Aurelia Butler

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A longtime executive for Donald Trump is expected to be sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail after being sentenced on Tuesday for helping engineer a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the former president’s real estate company.Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, pleaded guilty in August, admitting that from 2005 to 2017 he and other executives received bonuses and perks that saved the company and themselves money.Weisselberg is expected to be sentenced to five months behind bars, after paying nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest and testifying at the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, which was convicted on all counts it faced.The sentence will be imposed by Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial in a New York state court in Manhattan. Weisselberg would likely serve 100 days with time off for good behavior.Those days will probably not be easy for Weisselberg, 75, at a jail known for violence, drugs and corruption. Nineteen inmates there died last year. “You’re going into a byzantine black hole,” said Craig Rothfeld, a prison consultant helping Weisselberg prepare for lockup.50-YEAR RELATIONSHIPMany convicts in New York City facing one year or less behind bars head to Rikers Island, which lies between the New York City boroughs of Queens and the Bronx and houses more than 5,900 inmates.Rothfeld spent more than five weeks at Rikers in 2015 and 2016 as part of an 18-month sentence for defrauding investors and tax authorities when he was chief executive of the now-defunct WJB Capital Group Inc. He now runs Inside Outside Ltd, which advises people facing incarceration. Another client is Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood movie producer convicted twice of rape.After being sentenced, Weisselberg will likely be driven to Rikers and trade his street clothes for a uniform and sneakers with velcro straps.Rothfeld said he hopes Weisselberg will be segregated from the general population, and not placed in a dorm with inmates who may not know him but will know his boss, who is seeking the presidency in 2024.”Certainly Mr. Weisselberg’s 50-year relationship with the former president is on all our minds,” Rothfeld said.A spokesman for the city’s Department of Correction said the agency’s mission is “to create a safe and supportive environment for everyone who enters our custody.”Rikers is scheduled to close in 2027.STAR WITNESSWeisselberg was the star government witness against his employer.He told jurors that Trump signed bonus and tuition checks, and other documents at the heart of prosecutors’ case, but was not in on the tax fraud scheme.Though no longer CFO, Weisselberg remains on paid leave from the Trump Organization. He testified in November that he hoped to get a $500,000 bonus this month.Weisselberg testified that the company is paying his lawyers. It is paying Rothfeld as well, a person familiar with the matter said. Rothfeld declined to comment.Trump was not charged and has denied wrongdoing. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is still investigating his business practices.Merchan will also sentence the Trump Organization on Friday. Penalties are limited to $1.6 million.Weisselberg remains a defendant in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil lawsuit alleging that Trump and his company inflated asset values and Trump’s net worth.Rothfeld said he advised Weisselberg not to go outside at Rikers because of the risk of violence in courtyards, and not to interject himself into conversations between other inmates. “The goal is to keep to yourself,” Rothfeld said. More

Investing.com — Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak, amid growing signs of openness to smaller rate hikes going forward this year. Brazil arrests hundreds more of Jair Bolsonaro’s followers after their unsuccessful attempt to overturn last year’s presidential election at the weekend. Stocks are set to open lower, with financials and chipmakers under pressure after a couple of disappointing updates from Jefferies and TSMC. And oil prices drift ahead of U.S. inventory data and the government’s latest update on the oil market.1. Powell to speak as hope for smaller rate hikes wins supportFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gets the chance to add his support to an idea that’s gaining supporters by the day: namely, that the Fed’s next interest rate hike should be only 25 basis points.San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told a Wall Street Journal event on Monday that there was a case for returning to the smaller steps that the Fed has preferred to use since the 2008 crisis, given signs that the overheating in the labor market is starting to cool down a little.Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic had struck a more hawkish tone in a separate speech on Monday, saying that the fed funds rate should go to 5.25% by the second quarter and then stay there for “a long time.”Powell’s speech, in a conference that also boasts appearances by the Governors of the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan as well as ECB board member Isabel Schnabel, is set for 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT).2. Brazil widens crackdown on Bolsonarista riotersBrazilian police detained hundreds more supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro after their attempt to storm the government district in the capital Brasília on Sunday.More than 1,500 have now been arrested in the wake of the violence, which was the worst in the country since it returned to democratic rule in 1985. The Governor of the province of Brasília has been removed from office after failing to prevent it.President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, who was inaugurated as President just over a week ago, renewed his criticism of his right-wing predecessor, who he said was still encouraging such actions on social media. The authorities have already shut down many other social media profiles that they accuse of spreading anti-democratic content.Brazilian assets had held up relatively well on Monday on assumptions that Lula will be able to restore order relatively quickly. The Bovespa index eked out a small gain, while the real weakened only marginally.3. Stocks set to open lower; Jefferies disappointment puts Wall Street in focusU.S. stock markets are set to open lower after Monday’s reversal left the main cash indices mixed on the day. Comments from the Fed’s Bostic and Daly came as a reminder that the central bank isn’t in a hurry to stop its tightening cycle.By 06:25 ET, Dow Jones futures were down 99 points or 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were each down by around 0.2%.Wall Street’s blue bloods are likely to be in focus later after Jefferies reported a slump in dealmaking activity in the last quarter of the year which sent its stock down 2.0% in premarket. Also in focus will be Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY), which reports fourth quarter numbers only days after warning that it may have to file for bankruptcy. Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) is also under pressure after its maiden launch attempt from the U.K. failed.Oil tanker company Frontline (NYSE:FRO), by contrast, is expected to open up around 20% after abandoning its contested takeover for rival Euronav (NYSE:EURN).4. TSMC misses on sales, substitution fears hit other chipmakersThere’s also action afoot in the chipmaking sector after Bloomberg reported that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) intends to replace Broadcom’s cellular modem chips with an in-house design by 2025.The news pushed Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) to extend Monday’s losses in premarket, and also raised doubts as to how far Apple could substitute inputs from other suppliers.Separately, the world’s biggest contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) said revenue fell around 2% short of expectations in the fourth quarter, hurt by – among other things – disruption to Foxconn’s (TW:2354) iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China in November and December.The news added to fears that the semiconductor cycle is turning, following on from weak results out of Samsung (KS:005930) last week.5. Oil steadies ahead of STEO, API dataCrude oil prices steadied after their rally at the start of the week, supported by data showing strong fuel demand in India, which came on top of some aggressive buying signals from China, the world’s biggest importer, on Monday.By 06:40 ET, U.S. crude futures were up 0.6% at $75.05 a barrel, while Brent crude was up 0.4% at $79.98 a barrel, finding it hard to hold above the $80 level.Later in the session, the American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly inventory data, while the U.S. government will publish its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. The U.S. market is overshadowed by uncertainty over how quickly and at what price the Strategic Petroleum Reserve can be refilled. So far, sellers are refusing to come down to the government’s perceived bid level of around $70. More

The ECB has been looking to support the economy’s green transition but an unexpected surge in inflation along with rising interest rates may have thrown a spanner in the works.The central bank was meant to tilt its corporate bond holdings towards greener assets via fresh purchases but bond buys have now been stopped and not even all expiring debt will be reinvested, so ECB efforts have lost much of their punch, Schnabel, the head of the ECB’s markets operations, said. “We therefore need to move from a flow-based to a stock-based tilting approach for our corporate bond portfolio,” she told an event organised by the Swedish Riksbank in Stockholm. “This means that, absent any reinvestments, actively reshuffling the portfolio towards greener issuers would need to be considered.”She drew immediate pushback from fellow ECB policymaker Pierre Wunsch, who said at the same event it was governments’ job to fight climate change and the ECB shouldn’t be correcting others’ failure to act.”By saying we have a role to play in helping to finance the green transition… we are increasing this misunderstanding of what our role is,” Wunsch, Belgium’s central bank governor, said.Schnabel said the ECB also needed to rethink how it tilts public sector bonds, which make up half of its 8 trillion euro ($8.59 trillion) balance sheet.She cited two options: buying more bonds from international agencies or reshuffling government bond holdings in favour of greener bonds, as states expand their supply of green bonds – debt issued to finance environmentally friendly projects – over time.But Schnabel rejected the argument that sharply higher interests rates are actually thwarting the green transition by making investments more expensive.She said that inaction by the ECB now would force the bank to take more aggressive action later, at a greater cost to both the broader economy and climate-friendly sectors. “We judge that interest rates will still have to rise significantly at a steady pace to reach levels that are sufficiently restrictive to ensure a timely return of inflation to our 2% medium-term target,” she said. “Failing to arrest high inflation in a timely manner would jeopardise the green transition more fundamentally.”($1 = 0.9316 euros) More

The White House is facing calls to expel Jair Bolsonaro from the US following riots that saw supporters of Brazil’s former president raid the country’s Congress, supreme court and presidential palace.Bolsonaro, who has previously questioned the results of October’s election, has been staying in self-imposed exile in Florida for the past two weeks. He was admitted to hospital yesterday for observation due to “abdominal discomfort”, according to his wife Michelle.Meanwhile, in Brazil police yesterday began dismantling dozens of anti-government protest camps that had been erected following Bolsonaro’s election defeat. Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo chanted “No amnesty! No amnesty! No amnesty!” as they demanded retribution for the former president. Several Democratic lawmakers in the US, including Joaquin Castro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Bolsonaro to be removed from the country and returned to Brazil.National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US had not received any official requests from Brazil’s government about Bolsonaro’s status in the country, but added that if it did, “we’d treat them seriously”.Opinion: New president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva needs to resist narrow dogma, govern for the broad majority of Brazilians and try to bring together a deeply divided nation, the FT editorial board says. Five more stories in the news1. Potentially classified documents discovered at Biden think-tank office The White House said it was co-operating with the US Department of Justice and the National Archives after the discovery of potentially classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice-president at a think-tank office in Washington.2. UK and EU make breakthrough on Northern Ireland London and Brussels have secured a breakthrough in the corrosive dispute over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading relations, clearing the way for a new push to resolve the longstanding issue.3. Virgin Orbit rocket fails to reach orbit A historic attempt to launch the first commercial satellites from western Europe failed last night when Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket suffered an “anomaly” that prevented it from reaching orbit. Shares in Nasdaq-listed Virgin Orbit fell more than 20 per cent in pre-market trading this morning following the setback in Cornwall, England.4. Morgan Stanley CEO contender to depart Morgan Stanley chief operating officer Jonathan Pruzan, a leading contender to become the bank’s next chief executive, has decided to leave at the end of this month. Internally the all-male list of candidates to replace current chief executive James Gorman is referred to as the “four horsemen”.5. US greenhouse gas emissions rose again in 2022 The US has fallen further behind its Paris climate agreement targets after emissions increased by 1.3 per cent last year, according to preliminary estimates by environmental consultancy Rhodium Group, despite the passage of sweeping clean energy legislation last year.The day ahead ‘Three amigos’ summit US president Joe Biden, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau meet today in Mexico City for a trilateral summit to discuss security, climate change, migration and economic integration. Monetary policy US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell will be one of many central bank policymakers to appear at an event hosted by Sweden’s Riksbank. His counterpart at the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, will also appear at the same event as will governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey and Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda.Company earnings Investors will be watching for a potential bankruptcy declaration from Bed Bath & Beyond, which is scheduled to report results this morning, having warned last week that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Supreme Court The court will hear oral arguments on whether unions are legally protected when destroying employers’ property amid labour disputes. The case involves a Seattle concrete company which sued its local Teamster union after some cement hardened when workers went on strike.Martin Wolf will be joined online by other leading thinkers at an event to promote his new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, on January 31 for a subscriber-exclusive event. Register for free here. What else we’re reading Xi Jinping’s plan to reset China Amid a chaotic exit from Covid-19 lockdowns, Beijing is looking to reduce its international isolation and boost its growth rate. The motivation behind the reset: a confluence of economic, social and foreign policy stresses that have reached critical levels, say Chinese officials and government advisers.Joe Biden’s claim to presidential greatness Like Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, Joe Biden is an underestimated former vice-president who is excelling in the Oval Office. Though a second term may seem a stretch, don’t bet against him, writes Gideon Rachman.Western allies assess tank coalition for Ukraine Britain has become the first western country to consider providing Kyiv with heavy battle tanks. Ammunition stocks for Ukraine’s Soviet-era fleet are running low and its allies are racing to build a coalition to supply modern tanks to fend off a possible renewed Russian offensive later this year.TikTok undercuts rivals with cheap ads An increasing amount of ad spend is moving away from Twitter and Meta to TikTok, as the social media platform offers lower rates and better engagement than its rivals, advertisers say, setting up a battle for growth amid a slowdown in online spending.New York’s legal cannabis market tries to avoid a bad comedown New York has set aside 150 coveted licences for those with previous cannabis-related legal convictions. The idea is to share the bounty of a legal cannabis industry with those who bore the brunt of the government’s war on drugs. Will it work? Take a break from the news Who is the Peruvian novelist and playwright who won the Nobel Literature Prize in 2010? Give 1-down a try in our crossword puzzle. More