Former chief operating officer of Ozy Media, Samir Rao,impersonated a YouTube executive using a voice-altering app during a call with Goldman Sachs to try and win a $35 million investment, Bloomberg reported this week.
Rao is testifying against Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson as part of a plea agreement. Watson is on trial in Brooklyn after being accused that he "conspired to defraud investors out of tens of millions of dollars".
Rao said that he and Watson conspired in February 2021 to pose as YouTube executive Alex Piper to try and win an investment from Goldman. The company collapsed shortly thereafter the impersonations were reported by The New York Times.
Rao said on the stand: “We decided that I would proceed and try and fake the reference call and pretend to be Alex. I was about to do something incredibly — incredibly fraudulent and illegal. I was now actually going to pretend to be somebody else.”
The Bloomberg report notes that e-mails and chat messages sent to jurors show Watson was across the room from Rao, directing him on what to say.
Goldman, however, reached out to Piper who then turned around to Rao and demanded an explanation. “‘What are you doing? Like, what’s going on with this? Like, why am I hearing there was a call?,”’ Rao testified that Piper said to him, according to the report.
Rao also explained how Goldman's Allison Berardo asked him about the call: “I tried to ask, you know, how was the reference call? How did it go? And I remember her saying some version of ‘Well, how do you think it went?’ And then she started to turn the call into a — almost an attempt to get me to confirm that I had impersonated Alex."
Rao continued: "She said ‘who really was on that call? Who was on that call, Samir?’ She said something like ‘I can help you walk out of this, I can help you walk back from this or get out of this, but you have to tell me the truth.”’
Rao and Watson then decided Rao would take the fall and attribute the decision to a "mental health" issue, in order to save Ozy.
“If the board or investors believed that Carlos was aware of what had happened and that it was his judgment that that was an acceptable course of action for me to impersonate Alex Piper, that would have probably ended the company right there,” he said.
“My ambition, my desire to be successful, my desire to be seen as tough enough or good enough to succeed in this world completely overtook my judgment and my moral compass.”
Rao is set to testify again when the trial, expected to run through July, continues on Friday.
On the surface, it was a blockbuster jobs report, certainly one whichnobody expected, with the two largest US banks - JPMorgan and JPM - both expecting a below-consensus print at 150K and 165K, respectively (wellwe did, and we said that the jobs print "will beat" shortly before it was published)
Starting at the top, the BLS reported that in May the US unexpectedly added a whopping 272K payrolls, not workers since the establishment survey double-counts multiple jobs even if held by the same employee, which was 50% higher than the consensus forecast of 180K and 14K more than the highest Wall Street estimate (258K from Regions Bank).
Expect a surge in groups classified as “far right” in the European Parliament elections June 6-9. In France, Macron’s party will get pummeled as will the Greens everywhere.
Image Wikipedia cropped to exclude minor political parties.
The European Parliament election kicks off on Thursday — have you heard? — and lasts until Sunday evening, when preliminary results will show what the European Union’s politics will look like for the coming five years.
With votes taking place in 27 countries and politicians from some 200 parties across Europe up for election, you’re forgiven if you miss a beat.
Some 373 million Europeans are eligible to vote. They will elect 720 representatives. That’s 15 more than last time, but less than the 751 MEPs who were in the Parliament before Brexit.
From 6 to 9 June, around 373 million eligible voters in the European Union will elect 720 new members to the European Parliament in the biggest transnational poll in history.
But the vote is likely to be profoundly shaped by domestic issues, despite the EU’s increasingly visible role in addressing common challenges such as security, defence, climate change, cost of living and migration.
The ballot is also set to take the political temperature across the bloc’s 27 countries at a critical juncture for Europe, with far-right forces on the rise while centrist parties see support stagnating in many parts of the continent.
France: Far-right sensation Bardella poised to crush Macron’s liberals
With a sharp social media strategy and polished performances in electoral debates, Bardella has tried to use his campaign to prepare the ground for what will likely be Le Pen’s last bid to become president in the upcoming 2027 vote.
It means a headache for President Emmanuel Macron’s and his liberal Renaissance party, which has progressively plummeted in the polls and could even finish third if socialist wildcard Raphaël Glucksmann sees a last-minute uptick in support.
Spain: Political debate deeply polarised amid amnesty and corruption rows
Less than seven months after he clinched a second term as Spain’s prime minister by striking a controversial amnesty deal with Catalan separatists, Pedro Sánchez’s socialists are trailing five seats behind the centre-right opposition according to Euronews’ Super Poll.
The far-right Vox party is on track to make small gains, with some polls predicting that another far-right challenger party, The Party’s Over (Se Acabó la Fiesta), could enter the European Parliament for the first time.
Italy: Giorgia Meloni eyes big gains at the expense of coalition partners
In a highly tactical move, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni is the only EU leader who has chosen to lead an electoral list as she aims to convert her domestic support into a strong outcome for her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
Under the campaign slogan ‘Con Giorgia, l’Italia cambia l’Europa’ (With Giorgia, Italy changes Europe), FdI is topping the Italian poll and is could secure an impressive 23 seats.
But the surge comes at the expense of Meloni’s governing partners in Rome: Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party is set to be the biggest loser of the night in Italy. After finishing first in the last EU election in 2019, Salvini’s party could come in fourth or even fifth this time.
The result could not only consolidate Meloni’s domestic power, but also cast her as the kingmaker in Brussels. She’s being courted by outgoing European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on the centre-right, who’s coveting Meloni’s support to secure a second term, as well as France’s Marine Le Pen on the far-right, who wants her backing to merge far-right powers to create a supergroup in the European Parliament.
Germany: Ruling coalition under pressure
As in many countries, the vote in Germany is being framed as a referendum on the country’s three-way ruling coalition of socialists, liberals and greens. All ruling parties could see their support stagnate or dip, with the Greens set to take the hardest hit as security and migration overtake climate among voters’ concerns.
The centre-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) stands head and shoulder above other contenders.
Further to the right, the embattled Alternative for Germany (AfD) is also set to see support rise, although much less than predicted earlier this year. The party’s lead candidate Maximilan Krah has been embroiled in an investigation into Chinese and Russian interference, and was recently banned from campaigning after making Nazi comments in the media. It prompted the AfD’s expulsion from its family in the European Parliament.
The anti-immigration far-left Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht party is also set to enter the European Parliament for the first time with as many as seven seats, as anti-migration AfD voters find a new political home on the extreme left.
Belgium: Far-right Flemish separatists set to deepen divides
The European election in Belgium will no doubt be overshadowed by simultaneous federal and regional elections considered pivotal for the future of the country.
The far-right Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party – which is openly advocating for Flanders’ secession and the division of the Belgian state – is currently predicted to win around 27% of the Flemish vote.
Vlaams Belang has been cordoned off in the past for its extreme stances, but the surge in its popularity will make the convention hard to uphold, particularly in Flanders.
A strong performance for Vlaams in the EU ballot will meanwhile bolster Europe’s hard-right camp. The party is calling for a fundamental reform of the European Union by watering down EU powers coincidentally concentrated in the Belgian capital of Brussels.
The article covers more countries but I will stop there to discuss an important question:
What Is the Far Right?
It is hard to say. In Poland it means support for Ukraine, except as applies to agricultural imports. Poland, Left and Right is hopping mad at grain imports from Ukraine hammering crop prices.
In France, Marine Le Pen has surged after dropping her plan to abandon the Euro. Nonetheless mainstream media still labels her Far Right because of her anti-immigration policies and because she does not support Ukraine.
In Italy, prime minister Giorgia Meloni is considered by many to be far right simply because of her anti-immigration stance.
I find it interesting that EuroNews labels Ursula von der Leyen “center right” despite the fact she currently wears a Green climate flag every day, figuratively speaking.
If she is center-right, it’s no wonder everything else looks far right. But it’s not just EuroNews with these labels. All US mainstream media likes to promote everything that isn’t Left as Far Right.
A Surge for the Far Right?
Yep, it’s coming, as labeled. But generally, only two things tie the Far Right together: immigration and anti-greenness.
Otherwise politics is local. So is Euroscepticism. Le Pen turned towards the center on that issue without going overboard like Meloni.
Can a coalition of the right plus the far right knock off Ursula von der Leyen?
From where I sit, I hope to say “Good Riddance”, but I doubt that happens. The far right won’t be a majority, but they will gain enough power to influence decisions.
Ursula will do whatever it takes to buy votes to stay in power. It’s the same in the US.
If she hangs onto power, expect Green policies to be watered down with a focus shift on China instead.
The election is underway. We will have results early next week.
The five criminal and civil prosecutions of former President Donald Trump all prompt heated denials from Democrats that President Joe Biden and Democrat operatives had a role in any of them.
But Biden has long let it be known that he was frustrated with his own Department of Justice’s federal prosecutors for their tardiness in indicting Trump.
Biden was upset because any delay might mean that his rival Trump would not be in federal court during the 2024 election cycle. And that would mean he could not be tagged as a “convicted felon” by the November election while being kept off the campaign trail.
Politico has long prided itself on its supposed insider knowledge of the workings of the Biden administration. Note that it was reported earlier this February that a frustrated Joe Biden “has grumbled to aides and advisers that had [Attorney General Merrick] Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded…”
If there was any doubt about the Biden administration’s effort to force Trump into court before November, Politico further dispelled it — even as it blamed Trump for Biden’s anger at Garland:
“That trial still could take place before the election and much of the delay is owed not to Garland but to deliberate resistance put up by the former president and his team.”
Note in passing how a presidential candidate’s legal right to oppose a politicized indictment months before an election by his opponent’s federal attorneys is smeared by Politico as “deliberate resistance.”
Given Politico was publicly reporting six months ago about Biden’s anger at the pace of his DOJ’s prosecution of Trump, does anyone believe his special counsel, Jack Smith, was not aware of such presidential displeasure and pressure?
Note Smith had petitioned and was denied an unusual request to the court to speed up the course of his Trump indictment.
And why would Biden’s own attorney general, Garland, select such an obvious partisan as Smith? Remember, in his last tenure as special counsel, Smith had previously gone after popular Republican and conservative Virginia governor Bob MacDonnell.
Yet Smith’s politicized persecution of the innocent McDonnell was reversed by a unanimous verdict of the U.S. Supreme Court. That rare court unanimity normally should have raised a red flag to the Biden DOJ about both Smith’s partiality and his incompetence.
But then again, Smith’s wife had donated to the 2020 Biden campaign fund. And she was previously known for producing a hagiographic 2020 documentary (“Becoming”) about Michelle Obama.
Selecting a special counsel with a successful record of prior nonpartisan convictions was clearly not why the DOJ appointed Smith.
The White House’s involvement is not limited to the Smith federal indictments.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s paramour and erstwhile lead prosecutor in her indictment of Trump, Nathan Wade, met twice with the White House counsel’s office. On one occasion, Wade met inside the Biden White House.
Subpoenaed records reveal that the brazen Wade actually billed the federal government for his time spent with the White House counsel’s staff — although so far no one has disclosed under oath the nature of such meetings.
Of the tens of thousands of local prosecutions each year, in how many instances does a county prosecutor consult with the White House counsel’s office — and then bill it for his knowledge?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s just-completed felony convictions of Trump were spearheaded by former prominent federal prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. He is not just a well-known Democratic partisan who served as a political consultant to the Democratic National Committee.
Colangelo had also just left his prior position in the Biden Justice Department — reputedly as Garland’s third-ranking prosecutor — to join the local Bragg team.
Again, among all the multitudes of annual municipal indictments nationwide, how many local prosecutors manage to enlist one of the nation’s three top federal attorneys to head their case?
So, apparently, it was not enough for the shameless Bragg to campaign flagrantly on promises to go after Trump. In addition, Bragg brashly drafted a top Democratic operative and political appointee from inside Joe Biden’s DOJ to head his prosecution.
Not surprisingly, it took only a few hours after the Colangelo-Bragg conviction of Trump for Biden on spec to start blasting his rival as a “convicted felon.” Biden is delighted that his own former prosecutor, a left-wing judge, and a Manhattan jury may well keep Trump off the campaign trail.
So, it is past time for the media and Democrats to drop this ridiculous ruse of the Biden White House’s “neutrality.” Instead, they should admit that they are terrified of the will of the people in November and so are conniving to silence them.
Ahead of the payrolls report, we commented that with both of the two largest banks - Goldman and JPMorgan - expecting a miss, it was only logical to expect a big beat...
... and sure enough moments ago the BLS reported that in May, the US added a whopping 272K jobs...
... up sharply from the (downward revised of course) April print of 165K (from 175), and not only a 4-sigma beat to the 180K median estimate..
... but also above the highest Wall street estimate which was 258K courtesy of Regions Bank, and which was 14K below the actual print.
Not surprisingly historical data was - as always - revised lower: March was revised down by 5,000, from +315,000 to +310,000, and the change for April was revised down by 10,000, from +175,000 to +165,000. With these revisions, employment in March and April combined is 15,000 lower than previously reported.
A digital nomad visa allows individuals to live and work remotely in a foreign country for an extended period, usually six months to a year. It’s often accessible to self-employed or remote workers employed by entities outside the host country.
--The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission struck a deal over the past week that allows them to proceed with antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia play in the artificial intelligence industry, and it's expected to be completed in the coming days, according to the New York Times, which cited two people with knowledge of the matter.
--The Justice Department will take the lead in investigating whether the behavior of chip maker Nvidia has violated antitrust laws, while the FTC will examine the conduct of OpenAI and Microsoft, according to the report.
--Spokeswomen for the FTC and the Justice Department declined to comment, according to the Times. Microsoft and OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, while a representative for Nvidia declined to comment, the New York Times said.
