TheChek News Flow

Some big-name celebrities are quietly paying off victims to avoid being publicly named in lawsuits related to the Diddy sex assault case, according to a lawyer.

Attorney Tony Buzbee — who is representing more than 120 of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ alleged victims — told TMZ that huge stars are about to be sued by his firm and he’s giving them a chance to settle up before the claims hit public court.

Some celebrities have opted to settle, he said.

“In every single case, especially cases like this… because it’s in the best interests of the victim, we attempt to resolve these matters without the filing of a public lawsuit and we’ve done that already with a handful of individuals, many of which you’re heard of before,” Buzbee said, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

The Bad Boy Records founder was arrested in a criminal sex-trafficking case last month. He’s pleaded not guilty.

Buzbee will separately be lodging a slew of lawsuits – including on behalf of 25 minors – beginning this month. He has first sent out demand letters notifying others who will be sued in addition to Combs.

In fact, Buzbee said he’ll be “aggressively” going after anyone who saw the alleged abuse occurring and failed to act to protect victims.

“If you were there in the room, participated, watched it happen and didn’t say anything or helped cover it up, in my view, you have a problem,” the plaintiff lawyer said.

“A lot of people saw this activity going on, a lot of people allowed it to go on, said nothing, didn’t intervene… all of these individuals and entities have exposure.”

But the unveiling of notable names won’t start coming out this week, Buzbee said.

“Everyone is focused on what other celebrities were involved, who is going to be named, who is going to be outed. I don’t expect that to happen this week,” he said.

“We want to make sure if we name individuals beyond Mr. Combs that we have done our homework because it is going to create a firestorm, and we understand that.”

Combs, 54, has been behind bars since his Sept. 16 arrest on allegations he forced women to participate in drug-fueled “freak off” sex-sessions with male prostitutes that sometimes lasted days long.

The feds claim Combs carried out the abuse for more than a decade, often using violence or threats of violence to get his alleged victims to comply with his twisted wishes.

In the wake of his arrest, victims have begun coming forward with legal claims and stories of alleged abuse.

Combs and his legal team have claimed the “freak offs” were among consenting adults and they have denied he ever abused anyone, including minors.

Florida’s west coast is facing the worst hurricane threat in over 100 years, forecasters warned Monday as Hurricane Milton grew into a massive Category 5 storm.

More than 15 million Floridians were under threat from Milton, which has winds up to 160 mph, as the storm took aim at Tampa and St. Petersburg — threatening 8 to 12 feet of deadly storm surge.

The worst surge was expected to hit between the Anclote River north Clearwater and Englewood north of Fort Myers.

To make matters worse, the angle of the landfall could allow the new storm system to become the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida, Fox Weather reported.

Tampa hasn’t been hit with a major deadly hurricane since 1921, when 11 feet of storm surge inundated what is now the downtown section of the city, according to MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel who said the whole city is low-lying and susceptible to flooding.

“It’s a huge population. It’s very exposed, very inexperienced and that’s a losing proposition,” Emanuel, who has studied hurricanes for 40 years, said. “I always thought Tampa would be the city to worry about most.”

Authorities once again warned people who refused to leave their homes in the evacuation zone to write their names and personal information on their arms in permanent marker so that their bodies could be identified.

Milton started Monday as an alarming Category 2 hurricane — before being upgraded three times in just over two hours into a major Category 5 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It is projected to make landfall Wednesday, likely hitting near the heavily populated Tampa Bay area — with the hurricane center warning that it is still forecast to “undergo rapid intensification” before then.

Storm surge and flood watches were issued for Florida’s Gulf Coast as Milton hit maximum sustained winds of 150 mph — just 7 mph shy of Category 5 status.

“I’m just gonna distill it down and put it in some plainspeak — everybody’s just got to get out,” warned Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, which includes Clearwater and St. Petersburg.

“This is going to be bad. That’s all you need to know,” he said of warnings that the storm surge could top 8 feet along his county’s coastal regions.

“There’s going to reach a point where you are on your own, because we are not going to get our people killed because you don’t want to listen to what we’re saying.”

Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s emergency management division, urged residents to be prepared for the “largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma,” when 7 million Floridians were ordered to evacuate.

“I highly encourage you to evacuate,” Guthrie said during a press conference

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also said that while it remains to be seen where Milton will strike, it’s clear the state is going to be hit hard.

“You have time to prepare … be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said Sunday.

“If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”

The governor placed 51 of the state’s counties under emergency orders Sunday and said residents should be prepared for widespread outages and disruption.

Even before Milton was upgraded Monday, it posed “an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge from Milton for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning Tuesday night or early Wednesday,” the hurricane center had warned.

“Residents should follow any advice given by local officials and evacuate if told to do so,” the federal agency warned.

The storm is expected to remain at its current strength for the next few days, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Tampa Bay area was still reeling from the effects of Helene, which left extensive damage and killed at least 230 people across six states.

Helene was a Category 4 storm when it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, before soon being downgraded — but devastating some areas to the point that they are now unrecognizable.

Milton, however, could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean — which would spare the other states devastated by Helene.

The center of the storm was about 150 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and about 735 miles southwest of Tampa early Monday. It was moving east-southeast at 8 mph, according to the hurricane center.

Earlier this year, KoBold Metals found what might be one of the largest high-grade copper deposits of all time, with the potential to produce hundreds of thousands of metric tons per year, the company’s CEO said.

Now, just eight months later, KoBold is close to raising over half a billion dollars. The funding should help the company develop the massive copper resource while moving forward on its other exploration projects, which number in the dozens.

The mineral discovery startup has already raised $491 million of a targeted $527 million round, according to an SEC filing. Its previous round of $195 million valued the company at $1 billion post-money, according to PitchBook. The startup is reportedly aiming for a $2 billion valuation for the current round.

The company did not immediately reply to questions.

KoBold uses artificial intelligence to sift through enormous amounts of data in a quest to find mineral deposits that can help drive the energy transition. In addition to copper, the company searches for lithium, nickel, and cobalt.

Initially, the company was focused solely on discovery. Prospecting for minerals has historically been an endeavor fraught with risk. The rule of thumb is that for every 1,000 attempts to find a deposit, only about three tend to be successful. KoBold was betting that AI would be able to parse data and find trends that would lead to greater success rates.

With the enormous copper deposit in Zambia, Kobold appears to have delivered on its early promise. The company has about 60 other exploration projects underway, and in a strategic shift, KoBold has said it intends to develop the Zambia resource itself, an undertaking that reportedly will cost around $2.3 billion.

KoBold’s previous investors include Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Andreessen Horowitz, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

U.S. public utility giant American Water says it has disconnected some of its systems after discovering that hackers breached its internal networks last week.

American Water, which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people across the United States, confirmed the security incident in an 8-K regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The New Jersey-based company said in its filing that its water and wastewater facilities are “at this time” not affected and continue to operate without interruption, though the company noted that it’s currently “unable to predict the full impact of this incident.” American Water said it also notified law enforcement of the intrusion.

The company said it discovered “unauthorized activity” within its networks on October 3 and promptly moved to disconnect affected systems. In a statement on its website, American Water said it is “pausing billing until further notice.”

“In an effort to protect our customers’ data and to prevent any further harm to our environment, we disconnected or deactivated certain systems,” Ruben Rodriguez, a spokesperson for American Water, told TechCrunch in a statement. “There will be no late charges for customers while these systems are unavailable.”

Rodriguez declined to state which systems were unavailable and also declined to comment on the nature of the cybersecurity incident.

“Our dedicated team of professionals are working around the clock to investigate the nature and scope of the incident,” Rodriguez said.

The ongoing incident at American Water comes amid growing warnings from the U.S. government that state-backed hackers are increasingly targeting American water infrastructure.

In February, a coalition of U.S. intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA, and the FBI warned that a group of state-sponsored hackers based in China had compromised multiple critical infrastructure systems, including water and wastewater systems, in the United States.

The group, known as “Volt Typhoon,” burrowed into networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in routers, firewalls, and VPNs, the agencies warned. In some cases, the China-backed hackers have maintained access to these networks for “at least five years,” with the aim of disrupting operational technology in the event of a major conflict or crisis between the United States and China.

This warning came after U.S. cybersecurity officials said in late 2023 that an Iranian-linked hacking group was “actively targeting and compromising” multiple U.S. water and wastewater systems facilities that rely on a particular Israeli-made computer system.

Leblanc joined the London-based company in 2018, and worked with Victoria Beckham and Neo Investments to achieve profitability by restructuring, and refining the strategy.

LONDON — Marie Leblanc, who helped transform Victoria Beckham Ltd. into a profitable lifestyle brand, is stepping down as chief executive officer.

Leblanc is returning to France to be with her family, the company said. In the interim, Ralph Toledano, chairman of Victoria Beckham Ltd., will act as CEO until a successor is named.

“Marie will be very missed,” said Toledano. “She executed and achieved an exceptional turnaround for the brand and has prepared it for an accelerated growth. I want to take this time to thank and congratulate her wholeheartedly.”

Leblanc joined the company in 2018 as product director before taking up the CEO role a year later. She oversaw a full brand repositioning, and the shift to showing seasonal collections during Paris Fashion Week.

Victoria Beckham, founder and creative director, described Leblanc as “the most incredible partner and CEO, and I am so grateful to have had such a strong, intelligent and inspiring woman by my side.”

Beckham said the two have been through “an incredible journey together; fighting fires side by side, exchanging passionately about design and product, and never losing sight of our common goal — to build a beautiful brand and profitable business. I’m so excited about this next phase that we are in, which she has been such a crucial part of, and wish Marie the best of luck with her own next chapter.”

David Belhassen, founder and managing partner Neo Investments, which has a significant minority stake in the business, said Leblanc “nailed it” as CEO.

“The turnaround of the brand is excellent, the acceleration has started, and the brand has become very desirable. Marie has led this journey in brilliant partnership with Victoria and Neo. I wholeheartedly wish Marie all the best in her very promising career,” he added.

Leblanc said she’s proud of the work she did as CEO over the past five years, “putting creative at the core and bringing together Victoria’s aesthetic and brand DNA.”

She said Victoria Beckham Ltd. “has maintained high standards, delivers quality products and drives customer engagement. I am very confident the company is on track to reach new heights.”

As reported, the company saw revenue and profits rocket in 2023, with the company reporting “substantial” growth in wholesale, online and in its Mayfair flagship.

It reported a 52 percent uptick in total revenue to 89.1 million pounds compared with the previous year. Last year was the third consecutive period of high-double-digit growth.

According to the company, sales momentum has continued into 2024 across all product categories, and despite lackluster demand in the luxury market.

In 2023, adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, reached 1.8 million pounds, compared with 200,000 pounds in 2022.

When results were published in August, Leblanc said that following a repositioning in 2021, 2023 was “a very strong year of progress for the company. We continue to build a loyal consumer following on the back of successful Paris Fashion Week shows and new partnerships, with performance across direct-to-consumer channels and leather goods being particularly positive.”

Michael Kliger, CEO of Mytheresa, said the deal will transform the e-commerce platform into a "pre-eminent, multi-brand, digital, luxury group" with a potential gross merchandise value of 4 billion euros.

LONDON — Mytheresa will acquire 100 percent of Yoox Net-a-porter group from Richemont with the ambition of creating a 4-billion-euro online juggernaut in the luxury fashion space.

Richemont is selling YNAP to Mytheresa with a cash position of 555 million euros and no financial debt, in exchange for shares. Richemont will also make available a six-year revolving credit facility of 100 million euros to finance YNAP’s general corporate needs, including working capital.

Mytheresa will hand Richemont shares representing 33 percent of its fully diluted share capital. Richemont will also have the right to nominate a member and an observer to the Mytheresa board following the close of the deal, which is expected to take place in the first half of 2025.

“With this transaction, Mytheresa aims to create a pre-eminent, multibrand, digital, luxury group worldwide,” said Michael Kliger, CEO of Mytheresa, after the deal was announced early Monday.

The acquisition, he added, will create significant value “for our shareholders, brand partners and most importantly for our high-end customers.” Industry sources said Mytheresa was able to secure the no-debt, long-term financing deal with Richemont after the final competitor, Permira, dropped out of the race.

Mytheresa, Net-a-porter and Mr Porter will remain separate businesses, offering those customers “differentiated but complementary” multibrand luxury edits based on curation, inspiration and quality customer service.

Kliger said that while all three brands played in the luxury space, there would be little overlap in terms of offer and that Net has a “broader” selection of merchandise and price points. Going forward, he said Net and Mytheresa will appeal to different parts of the luxury market much like Harrods and Selfridges do.

In a call following the announcement, Kliger and Mytheresa’s CFO Martin Beer said the aim is to leverage Mytheresa’s proprietary tech know-how and operational expertise to grow the Net-a-porter and Mr Porter businesses, which have been struggling amid a worldwide slowdown in luxury demand.

Kliger said he saw great opportunity for tech synergies across the Mytheresa, Net-a-porter and Mr Porter storefronts, which will lead to a business with 4 billion euros in gross merchandise value and a “high single-digit” adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin by fiscal 2029.

Currently, the Mytheresa and YNAP businesses have a combined gross merchandise value of 3 billion euros.

Kliger also described the agreement with Richemont as a “pure financial deal,” and clarified that there would be “no operational relationship” between the two companies. He added that both YNAP and Mytheresa would continue to operate as competitors until the acquisition was finalized.

Kliger said that, going forward, profitability will come from full-price fashion sales and the “separation” of YNAP’s off-price division, comprising Yoox and The Outnet. The separation will allow for a “simpler and more efficient operating model driving higher growth and profitability” for the off-price businesses.

Beer said YNAP’s off-price division is loss-making, while the Net-a-porter and Mr Porter businesses are notching “low single-digit” profits.

As part of the deal with Richemont, YNAP’s white label division, once a powerful force in the industry, will be discontinued.

Johann Rupert, chairman of Richemont, said: “We are pleased to have found such a good home for YNAP. As a trusted partner to many of the world’s leading global luxury brands, YNAP is renowned for its pioneering high-end customer services complemented by its distinctive and inspirational editorial voice.”

Richemont said it expects the write-down of YNAP’s net assets to amount to approximately 1.3 billion euros, which also accounts for the cash to be left in YNAP upon completion of the deal.

Following the transaction’s close, Richemont will be subject to a one-year lock-up period, meaning it cannot sell its Mytheresa shares. There will also be a further, one-year period in which only limited sale transactions can take place.

Richemont’s shares closed up 2 percent at 133.5 Swiss francs on Monday, following the announcement.

The deal comes nearly 10 months after Richemont pulled the plug on an agreement to sell YNAP to Farfetch. Richemont took that deal off the table after the troubled Farfetch was purchased by Coupang.

That deal was a far more complex one, with Richemont planning to offload YNAP in stages to Farfetch and Alabbar, and to leverage Farfetch’s tech and marketing expertise for its wholly owned brands such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.

European analysts welcomed Monday’s announcement.

Citi’s Thomas Chauvet said the news should be taken “positively” despite Richemont’s write-down of 1.3 billion euros, including the 550 million euros in cash which is part of the YNAP package.

Chauvet wrote that he sees potential for the creation of a “leading and sustainably profitable” luxury, multibrand online platform.

Bernstein’s Luca Solca wrote that “a headache for shareholders has been resolved, and helpfully within the time frame Richemont had previously suggested to the market. Investors had expected a contribution to the acquirer or re-capitalization of the asset, and a further write-down. Both seem palatable in today’s announcement, and the 33 percent stake in Mytheresa provides a possible source of future upside” for Richemont.

RBC Capital Markets added that the disposal of YNAP should give Richemont the opportunity “to retain some exposure to online multibrand luxury retail” without operational control.

The bank estimated that Richemont’s disposal of YNAP has an enterprise value of negative 433 million euros, given its promise to sell the company with 555 million euros in cash, zero debt, and a revolving credit facility of 100 million euros for the six years following the deal’s close.

Industry figures expressed a mix of relief, and enthusiasm, about the deal.

Designer Jenny Packham said her company “has always enjoyed a strong and collaborative relationship with both organizations and we look forward to hearing about their, no doubt, innovative future plans.”

Alex Bolen, chief executive officer of Oscar de la Renta, said “consolidation is necessary and healthy,” in such an overcrowded industry.

He added the deal will ultimately lead to “better and more consistent full-price sell throughs – the critical objective. We expect and favor more consolidation. The Mytheresa team are very strong operators. We think they have a great chance of making this work, and look forward to learning more details of their plans.”

Gary Wassner, chief executive officer of Hilldun Corp., and chairman of Interluxe Holdings LLC, said the sale of YNAP to Mytheresa is “a tremendous relief. With all the turmoil at retail, the prospect of losing Net completely was not a pleasant one.

“MyTheresa has always had its own perspective and point of view. The direct-to-consumer retailers who now remain are all distinct from one another. From Ssense to Luisa Via Roma, and from MyTheresa to Saks.com there are clear differences in style and inventory,” Wassner added.

He’s also hoping that MyTheresa can organize the back office of Net-a-porter as well. He described working with Net as “very challenging. There’s no one, centralized payable department. The disorganization at the various divisions of Net-a-porter has created more and more work for small brands.”

He’s hoping for more nuanced, strategic buying from Mytheresa when it finally takes control of Net and Mr Porter. “We really don’t need another e-commerce retailer selling more of the same. Fashion needs change and newness. New brands. New designers. You can buy LVMH, Gucci, Dior anywhere,” said Wassner. – with contributions from Lisa Lockwood.

Madrid wants three or more countries to be able to forge ahead when others are opposed

Spain has proposed a faster path to closer EU financial integration among like-minded nations in an effort to end a decade-long stalemate over harmonising the bloc’s capital and credit markets.

Madrid made a formal proposal on Monday for a new mechanism to allow a vanguard of three or more countries to proceed on joint initiatives even when other EU members are wary — starting with the creation of a pan-European credit rating system.

For more than a decade, the EU has sought to tear down national barriers in capital markets to help European companies raise funds, but the efforts to forge a “capital markets union” have been scuppered by resistance from several capitals.

Spain’s move comes after policy recommendations from former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, who warned that the bloc risked economic decline if it could not turn its private savings into productive investments.

Carlos Cuerpo, the Spanish economy minister who will present the country’s proposal to fellow EU ministers in Luxembourg, told the Financial Times that implementing the Italian recommendations was “a huge job ahead for all of us”.

Setting out Spain’s proposal for a “competitiveness lab”, where three or more EU countries could test ideas for co-operation, he said it would help avoid the “potential danger of frustration” with the EU’s slow decision making. “We can’t wait that length of time,” he said, noting that on average the bloc’s legislation took 19 months to pass.

Spain wants to start with a harmonised credit rating system for small and medium-sized businesses, which he said found it much harder to raise finance than large companies.

Describing the idea as “an additional step towards a capital markets union”, he said it would lower financing costs in both capital and credit markets and enable a Spanish company, for example, to raise funds at competitive rates in any other participating country.

It is not the first time EU countries that are frustrated by inertia in the EU regulatory process have tried to push ahead with fewer partners.

EU law already allows for “enhanced co-operation” among at least nine member states on specific initiatives if efforts to secure support for the reforms at EU level have failed.

But the mechanism has only been used successfully four times, and failed to break a stalemate on a financial transaction tax, even after it was explored by more than a dozen countries. Spanish officials described it as outdated and insufficiently flexible to enable real change in key areas.

Paschal Donohoe, president of the Eurogroup, said on Monday that the Spanish initiative should encourage all countries to participate, but would avoid fragmenting the bloc’s already disjointed capital markets. 

“At a time when we’re all reaffirming the value of a single market and the value of a level playing field . . . I hope that ideas like this act as a catalyst to deepening our commitment for us all to take a step forward together, so we don’t have any risks of fragmentation,” he said, adding: “One person’s enhanced co-operation could be another country’s risk of fragmentation.”

A recent French proposal backed by Italy, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands to forge ahead with a capital markets union ran aground.

France said its proposal, which included centralising the supervision of banks and asset managers in the Paris-based EU agency European Securities and Markets Authority, would enable greater capital integration.

But the idea was opposed by a majority of smaller member states, which were wary of losing the right to set their own rules and sceptical of French attempts at centralising power.

Cuerpo said Spain’s proposal was an effort to move beyond “ad hoc” efforts and would enable other countries to test their own ideas for closer integration in areas ranging from securitisation to tax harmonisation. He said feedback from other member states on the idea so far was “rather positive”, but did not name any guaranteed allies.

“What we are trying to do is put on the table a fully fledged framework that can accommodate different initiatives,” he said. “It’s not just us pushing for one specific initiative or concept, it’s us proposing a catalyst for broader co-operation, which is open at any time for anyone to be brought in.”