accused of pressuring government officials to resolve a Medicare billing dispute in Melgen’s favor, securing visas for the doctor’s girlfriends and helping protect a contract the doctor had to provide port-screening equipment to the Dominican Republic.
Menendez has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers said campaign contributions and gifts from Melgen — which included trips on his private jet to a resort in the Dominican Republic and a vacation in Paris — were tokens of their longtime friendship, not bribes.
Prosecutors dropped the case after a jury deadlocked in November 2017 on charges including bribery, fraud and conspiracy, and a judge dismissed some counts.
The Senate Ethics Committee later rebuked Menendez, finding that he had improperly accepted gifts, failed to disclose them and then used his influence to advance Melgen’s personal interests.
But months later, New Jersey voters returned Menendez to the Senate. He defeated a well-financed challenger in a midterm election that broke a Republican lock on power in Washington.
Melgen was convicted of health care fraud in 2017 but former President Donald Trump commuted his prison sentence.
Menendez is widely expected to run for reelection next year.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, New Jersey. He was a state legislator and spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006, Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.
At least two other senators — Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas; Richard Kenney, D-Delaware — were indicted on multiple occasions while still in office, but each senator’s indictments covered overlapping allegations, according to the Senate Historical Office.
Neither Kenney nor Hutchinson were ultimately convicted, and both went on to serve their full terms. In total, 13 senators have been indicted throughout history, of which six have been convicted, according to the Senate Historical Office. Two of those convictions were overturned.
Menendez first publicly disclosed that he was the subject of a new federal investigation last October.
It was past midnight when Alessandra Millican and a friend entered the Bellagio hotel room that was costing them hundreds of dollars a night, but unexpected noises made them stop cold.
“We started hearing grunts,” she said. “It’s somebody waking up — we were halfway through the room and we realized there’s somebody sleeping in here.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday is set to come face-to-face with his most ardent critics as House Republicans prepare to use a routine oversight hearing to interrogate him about what they claim is the “weaponization” of the Justice Department under President Joe Biden.
Garland is appearing before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time in two years and at an unprecedented moment in the Justice Department’s history: He’s overseeing two cases against Donald Trump, the first former president to face criminal charges, and another against the sitting president’s son, Hunter Biden.
“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” Garland will say, according to prepared remarks.
“ ‘I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.’ ”
— Attorney General Merrick Garland in prepared remarks
Republicans on the committee were tight-lipped about what they planned to ask Garland, telling the Associated Press on Tuesday that they wanted to keep lines of attack under wraps until the hearing.
But Garland will likely face tense and heated questions about the Trump and Hunter Biden criminal cases, forcing him to defend the country’s largest law enforcement agency at a time when political and physical threats against agents and their families are on the rise.
“All of us at the Justice Department recognize that with this work comes public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight. These are appropriate and important given the gravity of the matters before the department,” Garland will say, according to his prepared remarks. “But singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous — particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”
Democrats say they plan to “act as kind of a truth squad” against what they see as Republican misinformation and their ongoing defense of Trump, who is now the Republican frontrunner to challenge Biden in next year’s election. They say Republicans are trying to detract attention from the indicted former president’s legal challenges and turn a negative spotlight on Biden.
“I’ll be using this opportunity to highlight just how destructive that is of our system of justice and how once again, it is the GOP willing to undermine our institutions in the defense of their indefensible candidate for president,” Rep. Adam Schiff, a senior Democrat on the committee, told the AP.
Garland’s testimony also comes just over a week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from inland south-central California, launched an impeachment inquiry into his boss, Biden, with a special focus on the Justice Department’s handling of Hunter Biden’s years-long case.
The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as baseless and worked to focus the conversation on policy instead. Hunter Biden’s legal team, on the other hand, has gone on the offensive against GOP critics, most recently filing suit against the Internal Revenue Service after two of its agents raised whistleblower claims to Congress about the handling of the investigation.
Republicans contend that the Justice Department — both under Trump and now Biden — has failed to fully probe the allegations against the younger Biden, ranging from his work on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma to his tax filings in California and Washington, D.C.
“I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people,” Garland is expected to say.
“ Democrats have said they plan to ‘act as kind of a truth squad’ at the House hearing. ”
An investigation into Hunter Biden had been run by the U.S. attorney for Delaware, Trump appointee David Weiss, who Garland had kept on to finish the probe and insulate it from claims of political interference. Garland granted Weiss special counsel status last month, giving him broad authority to investigate and report his findings. He oversees the day-to-day running of the probe and another special counsel, Jack Smith, is in charge of the Trump investigation, though Garland retains final say on both as attorney general.
The Republican chairmen of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees launched an investigation into Weiss’ handling of the case, which was first opened in 2018 after two IRS agents claimed in congressional testimony in May that the Justice Department improperly interfered with their work.
Gary Shapley, a veteran IRS agent assigned to the case, testified to Congress that Weiss indicated in October 2022 that he was not the “deciding person whether charges are filed” against Hunter Biden.
That testimony has been disputed by two FBI agents who were also in the room for that meeting.
Hunter Biden has since sued the IRS, alleging that the episode has breached his right to privacy.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday, officials said.
Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed a Qatar Airways flight take off at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchanges in the past. Iranian state media soon after said the flight had left Tehran.
Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said that the prisoners had left Tehran. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because the exchange was ongoing.
In addition to the five freed Americans, two U.S. family members flew out, according to the Biden administration official. of Tehran.
“ The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil shipments. U.S. House Democrat Jason Crow said Monday that the Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached. ”
Earlier, officials said that the exchange would take place after nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reached Qatar, a key element of the planned swap.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, observed early Monday on MSNBC that the funds were available to Iran, and that South Korea could unilaterally have transferred them to Tehran, under terms of an arrangement struck by the Trump administration. The Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation, he said, in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached.
The U.S. Treasury holds the power to reject any requested fund transfers to Iran, U.S. officials have said, even as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi claimed last week in an NBC interview that he was free under the deal’s terms to define the term humanitarian as he chose.
Observers, seeking to reconcile those positions, noted that Raisi likely had a domestic audience in mind and was expressing a view that he knew did not comport with reality.
Despite the exchange, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was the first to acknowledge the swap would take place Monday. He said the cash sought for the exchange that had been held by South Korea was now in Qatar.
Kanaani made his comments during a news conference aired on state television, but the feed cut immediately after his remarks.
“Fortunately Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were released and God willing today the assets will start to be fully controlled by the government and the nation,” Kanaani said.
“On the subject of the prisoner swap, it will happen today and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the U.S.,” he added. “Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the U.S. side.”
He said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the U.S.
Mohammad Reza Farzin, Iran’s Central Bank chief, later came on state television to acknowledge the receipt of over 5.5 billion euros — $5.9 billion — in accounts in Qatar. Months ago, Iran had anticipated getting as much as $7 billion.
The planned exchange comes ahead of the convening of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week in New York, where Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
A Qatar Airways plane landed Monday morning at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, according to flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP. Qatar Airways uses Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport for its commercial flights, but previous prisoner releases have taken place at Mehrabad.
The announcement by Kanaani comes weeks after Iran said that five Iranian-Americans had been transferred from prison to house arrest as part of a confidence-building move. Meanwhile, Seoul allowed the frozen assets, held in South Korean won, to be converted into euros.
The planned swap has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
The deal has also already opened U.S. President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say that the administration is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to American troops and Mideast allies. That could have implications in his reelection campaign as well.
On the U.S. side, Washington has said the planned swap includes Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges; Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. All of their charges have been widely criticized by their families, activists and the U.S. government.
U.S. official have so far declined to identify the fourth and fifth prisoner.
The five prisoners Iran has said it seeks are mostly held over allegedly trying to export banned material to Iran, such as dual use electronics that can be used by a military.
The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil purchased before the U.S. imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The U.S. maintains that, once in Qatar, the money will be held in restricted accounts and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food. Those transactions are currently allowed under American sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic over its advancing nuclear program.
Iranian government officials have largely concurred with that explanation, though some hard-liners have insisted, without providing evidence, that there would be no restrictions on how Tehran spends the money.
Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.
Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran at the time, and several Iranians in the U.S. won their freedom. That same day, then-President Barack Obama’s administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners — including those with dual nationality — as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program now enriches closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. While the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce “several” bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturize it to put it on a missile — if Iran decided to pursue one.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. intelligence community has kept its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
Iran has taken steps in recent months to settle some issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the advances in its program have led to fears of a wider regional conflagration as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it would not allow Tehran to develop the bomb. Israel bombed both Iraq and Syria to stop their nuclear programs, giving the threat more weight. It also is suspected in carrying out a series of killings targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists.
Iran also supplies Russia with the bomb-carrying drones Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war on Kyiv, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.
