Aurelia Butler

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sotheby’s will pay $6.25 million and adopt reforms to settle New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing the famed auction house of fraudulently helping clients avoid sales taxes on tens of millions of dollars of art purchases.Thursday’s settlement resolves claims that Sotheby’s let at least eight clients cheat New York state from 2010 to 2020 by using “resale certificates” that falsely portrayed them as art dealers entitled to tax exemptions, instead of art collectors.James said Sotheby’s accepted certificates from one client, a contemporary art enthusiast, who spent more than $27 million on works by artists like painter Jean-Michel Basquiat and sculptor Anish Kapoor, despite knowing he was a collector.She said some employees even helped the unnamed client display works at his home, or admired them on the walls. The $6.25 million includes damages, penalties and legal costs.”Sotheby’s intentionally broke the law,” James said in a statement. “Every person and company in New York knows they are required to pay taxes, and when people break the rules, we all lose out.”The New York-based auction house did not admit or deny wrongdoing, and said it settled to avoid the time, expense and distraction of litigation.Sotheby’s reforms include a new policy on resale certificates and improved employee training to determine whether art purchasers are planning resales.James had sued Sotheby’s in November 2020, seeking damages and civil penalties for violating the state’s False Claims Act.The unnamed client’s company, Porsal Equities, had agreed in 2018 to pay $10.75 million to resolve related New York claims over its use of resale certificates. In a statement, Sotheby’s said it “remains committed to full compliance with all applicable law.” It also said it provided much of the evidence that led to the Porsal settlement. More

The deal would have brought six brands under one roof: Tapestry (NYSE:TPR)’s Coach , Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman; and Capri’s Versace, Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors. But regulators sued to block the deal earlier this year, citing anti-competition concerns.Capri shares were down nearly 6% in premarket trading on Thursday. They have lost nearly half of their value since a U.S. judge blocked the deal late last month. Tapestry’s stock, on the other hand, was up 6%, as the company also announced a $2 billion share buy back.The merger was blocked last month after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) argued that it would eliminate head-to-head competition between the top two handbag makers and create a massive company with the power to unfairly raise prices.The companies said on Thursday they mutually agreed that ending the merger agreement was in their best interest, as the outcome of the legal process was uncertain and unlikely to be resolved by Feb. 10, the deal deadline.”We have always had multiple paths to growth and our decision today clarifies the forward strategy,” Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat said.The company said it does not expect any acquisitions in the near term and has agreed to reimburse Capri’s expenses of about $45 million, incurred in connection with the merger.Tapestry, which halted its merger plans last week as it appealed the U.S. judge’s decision, has raised its 2025 profit forecast after posting strong quarterly results.Capri, on the other hand, has reported several straight quarters of sales decline since the deal was announced in August last year. More

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BENGALURU (Reuters) – The euro zone economy will be hit with tariffs from the incoming U.S. Trump administration early next year, according to a majority of economists polled by Reuters, all but ensuring a series of interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank. President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed across-the-board tariffs will have a significant effect on the euro zone economy over the coming two to three years, according to a strong majority of economists polled. They have also raised the risks of reflation in the U.S.”Many questions are unresolved, but for now the signs are for weaker growth, more likely disinflation and lower ECB policy rates,” said Greg Fuzesi, euro area economist at J.P. Morgan.”The threatened tariffs would be much bigger this time round and could come at any time,” he said. Nearly 85% of economists surveyed Nov. 8-14, 37 of 44, expected Trump’s proposed tariffs – a 10% universal levy on imports from all foreign countries and 60% on Chinese imports – to be implemented early next year.About the same proportion, 34 of 39, said the tariffs would significantly impact the euro zone economy in the coming years.Since Trump’s U.S. election victory last week, market pricing has swiftly changed towards fewer U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts and more ECB reductions.Some ECB officials have shared similar concerns. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel recently said the tariffs, if implemented, could cost Germany 1% in economic output and it “could even slip into negative territory.”Markets are now pricing around 150bps of ECB rate cuts between now and end-2025 against only around 75bps of Fed reductions, suggesting further challenges for the euro, which has dropped nearly 4% against the dollar since the election.Most economists in the Reuters poll predicted a total of at least 125bps in reductions from the ECB by end-2025, only a bit shallower than market pricing.Over 90% of economists, 69 of 75, forecast the ECB would lower its deposit rate by 25bps for the third consecutive meeting in December, with nearly 70%, 51, predicting two more cuts next quarter, bringing it to 2.50%.While many downgraded their 2025 forecast, poll medians still expect the economy will grow 1.2% in 2025 and 1.4% in 2026, unchanged from last month. That suggests there are further downside risks to those numbers. “There are a wide range of sub-scenarios which include a global rise in tariffs between the U.S., EU and China and a sharp increase in uncertainty around global protectionism is certainly significant,” said Henry Cook, senior economist at MUFG, who estimates a 0.4 percentage point hit to euro zone growth next year.Inflation, at the 2.0% ECB target last month, will average 2.2% this quarter but return to target next quarter. It is forecast to be around there through 2027.Nearly 70% of economists, 43 of 63, expected the deposit rate to be 2.00% or lower by the end of next year, a bigger majority than the 60% who said this in October. Among 44 common contributors in the two polls, 43% of economists, 19, downgraded their end-2025 rate forecasts.The ECB doesn’t have an estimate for the neutral rate, which neither restrains nor stimulates the economy, but a staff-published paper earlier this year showed a real rate of around zero – or about 2% in nominal terms – when adjusted for inflation.”Rather than the ECB policy rate returning to neutral in mid-2025 we now see the rate falling moderately below neutral by end-2025,” said Mark Wall, chief Europe economist at Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn).”The rationale in part relates to the prospect of U.S. tariffs under a new Trump administration and in part a weaker underlying macro performance and the emerging threat of below-target inflation.”(Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll) More

The deal allows Merck (NS:PROR) to take over development of LaNova’s LM-299, a drug candidate targeting a protein called PD-1, which prevents the immune system from killing cancerous cells. It also curbs levels of another protein called VEGF, which can encourage tumor growth if found in excess.Under the agreement, Merck will pay $588 million upfront to LaNova. The Chinese company is also eligible to receive up to $2.7 billion in milestone payments. More