Welcome to The Free Press Report’s Weekly Digest. This week a lot has happened – Trump got raided, Samsung’s corrupt chairman was pardoned, and Ethereum’s biggest update got a release date. Read on for more of the stories you might have missed.
Market Recap
U.S. Politics
Salman Rushdie on ventilator after “assault on freedom of expression.” The author, famous for “Best of the Booker” Prize winning novel Midnight’s Children, was being introduced at western New York's Chautauqua Institution to give a speech on artistic freedom, when an assailant rushed on stage and started “beating” him with an undescribed weapon. He is reportedly unable to speak and likely to lose one eye. In 1988, Rushdie was the victim of a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill the novelist and his publishers, after Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused him of publishing blasphemous material in his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. He was forced into hiding for nearly a decade, during which time the Japanese translator of the novel was murdered. Since then, Iranian organizations have placed bounties worth millions of dollars on Rushdie’s head. It is unknown whether the assailant was affiliated with Iran. [Reuters]
FBI investigating Trump under Espionage Act, having raided the former President’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday. Investigators searching for evidence that Trump had stolen classified information reportedly found documents marked “top secret” in Trump’s home. This is Trump’s fifth active criminal probe, alongside investigations into fraudulent asset valuations, tax avoidance, and two independent probes into election interference. [BBG]
Officers kill man who fired nail gun at FBI field office in Cincinnati. The man had posted on Donald Trump’s Truth social about his desire to kill FBI agents. Local law enforcement claims that he was armed with a rifle resembling an AR-15. After negotiations, he reportedly opened fire on Ohio Highway Patrol officers, who responded by fatally shooting him. [NBC]
Kamala Harris calls for new rules on space industry. The Vice President attended a technology event which included the likes of SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Axiom Space. She praised private industry for “making real the opportunity of space for millions of Americans.” She then insisted that new government rules needed to be imposed on these companies. [BBG]
Social and Business
Deutsche Bank chief passes away. Anshu Jain, 59, suffered from duodenal cancer for five years. Born in India, Jain rose the ranks of Wall Street to lead the trading division of the largest German bank to unprecedented success. In 2017, he became President of Cantor Fitzgerald. Former colleagues praised his “intellect and charm”, and described him as a “towering figure”. [BBG]
JP Morgan traders guilty of fraud. On trial for an alleged scheme to manipulate precious metals futures markets which prosecutors claim ran from 2008 to 2016, three traders were cleared of serious racketeering and conspiracy charges. One was acquitted entirely, while the other two were found guilty on other charges including fraud, spoofing and market manipulation. [Reuters]
Soros bets on Big Tech, with the legendary investor’s management fund adding to its stakes in Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla. It also bolstered its position in Salesforce, and bought $200 million worth of shares in American Campus Communities, the largest developer of student housing in the U.S. [BBG]
SEC to investigate Melvin Capital over risk controls and investor disclosure. Melvin Capital famously lost billions of dollars in the memestock rally of 2021. Now, regulators have reportedly contacted investors to investigate claims that the company misrepresented investment risks when raising funds. [Reuters]
Carlyle boss quits because he didn’t get $300 million. Kewsong Lee, who ran the private equity firm since 2017, demanded a share-based pay package worth $300 million over 5 years. Carlyle’s co-founders reportedly refused to consider the deal. Co-founder William Conway will sit as interim leader while Carlyle searches for a new CEO. [FT]
World View
Paraguay Vice President quits after U.S blacklisting. Hugo Velazquez said that he would resign and withdraw his presidential candidacy after being accused of “significant” corruption. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Velazquez’s associates had offered bribes to officials. Velazquez denies the accusations, and claims he stepped down for the good of his party. [Reuters]
South Korea pardons corrupt Samsung chairman. Lee Jae-yong, heir to an $11 billion fortune, was convicted of bribing former president Park Geun-hye in 2017 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Lee served less than a year before an appeals court effected his release by suspending his sentence. South Korea's Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said that Lee was pardoned because the country needed him to “overcome the economic crisis by revitalizing the economy”. [CNN]
Crypto
Ethereum Merge set for next month. The ETH 2.0 upgrade is expected to take place on their 15th or 16th of September, according to project developers. The update will make ETH transactions more energy efficient by switching from miners to proof of stake to verify transactions. The news comes after the success of Wednesday’s Goerli merge test, which was called a “dress rehearsal” for ETH 2.0. [BBG]
Mark Cuban hit with crypto lawsuit. The class action suit claims that the billionaire entrepreneur mis-promoted unregulated crypto services run by now-bankrupt startup Voyager. The suit attests that “Cuban and [Voyager CEO] Ehrlich, went to great lengths to use their experience as investors to dupe millions of Americans into investing—in many cases, their life savings—into the Deceptive Voyager Platform and purchasing Voyager Earn Program Accounts (‘EPAs’), which are unregistered securities.” [Coin Telegraph]
Hedge funds may have to report crypto exposure, according to new regulatory documents. The SEC and CFTC proposed that hedge funds be forced to report cryptocurrency trading via confidential Form PF filings. SEC chair and Biden appointee Gary Gensler has previously compared cryptocurrencies to the “wild west”. [FN]
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