Raphael Stevens

General Motors and LG Energy Solution have indefinitely shelved plans to build a fourth battery cell plant in the U.S.
The Detroit automaker is expected to continue with its plans to build the plant but is searching for another partner.
GM and LG initially announced the joint-venture for a $2.3 billion plant in Ohio in December 2019, followed by other plants near GM operations in Michigan and Tennessee.

GM CEO and Chairman Mary Barra and LG Chem Vice Chairman and CEO Hak-Cheol Shin at the automaker’s battery lab in Warren, Mich., where the companies announced a new $2.6-billion joint venture on Dec. 5, 2019.

DETROIT – General Motors and LG Energy Solution have indefinitely shelved plans to build a fourth battery cell plant in the U.S., as talks between the two sides recently ended without an agreement, a person familiar with the plans confirmed to CNBC.
The Detroit automaker is expected to continue with its plans to build the plant but is searching for another partner, according to the person who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

“We’ve been very clear that our plan includes investing in a fourth U.S. cell plant, but we’re not going to comment on speculation,” GM said Friday in an emailed statement.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday afternoon that talks had stalled between GM and LG in part because LG Energy executives in Korea were hesitant to commit to the project given the rapid pace of its recent investments with other automakers as well as the uncertain macroeconomic outlook. 
The paper, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plans, said GM is in discussions with at least one other battery supplier to proceed with the fourth U.S. battery-cell factory.
The breakdown in talks comes after GM CEO Mary Barra and other executives have said they’ve been close to announcing details of the fourth plant, which was expected to be built in Indiana, for some time.
GM and LG initially announced the joint-venture for a $2.3 billion plant in Ohio in December 2019, followed by other plants near GM operations in Michigan and Tennessee. Only the Ohio plant is currently operating, while the others are under construction. The joint venture is called Ultium Cells LLC.

A spokeswoman for Ultium referred questions to GM and LG Energy, which did not immediately respond for comment.
The relationship between GM and LG Energy is crucial to the automaker’s future plans for EVs, including topping Tesla and others to become the U.S. leader in all-electric vehicle sales. The Detroit automaker is expected to release a handful of new EVs this year, including mass-market vehicles such as the Equinox, Blazer and Silverado.
GM, in its Friday statement, said its second and third plants with LG are on track to open as scheduled in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The company also confirmed it is on track to hit 1 million EV production capacity annually in North America in 2025.

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A Florida nursing home owner whose 20-year prison sentence for a $1.3 billion Medicare fraud scheme was commuted by then-President Donald Trump in late 2020 has lost a federal court appeal.
Philip Esformes now appears headed for retrial on six health-care fraud charges that a jury previously deadlocked on.
Esformes had appealed his convictions for fraud, money laundering, and receiving illegal kickbacks, claiming the indictment against him should be dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Philanthropist Philip Esformes attends the 15th annual Harold & Carole Pump Foundation gala at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on August 7, 2015 in Century City, California.
Tiffany Rose | Getty Images

A Florida nursing home owner whose 20-year prison sentence for a $1.3 billion Medicare fraud scheme was commuted by then-President Donald Trump in late 2020 has lost a federal court appeal and now appears headed for retrial on six health-care criminal charges that a jury previously deadlocked on.
Philip Esformes had appealed his convictions for fraud, money laundering, and receiving illegal kickbacks, claiming the indictment against him should be dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct, and on other grounds.

When charges were filed against him and two others in 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice called it the “largest single criminal health-care fraud case ever brought against individuals” in department history.
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously rejected Esformes’ appeal in a ruling earlier this month.
The decision leaves him on the hook for $44 million in fines and forfeiture orders related to his conviction.
Esformes’ lawyers have indicated they plan to request a rehearing of their appeal by the entire line-up of the judges on the 11th Circuit.
But such requests almost always face long odds against success.

The same panel also said it did not have jurisdiction to address Esformes’ argument that Trump’s grant of clemency, which freed him from prison, bars prosecutors from re-trying him on at least one count of the six charges that jurors failed to reach a verdict on at his trial.
Esformes’ lawyers had argued that a new trial on that would violate Trump’s clemency action, as well as the double jeopardy clause.
The appeals panel said in its ruling, “We cannot reach the merits of this argument because the hung counts were not the basis of a final judgment.”
“With limited exceptions not relevant here, we review only final judgments,” the panel wrote.
There is no federal statute that explicitly states that prosecutors cannot retry a defendant on charges a jury deadlocked on after a president commuted their sentence for other counts on which they were convicted. Nor is there federal case law that addresses that question.
If Esformes is convicted at a retrial in federal court in Southern Florida, it is likely that his lawyers will relaunch their argument on appeal that retrial was barred by Trump’s clemency.
Esformes’ lawyer Kim Watterson, in a statement to CNBC, said: “The Court of Appeals did not decide the question of whether President Trump’s grant of clemency to Philip Esformes bars further prosecution on any counts.”

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“Rather, the Court held that – as an appellate court – it lacked the necessary jurisdiction to decide the clemency argument at this point in time, expressly stating that it was not reaching the merits of the argument,” Watterson said.
Esformes’ effort to have his case dismissed had backing from a group of Republican former U.S. Attorneys General, among them Edmund Meese, John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzalez, as well as Louis Freeh, a former FBI director and federal judge.
That group said prosecutors in Esformes’ case had violated rules that barred them from using communications between defendants and their lawyers.
In its ruling, the appeals court panel noted that prosecutors “not only reviewed privileged documentsbut also tried to use them against Esformes before trial on two occasions.”
And the panel also said that a lower-court judge had found the prosecutors engaged in misconduct, as well as a “bad-faith” effort to obfuscate that conduct.
But the appeals panel noted that that judge, and a federal district court judge “rejected Esformes’s request to dismiss the indictment or to disqualify members of the prosecution team.”
The panel said that it agreed with prosecutors’ arguments on appeal that Esformes had “failed to prove ‘demonstrable prejudice’ from the intrusions on his privilege” of privacy in communications with lawyers.
“So dismissal of the indictment or disqualification of the prosecution team would have been improper,” the panel ruled.
Esformes, who had been in prison at the time, was one of the dozens of people to receive executive clemency from Trump in his last months of office.
The Justice Department has said Esformes’ fraud scheme spanned two decades and involved an estimated $1.3 billion in losses as the result of fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid.
With the proceeds of that scheme, Esformes bought a $1.6 million Ferrari Apera automobile, a $360,000 Greubel Forsey watch, and also paid for female escorts, the indictment said.
Prosecutors also have said Esformes paid out $300,000 in bribes to Jerome Allen, who at the time was the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s basketball coach, who helped get Esformes’ son admitted to the university’s prestigious Wharton School of Business by falsely claiming he was a prized basketball recruit.
When Esformes was convicted in 2019 at his trial of 20 criminal counts he faced, an FBI agent in charge of Miami’s field office said he “is a man driven by almost unbounded greed.”
“Esformes cycled patients through his facilities in poor condition where they received inadequate or unnecessary treatment, then improperly billed Medicare and Medicaid,” the agent said.
“Taking his despicable conduct further, he bribed doctors and regulators to advance his criminal conduct,” the agent said.

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Bed Bath & Beyond has hired another legal advisor as it preps for a potential bankruptcy filing in New Jersey in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.
The retailer has been shouldering a heavy debt burden as it faces declining sales and widening losses.
The company has been running a sale process in hopes of finding a buyer, as well as looking for financing that would keep it afloat during a bankruptcy filing, CNBC previously reported.

A “Store Closing” banner on a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Farmingdale, New York, on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.
Johnny Milano | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bed Bath & Beyond is bulking up its team of legal advisors as the troubled retailer preps a potential bankruptcy filing that would take place in New Jersey in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has hired law firm Cole Schotz to assist in a potential filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of New Jersey, according to the people who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The situation remains fluid, however, and plans may change, the people added.

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Bed Bath has been in discussions to nail down financing that would keep it afloat if it were to file for bankruptcy, CNBC previously reported. The company also is in the midst of a sale process in hopes of keeping its namesake chain and Buybuy Baby business alive.
Still, the Union, New Jersey-based retailer has been moving toward a bankruptcy filing in its home state, an increasingly popular venue for Chapter 11 cases, the people said.
Earlier this week, fellow retailer Party City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to restructure its balance sheet and move forward with a smaller footprint of stores. That filing was made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas.
A Bed Bath spokeswoman said the company doesn’t comment on speculation or specific relationships, saying only that it has been working with advisors to regain market share and explore multiple paths.
“We have a team, internally and externally, with proven experience helping companies successfully navigate complex situations and become stronger,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

A representative for Cole Schotz didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The retailer has been working with other advisors, including Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm well known for representing bankrupt companies, as it navigates its financial troubles. Kirkland & Ellis and Cole Schotz also serve as legal advisors to crypto lender BlockFi, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in the New Jersey bankruptcy court.
Bed Bath also recently hired consulting firm AlixPartners as one of its advisors, replacing Berkeley Research Group, CNBC previously reported.
Despite efforts to stave off landing in bankruptcy protection, a filing will likely occur in the weeks ahead, the people said.
Earlier this month, Bed Bath warned of a looming bankruptcy as its turnaround plans failed to improve the business and its balance sheet deteriorated. The retailer is facing a hefty debt load, falling sales and widening losses.
On Thursday, Bed Bath said it received a notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market that it was out of compliance after not filing its quarterly earnings statement on time. The company said it is working to finalize its report and file it to regain compliance within 60 days.

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Former President Donald Trump voluntarily dropped a longshot federal lawsuit in Florida against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The move came a day after the same judge in the case sanctioned him and his lawyer nearly $1 million for filing another, “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and many other defendants.
James is suing Trump in New York state court over allegedly fraudulent financial statements related to his company, the Trump Organization.

Former President Donald Trump stands on the 18th green during the Pro-Am tournament before the LIV Golf series at Trump National Doral, Oct. 27, 2022.
Jasen Vinlove | USA Today Sports | Reuters

Former President Donald Trump on Friday morning voluntarily dropped a longshot federal lawsuit in Florida against New York’s attorney general — a day after the same judge in the case sanctioned him and his lawyer nearly $1 million for filing another, “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and many other defendants.
The judge, John Middlebrooks, had pointedly noted in a scathing sanction order Thursday evening in the Clinton case that he was also handling Trump’s complaint against Attorney General Letitia James in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Trump’s suit against James — which Middlebrooks last month warned appeared “vexatious and frivolous” — was filed in reaction to her office’s civil lawsuit against Trump in New York state court alleging fraud at his company.
James’ spokeswoman, Delaney Kempner, noted that Trump’s dismissal of his lawsuit came on the same day that his “reply to our motion to dismiss this case was due.” It also came two days after Middlebrooks scheduled a jury trial of the suit to start in mid-July.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a question about why the lawsuit against James was voluntarily dismissed.
In the Clinton case, Middlebrooks ordered Trump, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and his lawyer Alina Habba to pay Clinton and other defendants around $938,000 for filing the suit, which the judge previously dismissed.
Trump’s suit accused Clinton and the others, including the Democratic National Committee and various FBI officials, of conspiring to create a false narrative during the 2016 presidential election that his campaign was colluding with Russia.

“We are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” Middlebrooks wrote in his order dunning Trump and Habba with monetary sanctions.

New York Attorney General Letitia James pauses during a press conference at the Office of the Attorney General in New York on May 9, 2022, to make an announcement about protecting access to abortion.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

Middlebrooks’ order cited how Trump has responded in court in New York to James’ yearslong civil investigation of his company, the Trump Organization, as one of the multiple examples of “a pattern of abuse of the courts” by the Republican former president.
“Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” the judge wrote.
“He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer.”
James in September filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Trump, his company, three of his adult children, and others, alleging widespread fraud involving false financial statements related to the company’s business.
In November, Trump sued James in Florida state court, alleging she was engaged in a “war of intimidation and harassment” against him. That suit sought to block James from getting records from a revocable trust he set up in Florida that has ownership of the Trump Organization.
James shortly thereafter removed that lawsuit to federal court in Florida, where Middlebrooks was assigned the case.

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Middlebrooks in his order in the Clinton case Thursday noted that last month he had ruled that Trump’s “attempt to sidestep rulings by the New York court by suing AG James individually rather than in her official capacity was plainly frivolous.”
The judge also had found that Trump had “no likelihood of success on the merits” of the case, and that he had urged Trump to consider dropping his opposition to James’ bid to get the case.
“This litigation [against James] has all the telltale signs of being both vexatious and frivolous,” Middlebrooks had written last month.
But the judge later wrote, “a decision in Mr. Trump’s Florida lawsuit against the New York Attorney General, a case now pending before me, is premature.”

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General Motors plans to invest nearly $1 billion in four U.S. plants to support production of components for electric vehicles and its next generation of V-8 engines.
It’s a signal that the company will keep relying on gas-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future.
GM has said it plans to offer an exclusively electric-powered lineup by 2035.

Line workers work on the chassis of full-size General Motors pickup trucks at the Flint Assembly plant on June 12, 2019 in Flint, Michigan.
JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP / Getty Images

FLINT, Mich. — General Motors plans to invest nearly $1 billion in four U.S. plants to support production of components for electric vehicles as well as its next generation of V-8 engines, signaling gas-powered trucks and performance cars are here for the foreseeable future.
The $918 million investment, which GM announced Friday, is despite the automaker’s plans to exclusively offer all-electric consumer vehicles by 2035. It’s the latest example of legacy automakers such as GM having to balance their current lineup of vehicles with emerging EVs.

“Our commitment is to an all-EV future, no doubt about it,” Gerald Johnson, global head of GM’s manufacturing, told reporters after the announcement. “We know that has a horizon and between here and there, there are a lot of internal combustion engine customers that we don’t want to lose.”
A majority of the investment — $579 million — will go toward preparing GM’s Flint Engine Operations plant in Michigan for the automaker’s sixth-generation family of small-block V-8 gas engines.
The engines are used in some of the automaker’s most highly profitable products, such as its full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. They’ve also been used in some Cadillac and Chevrolet performance cars.
GM said work at the Flint facility will begin immediately, signaling the next-generation V-8 engines are on the horizon. The automaker declined to elaborate on timing, performance and other details of the engines. The last new family of V-8 engines came about in 2013.
The remaining investments will occur at other parts operations in Michigan, Ohio and New York for gas-powered parts such as camshafts and manifolds as well as castings to support future EVs, according to GM.

Like the company, leaders with the United Auto Workers union echoed the need for investments in both traditional operations and EVs.
“Is electric going to come tomorrow? Is it 10 years away? You still need the internal combustion until the the technology is perfected for the EVs,” newly elected UAW Vice President Mike Booth, told CNBC.
UAW President Ray Curry, who is in a runoff election to keep his position, said the union welcomes investment in both areas as the industry and its workers transition.
“We want to have the opportunity to make sure existing operations are shored up and that new operations that come online have the capital investment to move forward,” he said.
The union, which is scheduled to bargain with GM later this year, wants emerging EV work to be classified the same as their traditional engine and powertrain jobs. The company, in contrast, has expressed a need for much of the work to be in a lower pay bracket in order to be competitive.
Booth, who leads the UAW’s GM unit, called Friday’s investment a “big deal” but said it has no impact on the upcoming negotiations.

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