NY Post : Feds want to use Icahn’s tweets in insider trading case against sports


Tweets by President Trump pal Carl Icahn could get dragged into the insider-trad​er trial of golf-course owner Billy Walters, court papers show.
Manhattan federal prosecutors want to show the jury overseeing Walters’ insider-trading case that Icahn, who Trump once considered for Treasury Secretary, helped Walters make money in 2013 with a single tweet, a recent filing said.
If OK’d by the judge, prosecutors w​​ill seek to show that Walters spoke to Icahn about his market-moving investment in Apple shortly before Icahn made it public via Twitter in August 2013, Walters’ defense lawyer, Barry Berke, said in a memo.
Berke laid bare the government’s strategy in hopes that he could get it struck down before it gets introduced at trial.
“Even if Mr. Icahn had shared the fact of his investment in Apple with Mr. Walters in advance of the tweet (of which there will be no evidence), and Mr. Walters then purchased Apple stock, there is no basis to suggest that would violate the securities laws,” Berke said in the memo.
Apple’s stock jumped more than five percent in 2013 after the billionaire investor tweeted that he had just taken “a large position” in the iPhone maker.
If Icahn’s name is introduced at trial, it will be the second big name to get dragged before than Manhattan federal jury. Prosecutors have already told the judge that pro golfer Phil Mickleson will be a big part of the trial, although “Lefty” — as he is known to fans — has claimed he will not be called as witness.
During his election campaign, President Trump often talked about Icahn as a potential advisor and once said he would consider the Far Rockaway native for his Treasury Secretary.
Icahn, who said he does not want to be Treasury Secretary, was probed several years back in connection with Walters’ trades in Apple and Clorox, but was never charged with any wrongdoing.
“Mr. Icahn has never done anything improper with respect to Clorox, Apple or any other stock, and neither the SEC nor the DOJ has ever accused him of doing anything improper with respect to those or any other stocks,” Icahn’s lawyer Jonathan Streeter said.
Walters is on trial for earning billions in allegedly illegal trades — thanks to intel he gleaned from a pal of his who was on the board of butter maker Dean Foods. Last week, the director, Tom Davis, testified that Walters gave him a throwaway cell phone that they dubbed the “batphone” to cover their tracks.
The government has argued that it is “entitled to show that Walters’ trading in other stocks—such as Clorox or Apple​ ​—​ ​was not innocent.”

NY Post : Uber CEO Kalanick took workers to an ‘escort-karaoke’ bar

Uber CEO Kalanick took workers to an ‘escort-karaoke’ bar

Uber boss Travis Kalanick and five of his employees visited a sleazy “escort-karaoke” bar in South Korea — a fact that one top Uber exec has scrambled to keep quiet in recent weeks, according to a report.

Kalanick’s ex-girlfriend Gabi Holzwarth says she was with Kalanick and the higher-ups at Uber in mid-2014 when they went to the seedy Seoul saloon, where miniskirt-clad women “sat in a circle, identified by numbered tags,” according to The Information (paywall), a tech news site.

“Four male Uber managers picked women out of the group, calling out their numbers, and sat with them,” according to Holzwarth, the site reported over the weekend.

Holzwarth, a 27-year-old concert violinist who split up with Kalanick last summer, says she and Uber’s CEO left the bar about an hour later.

But that was after other men in the group picked out women to go downstairs and “sit with” in private rooms, Holzwarth said, adding that she didn’t know what happened afterward.

“After picking women, visitors typically headed downstairs to get acquainted with the women and sing karaoke before going home with them,” according to the report.

One of the execs in the circle, however, was a female marketing manager who later told Uber’s HR chief that the incident made her uncomfortable.

“[I]t made me feel horrible as a girl (seeing those girls with number tags and being called out is really degrading),” the female manager later told Holzwarth in a messaging exchange.

The name of the female manager wasn’t disclosed.

About three weeks ago, after Uber engineer Susan Fowler went public with sex harassment allegations, the report said Uber’s senior VP of business Emil Michael called Holzwarth, worried that details of the Seoul incident might get leaked.

“I just want to make sure that if this story comes out,” Holzwarth would stick to a phony script, saying she and Uber brass “went to karaoke and ‘had a good time,’” Michael said, according to Holzwarth.

In a written statement, Michael said, “Given the intense news cycle I thought it was the right thing to do to reach out and let her know that reporters may try to contact her directly.”

Michael — who caused a fracas in 2014 when he suggested that Uber dig up dirt on reporters who wrote negative stories about the company — added that “her recollection of this conversation was different from mine and I am very sorry if the purpose of my call was misunderstood.”

After the Seoul incident, Holzwarth said she later overheard Kalanick talking to the distressed marketing manager on the phone, asking her, “Are you OK, girl?” and telling her he wished she had come forward sooner.

Kalanick then hung up and said the woman “must have a lawyer and wants something,” according to Holzwarth.

It’s not clear how the HR complaint was resolved, but the woman appears to be still employed at the company, according to the report.

A few weeks ago, Holzwarth said she got text messages from Michael saying, “Remember that night in Korea? … We just went to a karaoke bar and that’s all that happened, right?”

Holzwarth notified Uber’s head of public policy and PR, Rachel Whetstone, who in turn notified former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who is now conducting an internal investigation over sex harassment complaints at Uber.

In a text-message exchange shortly thereafter, Kalanick denied any knowledge of Michael’s approach to Holzwarth. A day later, Kalanick sent another message to Holzwarth, asking how she was doing.

After Holzwarth said, “I can’t speak to you anymore,” Kalanick said he didn’t understand why, according to the report, and that he was “going through a tough time and it’s really nice to talk to someone.”

>>> US Close Dow -0.22% S&P -0.10% Nasdaq +0.20% Russell +0.20%

Closing Market Summary: Stocks Open the Week Unscathed

Last week's health care hiccup fostered some bearish undertones on Monday morning, but investors were largely able to shake off the concerns to start the week unscathed. The Nasdaq settled 0.2% higher while the S&P 500 and the Dow finished with losses of 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

With health care reform in the rear-view mirror, lawmakers will now turn their attention to a major catalyst in the stock market's post-election rally--tax reform. However, tax reform may prove to be challenging for the GOP as House Republicans appear to be divided on the key issue of a border adjustment tax. For instance, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows is opposed to the idea of a penalty at the border while House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady believes it to be "a given" with any tax reform legislation.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a tax reform package is expected in August.

At the top of the day's sector standings was the health care space (+0.4%) as the demise of the American Health Care Act puts President Trump's pledge to lower drug prices into question. Biotech names saw relative strength on Monday, evidenced by the 1.1% increase in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 293.14, +3.08).

The technology (+0.1%), materials (+0.3%), and consumer discretionary (unch) groups also settled in positive territory. Large-cap tech names like Apple (AAPL 140.88, +0.24), Microsoft (MSFT 65.10, +0.12), Alphabet (GOOGL 838.51, +3.37), and Intel (INTC 35.39, +0.23) underpinned the top-weighted tech group's outperformance.

It's worth noting that today's uptick extends Apple's year-to-date gain to 21.6%. The tech giant has seemingly acted as a safe haven for investors looking for a place to park their money amid the stock market's recent sideways trend.

On the flip side, the lightly-weighted real estate (-0.6%) and telecom services (-0.7%) sectors settled at the bottom of the day's leaderboard while the remaining groups--financials, industrials, energy, consumer staples, and utilities--finished with losses between 0.1% and 0.5%.

In the Treasury market, U.S. sovereign debt settled in positive territory in a curve-flattening trade. The 10-yr yield (2.37%) finished four basis points lower while the 2-yr yield (1.25%) closed only one basis point below its unchanged mark.

Meanwhile, in the currency market, the U.S. Dollar Index (99.03, -0.56) finished lower by 0.6%.

Investors did not receive any economic data on Monday. A handful of reports will be released on Tuesday, including February Advanced International Trade in Goods (consensus -$66.1 billion) and Advanced Wholesale Inventories (consensus 0.2%) at 8:30 ET, January S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (consensus 5.6%) at 9:00 ET, and March Consumer Confidence (Briefing.com consensus 113.3) at 10:00 ET.

  • Nasdaq Composite +8.5% YTD
  • S&P 500 +4.6% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.0% YTD
  • Russell 2000 UNCH YTD

>>> MightyTV acquired by Spotify

MightyTV acquired by Spotify

MightyTV, the New York-based video streaming app that can be customized to personal preferences, has been acquired by Spotify, the London, UK-based digital music service that gives users access to millions of songs, for an undisclosed sum.
According to a news release today on the buyer's website, Brian Adams, MightyTV's founder and CEO, will join Spotify as the vice president of technology.

Press release:
Today we are pleased to welcome the team from MightyTV to Spotify. The company is led by Founder/CEO Brian Adams who will be joining Spotify as VP of Technology, focusing on advertising and marketing technology solutions. Brian will use his vast knowledge of programmatic advertising and personalized recommendations to further develop Spotify’s advertising products, as well as our own marketing technology platforms.
“The content recommendation system MightyTV has built is incredibly aligned with how we think about advertising technology and marketing personalization,” said Jason Richman, VP of Product at Spotify. “Brian and his team will help us continue to innovate on free monetization and extend our leadership position in programmatic audio.”
“Spotify has built the leading marketplace for fans and creators,” said Brian. “It’s an enormous opportunity for me and the team to help create native brand experiences that stay true to a product that millions love.”
Brian is an entrepreneur and product innovator in both the ad-tech and consumer spaces. In 2007 he founded Admeld, a publisher monetization platform that was sold to Google in 2011. Brian then joined Google to run the Doubleclick Publisher Platform before leaving to found MightyTV in 2015.
The MightyTV team will be based in Spotify’s New York City, Toronto and Stockholm offices.

>>> Mobileye not working with Goldman

Mobileye not working with Goldman, sources say
MergerMarket
Mobileye [NYSE:MBLY] has not engaged Goldman Sachs as a financial advisor following its recent USD 15.3bn deal with Intel [NASDAQ:INTC], according to a source and person familiar with the matter.
Intel announced plans earlier this month to acquire the Israeli-based developer of driverless car camera technology for USD 63.54 per share, a 34% premium to Mobileeye’s closing price before the announcement.
In its deal announcement, Mobileye named Raymond James as its sole financial advisor, a major coup for the middle market-focused investment bank.
The New York Post earlier reported that Mobileye had engaged Goldman Sachs as an additional financial advisor as a thank-you for the investment bank’s past help providing funding to the company. The appointment was made during the past few days, the report said.
However, the source and the person familiar said there is no signed engagement letter between Mobileye and Goldman Sachs. The source said there is no plan to bring on Goldman but cautioned the situation could change.
The Mobileye merger agreement states that Raymond James is the sole investment bank working on the deal and only financial advisor entitled to fees.
Goldman Sachs and Mobileye declined to comment. Intel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mobileye’s merger agreement with Intel does not carry a termination fee in the event a rival bidder emerges, though any alternative proposal must be at least 10% above Intel’s bid. The company’s founders have signed support agreements to back the deal.

WSJ : Elon Musk Launches Neuralink to Connect Brains With Computers

Elon Musk Launches Neuralink to Connect Brains With Computers
Startup from CEO of Tesla and SpaceX aims to implant tiny electrodes in human brains

Building a mass-market electric vehicle and colonizing Mars aren’t ambitious enough for Elon Musk. The billionaire entrepreneur now wants to merge computers with human brains to help people keep up with machines.

The founder and chief executive of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has launched another company called Neuralink Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. Neuralink is pursuing what Mr. Musk calls “neural lace” technology, implanting tiny brain electrodes that may one day upload and download thoughts.

Mr. Musk has taken an active role setting up the California-based company and may play a significant leadership role, according to people briefed on Neuralink’s plans, a bold step for a father of five who already runs two technologically complex businesses.


Mr. Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment. Max Hodak, who said he is a “member of the founding team,” confirmed the company’s existence and Mr. Musk’s involvement. He described the company as “embryonic” and said plans are still in flux but declined to provide additional details. Mr. Hodak previously founded Transcriptic, a startup that provides robotic lab services accessible over the internet.

Mr. Musk, 45 years old, is part businessman, part futurist. He splits his time between Tesla, which is under pressure to deliver its $35,000 sedan on time, and SpaceX, which aims to launch a satellite-internet business and a rocket that can bring humans to Mars. He is also pushing development of a super high-speed train called Hyperloop.

Somewhere in his packed schedule, he has found time to start a neuroscience company that plans to develop cranial computers, most likely to treat intractable brain diseases first, but later to help humanity avoid subjugation at the hands of intelligent machines.

“If you assume any rate of advancement in [artificial intelligence], we will be left behind by a lot,” he said at a conference last June.

The solution he proposed was a “direct cortical interface”—essentially a layer of artificial intelligence inside the brain—that could enable humans to reach higher levels of function.

Mr. Musk has teased that he is developing the technology himself. “Making progress [on neural lace],” he tweeted last August, “maybe something to announce in a few months.” In January he tweeted that an announcement might be coming shortly.

He hasn’t made an official announcement, but Neuralink registered in California as a “medical research” company last July.

Mr. Musk has discussed financing Neuralink primarily himself, including with capital borrowed against equity in his other companies, according to a person briefed on the plans.

Neuralink has also discussed a possible investment from Founders Fund, the venture firm started by Peter Thiel, with whom Mr. Musk co-founded payments company PayPal, according to people familiar with the matter.


In recent weeks, Neuralink hired leading academics in the field, according to another person familiar with the matter. They include Vanessa Tolosa, an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an expert in flexible electrodes; Philip Sabes, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco, who studies how the brain controls movement; and Timothy Gardner, a professor at Boston University who is known for implanting tiny electrodes in the brains of finches to study how the birds sing.

Reached by phone, Dr. Gardner confirmed he is working for Neuralink, but declined to elaborate on its plans. Dr. Sabes declined to comment. Dr. Tolosa didn't respond to a request for comment.

It is unclear what sorts of products Neuralink might create, but people who have had discussions with the company describe a strategy similar to SpaceX and Tesla, where Mr. Musk developed new rocket and electric-car technologies, proved they work, and is now using them to pursue more ambitious projects.

These people say the first products could be advanced implants to treat intractable brain disorders like epilepsy or major depression, a market worth billions of dollars. Such implants would build on simpler electrodes already used to treat brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

If Neuralink can prove the safety and efficacy of its technology and receive government approval, perhaps it then could move on to cosmetic brain surgeries to enhance cognitive function, these people say. Mr. Musk alluded to this possibility in his comments last June, describing how humans struggle to process and generate information as quickly as they absorb it.

“Your output level is so low, particularly on a phone, your two thumbs just tapping away,” he said. “This is ridiculously slow. Our input is much better because we have a high bandwidth visual interface into the brain. Our eyes take in a lot of data.”

Others pursuing the idea include Bryan Johnson, the founder of online payments company Braintree, who plans to pump $100 million into a startup called Kernel, which has 20 people and is pursuing a similar mission.

Mr. Johnson said he has spoken to Mr. Musk and that both companies want to build better neural interfaces, first to attack big diseases, and then to expand human potential.

Facebook Inc. has posted job ads for “brain-computer interface engineers” and other neuroscientists at its new secret projects division. And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing $60 million over four years to develop implantable neural interface technology.

The technology faces several barriers. Scientists must find a safe, minimally invasive way to implant the electrodes, and a way to keep them stable in the brain. It also isn’t yet possible to record the activity of millions of the brain’s neurons to decode complex decisions, or distinguish when someone wants to eat a bowl of spaghetti or go to the bathroom.

Then there is persuading people to get elective brain surgery.

In comments published by Vanity Fair on Sunday, Mr. Musk said “for a meaningful partial-brain interface, I think we’re roughly four or five years away.”

If Mr. Musk indeed takes an active leadership role at Neuralink, that would raise more questions about his own personal bandwidth.

Tesla is building the largest battery factory on the planet to supply its forthcoming Model 3 electric vehicle, and it will need to produce hundreds of thousands of cars to meet its goal and justify its lofty market capitalization, which is approaching that of Ford Motor Co.
SpaceX has struggled to launch rockets fast enough to send satellites into orbit for its customers. Ultimately it wants to launch an internet-access business powered by more than 4,000 low-earth orbiting satellites, ferry space tourists to the moon and then bring astronauts to Mars.

Even so, Mr. Musk has proved many naysayers wrong. Traditional auto makers said he could never sell a popular electric car. Military-industrial graybeards scoffed at the idea he could even launch a rocket.

WSJ : Trump Son-in-Law Jared Kushner Met Chief of Sanctioned Russian Bank

Trump Son-in-Law Jared Kushner Met Chief of Sanctioned Russian Bank
President’s adviser agrees to meet Senate panel probing Moscow’s alleged election meddling

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met during the White House transition with the head of a state-run Russian bank that is on a U.S. sanctions list, White House officials said.

Mr. Kushner has been asked to discuss the contact, and a meeting during the same period with the Russian ambassador, with a Senate committee probing Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, according to White House and congressional officials.

Mr. Kushner, who is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and holds the title of senior adviser to the president, has agreed to speak to the panel, the first White House official to do so.

White House officials said Mr. Kushner met in December with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak and Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser, who resigned last month after it was disclosed he misled White House officials about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

Mr. Kushner subsequently had an aide, Avraham Berkowitz, take another meeting requested by Mr. Kislyak, according to White House officials. During that meeting Mr. Kislyak sought to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kushner and Sergei Gorkov, the head of Vneshekonombank, or VEB, which later took place, the officials said.

The Russian development bank was slapped with sanctions in 2014 by the U.S. on a number of entities and individuals operating in Russia’s economy following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. The Treasury Department sanctions ban specified financial contacts with the bank and others on the list.

VEB said its leadership met with representatives from top world financial institutions in Europe, Asia and the U.S. throughout 2016 while developing a new strategy for the bank. “The meetings took place in the format of a roadshow for Vneshekonombank’s 2021 strategy with representatives from major banks and business circles in the U.S., including the head of Kushner Companies, Jared Kushner,” the bank said.

A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D., Va.) said they expected Mr. Kushner “to be able to provide answers to key questions that have arisen in our inquiry.” The committee leaders said the timing of the testimony had yet to be determined.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr. Kushner’s meetings were part of his role during the transition as the “primary point of contact with foreign government officials.” He said Mr. Kushner had volunteered to speak with the Senate committee.


Mr. Kushner on Monday was named to oversee the new White House Office of American Innovation, which is tasked with replicating private-sector efficiency inside the federal government.

The Senate and House intelligence committees are running separate but parallel investigations into the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia ran a campaign designed to help Mr. Trump win last year’s presidential election. The New York Times first reported that Mr. Kushner, a former newspaper publisher and real-estate developer, would meet the Senate panel.

The Russian campaign, according to U.S. intelligence officials, included cyberattacks on the email accounts of senior Democrats and a propaganda effort aimed at demonizing Mr. Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Russian government denies the allegation. The White House said the Trump campaign didn’t collude with any alleged Russian meddling.

The congressional panels have sought testimony from a string of former Trump aides and associates in connection with the investigation. On Friday, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes said Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort would appear before his panel. Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, said he “would eagerly welcome the chance to speak with the committee to help finally set the record straight.” Roger Stone, a GOP operative who has advised Mr. Trump, also said he is willing to appear before the committee.

VEB, which has been used to finance political projects such as the Sochi Olympics development, recently became embroiled in a spy scandal, with federal prosecutors accusing one of its top New York executives of operating as a spy under nonofficial cover.

The No. 2 employee at VEB’s New York office, Evgeny Buryakov, pleaded guilty in March 2016 to conspiring to act in the U.S. as a Russian agent without providing prior notice to the U.S. attorney general. Federal prosecutors had accused him and two others of spying in New York for the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency. Mr. Buryakov was sentenced in May to 30 months in U.S. prison for conspiring to work for Russian intelligence.

Mr. Gorkov, the bank’s chairman, graduated in 1994 from the Academy of the Federal Security Service of Russia, a school for intelligence officials. He later worked for the now-defunct Russian oil giant Yukos and state-controlled Sberbank before taking the top job at VEB.

The plunge in oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis have pushed the bank into financial trouble, forcing the Russian government to undertake a bailout.