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NSO Group, one of the most well-known and controversial makers of government spyware, released a new transparency report on Wednesday, as the company enters what it described as “a new phase of accountability.”

But the report, unlike NSO’s previous annual disclosures, lacks details about how many customers the company rejected, investigated, suspended, or terminated due to human rights abuses involving its surveillance tools. While the report contains promises to respect human rights and have controls to demand its customers do the same, the report provides no concrete evidence supporting either.

Experts and critics who have followed NSO and the spyware market for years believe the report is part of an effort and campaign by the company to get the U.S. government to remove the company from a blocklist — technically called the Entity List — as it hopes to enter the U.S. market with new financial backers and executives at the helm.

Last year, a group of U.S. investors acquired the company, and since then, NSO has been undergoing a transition that included high-profile personnel changes: former Trump official David Friedman was appointed the new executive chairman; CEO Yaron Shohat stepped down; and Omri Lavie, the last remaining founder who was still involved in the company, also left, as Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

“When NSO’s products are in the right hands within the right countries, the world is a far safer place. That will always be our overriding mission,” Friedman wrote in the report, which does not mention any country where NSO operates.

Natalia Krapiva, the senior tech-legal counsel at Access Now, a digital rights organization that investigates spyware abuses, told TechCrunch: “NSO is clearly on a campaign to get removed from the U.S. Entity List and one of the key things they need to show is that they have dramatically changed as a company since they were listed.”

“Changing the leadership is one part and this transparency report is another,” said Krapiva.

“However, we have seen this before with NSO and other spyware companies over the years where they change names and leadership and publish empty transparency or ethics reports but the abuses continue.”

Ever since the Biden administration added NSO to the Entity List, the company has lobbied to have its restrictions lifted. After President Donald Trump took office again last year, NSO intensified these efforts. But, as of May last year, NSO had failed to sway the new administration.

In late December, the Trump administration lifted sanctions against three executives tied to the Intellexa spyware consortium, in what some saw as a sign of a shift in the administration’s attitude toward spyware makers.

This year’s transparency report, which covers 2025, has fewer details than reports from previous years.

In an earlier transparency report covering 2024, for example, NSO said it opened three investigations of potential misuse. Without naming the customers, the company said it cut ties with one, and imposed on another customer “alternative remediation measures,” including mandating human rights training, monitoring the customer activities, and requesting more information about how the customer uses the system. NSO did not provide any information about the third investigation.

NSO also said that during 2024, the company rejected more than $20 million “in new business opportunities due to human rights concerns.”

In the transparency report published the prior year, covering 2022 and 2023, NSO said it suspended or terminated six government customers, without naming them, claiming these actions resulted in a revenue loss of $57 million.

In 2021, NSO said it had “disconnected” the systems of five customers since 2016 following an investigation of misuse, resulting in more than $100 million in “estimated loss of revenue,” and it also said that it “discontinued engagements” with five customers due to “concerns regarding human rights.”

NSO’s newest transparency report does not include the total number of customers NSO has, statistics that have been consistently present in previous reports.

TechCrunch asked NSO spokesperson Gil Lanier to provide similar statistics and figures, but did not receive answers by press time.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, a human rights organization that has investigated spyware abuses for more than a decade, criticized NSO.

“I was expecting information, numbers,” Scott-Railton told TechCrunch. “Nothing in this document allows outsiders to verify NSO’s claims, which is business as usual from a company that has a decade-long history of making claims that later turned out to be misrepresentation.”

As of December 31, 2025, GenSight Biologics' cash and cash equivalents totaled €2.4 million, up from €0.6 million as of September 30. This increase reflects the partial funds from the €2.9 million capital increase on December 26, which were received prior to the end of the year.

On January 7, 2026, the company received the remaining proceeds from the December fundraising. After repaying €0.7 million of the principal on the convertible bonds held by Heights Capital, GenSight Biologics' cash and cash equivalents totaled €2.9 million.

The company has sufficient net working capital to meet its obligations through February 2026. Revenues from the compassionate access programs in France and Israel should then at a minimum ensure the Company's operational continuity through 2026. Beyond this baseline, the Company will continue its funding operations, on a dilutive and non-dilutive basis, to further extend the cash runway and in particular to finance the RECOVER Phase III trial.

The GS010 manufacturing process, which was transferred to the Company’s new CDMO, is now locked at the CDMO. Final confirmation of the successful technology transfer will be obtained from an engineering run scheduled for Q1 2026.

The REVISE Study, approved by the French agency ANSM in December 2025, has now received all final approvals. The study is on track to begin in January 2026.Following approval of individual patient early access treatments by the ANSM and Israeli Ministry of Health in December 2025, the Company is working to fulfill the administrative requirements for proceeding with the treatments. The Company expects to begin receiving payments for early access treatments in Q1 2026.

The Company’s primary strategic focus remains on preparing for the start of the RECOVER Phase III study in H2 2026, while pursuing opportunities to out-license GS010 in markets outside the USA and Europe and exploring paid Early Access Programs worldwide

The threat of a steep new wealth tax in California has reportedly prompted at least six billionaires including Larry Page and Peter Thiel to cut their ties with the state — and as many as 20 others could be heading for the exits.

The half-dozen billionaires made their moves before New Year’s Day — the cutoff date to avoid a potential one-time tax of 5% on fortunes exceeding $1 billion — which California residents will vote on in November, according to Bloomberg News.

David Lesperance, a tax adviser who specializes in relocating ultra-wealthy clients out of high-tax jurisdictions, told the outlet he personally helped four billionaires end their California residency before the proposal’s Jan. 1 cutoff date.

Divesh Makan, co-founder of Silicon Valley investment firm ICONIQ Capital and a wealth manager for some of the tech industry’s richest figures, said he knows of as many as five families that have already left the state.

Makan told Bloomberg he expects another 15 to 20 billionaire families to depart if the tax is approved by voters — a significant portion of California’s roughly 200 billionaires.

Google co-founder Page has quietly shifted his base to Florida after snapping up roughly $173 million worth of waterfront property in Miami’s Coconut Grove.

He bought a $101.5 million estate in December, followed days later by a $71.9 million mansion less than a mile away. The moves coincided with the formation of Florida-based entities tied to his family office.

Page officially cut ties between California and most of his assets ahead of the Jan. 1 deadline, according to Business Insider.

Thiel, the billionaire PayPal co-founder and prominent conservative donor, has also deepened his Florida footprint.

Thiel, who has long criticized wealth taxes, announced on Dec. 31 that his investment firm, Thiel Capital, had opened a Miami office. He has already registered to vote in Florida and has been spending more time outside California, even as he still maintains a home in Los Angeles.

The Post has sought comment from Page and Thiel.

David Sacks, a billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Craft Ventures, announced on the final day of 2025 that his firm had opened an office in Austin, Texas.

Sacks, who previously lived in San Francisco, relocated earlier in December, timing the move just ahead of the proposed residency cutoff.

His announcement did not mention the wealth tax, though it came as chatter around the ballot initiative grew louder.

Others are openly weighing exits. Sergey Brin, Google’s other co-founder, has been reported by real estate and industry sources to be in discussions to buy a waterfront home in the Miami area, though no deal has been confirmed.

Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya has publicly said he is giving “serious consideration” to moving to Texas, warning that the tax could drive entrepreneurs and capital out of California.

Not every billionaire is bolting.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said this week that he has no plans to leave Silicon Valley and is “perfectly fine” paying the tax if it becomes law — a stance the union backers of the measure have seized on as evidence the exodus is overstated.

Real estate developer John Sobrato has also said he is staying put, though he expects the proposal to ultimately fail at the ballot box.

Backers of the ballot initiative argue the tax is a necessary response to a looming fiscal crisis, pointing to a projected $190 billion shortfall in funding for Medi-Cal over the next decade after federal healthcare cuts.

The bulk of the proceeds from the tax, championed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would be earmarked for healthcare, education and food assistance programs.

Supporters say the levy targets a narrow group whose wealth has surged in recent years and argue that it would have little impact on billionaires’ lifestyles while generating tens of billions of dollars for public services.

They also point to other states where higher taxes on the wealthy have not led to sustained exits.

“The state forgets that the top 1% pays nearly half of the income tax,” William Stern, founder of Cardiff, told The Post on Thursday.

“If you chase the ‘golden goose’ out of the state with a wealth tax, who pays for the lights? This isn’t a political debate — it’s a math problem.”

Stern warned that if the tax base leaves, “the burden shifts to the middle class.”

“We are watching a state commit economic suicide by trying to tax money that hasn’t even been made yet.”

Advisers who work with the ultra-rich say the mobility of billionaires is precisely what makes the proposal risky.

In the first week of the island becoming a Special Customs Supervision Zone, duty-free operators reported a 54.9 percent increase in sales, with gold jewelry, premium cosmetics, and luxury goods among the top-selling

LONDON — The luxury retail sector in China‘s duty-free promised land, Hainan Island — which officially became a Special Customs Supervision Zone on Dec. 18 — reported encouraging figures in the first few weeks after a slew of beneficial policies kicked in that were designed to stimulate high-end consumption.

These included allowing zero tariffs on many goods entering the province.

According to Haikou Customs, offshore duty-free shopping turnover reached 1.1 billion renminbi, or $157 million, in the first week that the island became a free-trade zone, up 54.9 percent year-on-year. Visitors totaled 165,000 in the period, up 34.1 percent.

At the top shopping mall, CDF Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex — which offers a comprehensive range of luxury brands including Gucci, Cartier, Prada, De Beers, and Brunello Cucinelli — sales and foot traffic during the first seven days grew over 80 percent and over 60 percent, respectively, year-over-year, fueled by promotional incentives.

Gold jewelry, which is priced 180 to 300 renminbi per gram lower than in mainland China; electronics; premium cosmetics, and luxury goods have been among the top-selling categories.

According to Moodie Davitt, gold retailers, including Chow Tai Fook and Luk Fook, each recorded growth exceeding 300 percent following the Hainan Free Trade Port’s island-wide customs closure.

The retail resurgence continued into the new year. Haikou Customs said offshore duty-free sales reached 712 million renminbi, or $101.3 million, during the three-day national holiday between Jan. 1 and 3, up 128.9 percent year-on-year.

In Sanya, China National Service Corporation reported a 183 percent jump in sales and a 109 percent increase in footfall at its branch in the coastal city in the same period.

Since raising the annual tax-free shopping quota from 30,000 renminbi to 100,000 renminbi per person in July 2020, the tropical island on the southern tip of China has been on a rollercoaster ride with the duty-free retail sector.

Following a boom brought by pent-up demand during the COVID-19 era, the island’s duty-free sales in 2024 dropped 29.3 percent due to a crackdown on daigou [surrogate shopping], the return of international travel, and overall weak consumer confidence in mainland China.

In the long run, according to a report from KPMG, Hainan’s travel retail market is poised for development and is expected to become an important global hub, attracting high-quality customers from mainland China, as well as those from Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, and Russia.

“From a market perspective, as China continues to open up its tourism market and the global tourism market continues to expand, Hainan’s travel retail industry is reaching a broader range of consumers from around the world,” the report said. “The province will strive to gain a more important role in the global travel retail market by attracting high-quality domestic customers and pleasing consumers who choose the island over overseas destinations.”

Case in point: Hainan authorities told local media that the provincial capital Haikou and the top leisure and shopping destination Sanya recorded China’s fastest growth in inbound flight bookings last Thursday, rising more than 300 percent and 500 percent, respectively.

Later in the year, the island’s duty-free sector is set to heat up even more when DFS, the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned travel retail operator, unveils its first “seven-star” luxury retail and entertainment destination in the region.

DFS Yalong Bay will stretch over 1.38 million square feet and carry more than 1,000 luxury brands, including those from LVMH. The site will also boast immersive concepts spanning categories such as fashion and apparel, beauty and fragrance, watches and jewelry, wine and spirits, fine dining, and food and beverage.

Swire Properties in 2026 is also expected to unveil part of its large-scale, 2.1 million-square-foot, duty-free retail complex in Sanya’s Haitang Bay, in partnership with China Tourism Group.

The new project will become the third segment of the Sanya International Duty-Free Complex. A network of bridges will connect it to phases I and II of the project, which opened in 2014 and 2020, respectively.

Cubans speculating about whether their government will be next to fall, with crucial Venezuelan oil imports now in jeopardy

The ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro could intensify Cuba’s economic crisis, which already rivals the post-Soviet collapse.

Cuba faces severe problems, including water shortages, blackouts, a failing healthcare system and a sharp drop in tourism.

Mass emigration has led to a population decline of 2.7 million since 2020, with live births falling below 1899 levels.

Elderly Cubans are digging through garbage for scraps of food in Havana. In the country’s second city, Santiago, crowds have gathered, blaring music by Cuban exiles such as Gloria Estefan and Willy Chirino, who sings “Our day is coming soon.”

The U.S. ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has jolted this country of fewer than 10 million people, which has long relied on Venezuela for oil imports that have barely kept its tiny economy from collapsing.

It opens a new and perilous chapter for the island’s Communist regime during an economic implosion that already rivals the crisis suffered by Cuba after the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.

In poorer cities, people are openly speculating about whether the U.S. will topple the government of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the successor to Raúl and Fidel Castro, the siblings who led the Cuban Revolution in 1959 that sent shock waves across Latin America.

“They are nervous,” Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a Havana-based political activist, said of the government. “Repression will increase, it’s the typical response.”

Cuba’s state security apparatus has long had a tight grip on all levels of society, from workplaces to schools or concert halls. But Maduro’s capture risks upending the government’s control of every street, its deep surveillance system and its vast network of snitches, say Cuban dissidents and former officials.

Two days after Maduro’s ouster, Reynaldo Flores was dealing with his fifth consecutive day without running water at his apartment in Havana. It is his new normal, along with the daily blackouts, the failing healthcare system, the trash piled high along the streets, and his aching joints from the mosquito-borne illnesses that have plagued the island.

“Six, seven, 10 days go by with no water,” said 66-year-old Flores. “Then when the water returns, there’s no electricity to pump it in.”

Recently, he said, there was one day where he simultaneously had no electricity, no running water and no gas to cook with. Like all Cubans, Flores saves water in a tank, rationing it for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. When it runs out, he jumps from one rooftop to another to gather buckets of water from nearby cisterns.

He worries most about the elderly looking for food in the garbage. When they contract a virus, they go to overwhelmed hospitals to die. All of that without taking into account the stifling heat.

“One of my friends works for the government and was just tasked with picking up elderly people who live alone, who’d been dead in their homes for days,” said Flores, who is retired and relies on remittances from relatives abroad.

Cuba has been in a perpetual economic crisis, which has intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 2.7 million people—about a quarter of the island’s population, the majority of them young and ambitious—have fled the island since 2020, most to the U.S. It is “demographic hollowing out,” said Cuban demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos. He estimates Cuba’s population is now eight million.

The combined result of mass emigration and decreased female fertility is that live births in Cuba plunged to levels below those of 1899, when Cuba emerged from a bloody three-year war of independence that decimated its population, said Albizu-Campos.

“Cuba’s problem was already existential,” said Joe García, a former Cuban-American congressman who speaks often with senior island officials. “On the Cuban side, it’s desperation and worse desperation,” said García, a Florida Democrat.

Tourism, once one of the island’s economic pillars, has plummeted, with hotel occupancy hovering below 30%, according to industry executives. Most tourists, the majority from Russia and China, arrive with all-inclusive packages, meaning that spending doesn’t trickle down to ordinary Cubans as visitors don’t spend much outside their preapproved itinerary.

A new 42-story luxury hotel towers over the once-elegant Vedado district in Havana, Cuba’s capital. Yet the $200 million, Spanish-run hotel is “nearly empty,” said William LeoGrande, a Cuba analyst at Washington’s American University who recently returned from the country.

He estimates that hard-currency income from tourism is down 75%.

Many Cubans depend on remittances from family members abroad. The state relies on billions of dollars collected by the government from thousands of Cuban doctors working in Venezuela, Mexico and other countries, and subsidized Venezuelan oil imports, to keep the lights on. But now the Venezuelan oil spigot could be shut off by the U.S.

Cuba has no money to buy oil on international markets, and can only hope that friendly countries such as Angola, Algeria, Brazil or Colombia will make up the shortfall if Venezuela, under U.S. pressure, cuts off its supplies, said Jorge R. Piñon, who tracks Cuba’s energy consumption at the University of Texas.

Venezuela has been providing some 35,000 barrels of oil a day of the estimated 100,000 barrels a day the island needs. Cuba produces about 40,000 barrels a day of sulfur- and metals-laden heavy crude that feeds the country’s decrepit power plants. Mexico, which sent about 22,000 barrels a day to Cuba last year, has since lowered shipments to some 7,000, while Russia sends about 10,000 barrels a day, he said.

Cutting off Venezuelan oil would devastate Cuba’s economy.

“I would not be surprised if the Americans tell Venezuela to continue giving oil to Cuba, so as not to open another Pandora’s box,” said Piñon, who calculates oil shipments to the island using reports from services that track tanker movements. Without Venezuelan oil, he estimates Cuba’s energy infrastructure would collapse within 30 days.

As the country struggles to survive, the big question will be the response of Cuba’s leadership, which has ruled with an iron fist since the revolution led by the Castros and their “bearded men in olive green.” The first action of the Communist regime was to require workers to attend a rally over the weekend to denounce Maduro’s capture and declare two days of mourning, with flags at half-staff honoring the 32 Cuban soldiers and high-ranking military intelligence officers who died during the U.S. military incursion.

Without oil, there is a risk that the rolling blackouts, which sometimes leave island residents with only four hours of electricity a day, will worsen. Those who have relied on generators to get by will have a hard time running them without access to fuel. Even cooking will be complicated, as some residents have turned to petroleum-run stoves to cook their food.

LeoGrande said that unlike the crisis after the Soviet collapse, a time known as the “special period” when the economic pain was felt across Cuban society, the hardship in this crisis is falling disproportionately on poorer Cubans who don’t have relatives abroad who send them dollars.

“There is more visible inequality,” LeoGrande said. “Poor people are as bad off as in the special period, but a segment of middle and upper class have access to dollars and are not in such bad shape, which causes real social tension.”