He Blew the Whistle on a Silicon Valley Highflier. Then Came the Blowback

Francisco Riordan says he helped expose Rothenberg Ventures to the SEC. It’s a touchy subject in job interviews. read more »

Senators criticize visa program pushed by Jared Kushner’s sister in China

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Monday said that an effort by the sister of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner to offer U.S. visas to Chinese investors is a “stark conflict of interest” and called for the program’s elimination.

Nicole Kushner Meyer on Saturday appeared at an event urging Chinese citizens to invest $500,000 each in a New Jersey luxury apartment building that her company plans to develop. Jared Kushner previously oversaw the project until he left the company earlier this year to be a senior adviser to President Trump.

Meyer’s connection to Kushner was mentioned during the sales pitch, and the company on Sunday said it “apologizes if that mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors.” read more »

Fyre Festival $100 Million Lawsuit Targets Investors Behind the Scenes

Lawyers suing over the Bahamas disaster call the app maker’s $90 million valuation “untethered” to reality.

Before the now-infamous Fyre Festival collapsed a few weeks back, the company behind it—maker of a mobile phone app you can use to hire entertainers for your club, concert, or party—said it was worth $90 million, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.

Fyre Media Inc. faces a half-dozen lawsuits from less-than-satisfied customers over the disastrous music event in the Bahamas. Now that the fallout is beginning to land in court, details are coming out about the company behind it.

A term sheet dated March 21 described the particulars of a proposed $10.5 million investment in Fyre by Comcast Ventures, the investment arm of media giant Comcast Corp. In exchange for the money, Comcast was to get a 10 percent stake, according to the document. An additional $4.5 million from new and existing investors would flow into the tech startup, too, the term sheet stated. But the deal fell through. Though Comcast had considered investing as much as $25 million, it eventually backed away entirely during the due diligence process, according to a person with knowledge of it who requested anonymity. A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment on the term sheet. read more »

Third Detroit-Area Physician Convicted in $17.1 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

A third Detroit-area physician was convicted today for his role in a $17 million Medicare fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary physician visits. read more »

Dodge City medical supplier to pay $1 million to settle false claims allegations

A Dodge City medical equipment supplier has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations it submitted false claims to the Medicare program, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Monday.

Pos-T-Vac, Inc., a medical equipment supplier in Dodge City that sells vacuum products used to treat erectile dysfunction, has agreed to pay the U.S. government $1 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by improperly charging Medicare for durable medical supplies. read more »

What’s it like to lose £350m? A rogue trader confesses

By investing in precarious deals and covering up his losses, Alexis Stenfors cost one of the world’s biggest banks a fortune.

In 2009, shortly after the global markets had suffered their worst crisis for 90 years, Alexis Stenfors was working as a currency trader for Merrill Lynch in London. With 15 years’ experience, he was good at his job and he prided himself on his ability to read the markets. His view was that the whole financial system was going to go “belly up”. That was what he was betting on.

And boy did he bet. He took increasingly extreme positions and when they failed to return dividends, he covered up losses in his trading books that he estimated to be around $100m (£78m). Then he went on holiday to India. Stenfors didn’t realise it at the time, but it was the end of his career as a trader, and the beginning of his notoriety as a rogue trader. Merrill Lynch later announced that his actions had resulted in the loss of $456m (£356m). read more »