DOJ says NFL player Joshua J. Bellamy, 31, of St. Petersburg, FL was arrested + charged in connection with obtaining millions of dollars in fraudulent PPP loans. He allegedly purchased over $104,000 in luxury goods using proceeds, including Dior + Gucci. justice.gov/opa/press-rele…
DOJ: He is also alleged to have spent approximately $62,774 in PPP loan proceeds at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and to have withdrawn over $302,000. Bellamy also allegedly sought PPP loans on behalf of his family members and close associates.
DOJ: Bellamy and other conspirators in the scheme are alleged to have applied for PPP loans that are together worth more than $24 million dollars. Many of those loan applications were approved and funded by financial institutions, paying out at least $17.4 million.
BREAKING: For months, I have been working w/ a great @CNBC team on a new documentary about Vladislav Klyushin, the Russian oligarch who was traded back to Moscow today. We were slated to pub tomorrow, but for obvious reasons, we are going live right now: cnbc.com/2024/08/01/put…
This is the inside story of an incredible criminal scam that reveals why the biggest insider trading scam on Wall Street for years… was based in Moscow. It was a hack-to trade scheme the resulted from a “bromance” between a Klyushin and his partner, a former Russian government intelligence hacker. Together, they generated millions of dollars in illicit gains at the expense of investors in American markets, fueling a spending spree on Porsches, yachting and private jet trips.
Our team got exclusive access to the American FBI and DoJ teams tasked with bringing down the operation. We learned how they uncovered the scheme and the high stakes moment they moved in to seize Klyushin by the ski slopes inSwitzerland.
My view of the standing ovation for Chinese President Xi Jinping tonight in San Francisco from a ballroom full of some of the most powerful American CEOs and Chinese officials. I’ll have more Thursday morning on @SquawkCNBC on @CNBC.
It’s a little difficult to read, but here’s my pic of the program last night, listing who hosted the dinner honoring Chinese president Xi Jinping and who paid for it.
The Washington Post obtained the transcript of JPMorgan exec Mary Erdoes’ deposition transcript in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking lawsuit: washingtonpost.com/business/2023/…
The Post: “The deposition transcript shows Erdoes said she had been made aware of Epstein’s convictions for sexual offenses, his status as a high-risk sex offender, and public allegations of abuse of minors and human trafficking.“
“But she said she didn’t think it was her responsibility to remove him as a client, launch an inquiry into his accounts or refer them to compliance officials. JPMorgan has a separate process for dealing with client-related legal issues, she said.”
This is a great piece, and highlights the question: What is college for? It is absolutely linked to the conversation @JoeSquawk and I had on Squawk Box this morning. If costs are crippling, people will make different decisions about what they can afford. newyorker.com/magazine/2023/…
It may be that colleges have simply priced the English major out of the market. Getting a degree in literature at $20K might make sense, but how many can afford to take on a lifetime of debt to buy that degree at $80k?
Nothing at all against English, or poetry, or even my own major of political science, but focusing on job qualifications and earning potential could be a rational response to decades of stagnation in household incomes: pewresearch.org/social-trends/…
At Chatham House in London this morning, DOJ's Lisa Monaco signaled a stepped-up effort to protect US tech and US companies from autocratic regimes. That will include a new focus on US capital outflows -- to make sure Americans aren't funding advances in hostile countries.
"We are exploring how to monitor the flow of private capital in critical sectors and ensure that our own 'outbound investment' in dual-use technology doesn’t provide our adversaries with a national security advantage," she said.
The US is also modernizing CFIUS for this new era: "CFIUS began in an era of brick-and-mortar transactions," she said. "Today, the greatest risks come not from investment in our physical assets, but from transactions where datasets, software, and algorithms are the assets."
A judge just unsealed records showing that Larry Kramer, dean emeritus of Stanford Law School, co-signed a $500,000 bond on behalf of now disgraced former FTX crypto CEO Sam Bankman Fried. I asked Kramer why he supported SBF, and here's what he emailed me just now:
"Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried have been close friends of my wife and I since the mid-1990s..."
"During the past two years, while my family faced a harrowing battle with cancer, they have been the truest of friends – bringing food, providing moral support, and frequently stepping in at moment’s notice to help..."