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JPMorgan Chase on Monday reached a tentative settlement with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, weeks after enduring embarrassing disclosures about its longstanding ties to the convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n
If approved, the deal would ease some of the pressure on JPMorgan as it defends itself against accusations that it ignored repeated warnings about Mr. Epstein\u2019s crimes. (The bank has denied any wrongdoing.) But the banking giant isn\u2019t completely free from legal entanglements over its 15-year relationship with the deceased financier.<\/p>\n
The victims\u2019 lawsuit accused JPMorgan of overlooking red flags about Mr. Epstein,<\/strong> because it valued him as a wealthy client who could help connect the bank with even more deep-pocketed people. (The Times previously reported that bank employees had filed several suspicious-activity reports about Mr. Epstein\u2019s repeated large withdrawals and kept him on as a customer despite flagging him as a \u201chigh risk client\u201d in 2006.)<\/p>\n The deal was reached about two weeks after Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan\u2019s C.E.O., testified about the matter.<\/strong> In a daylong deposition in the case, filed last November in Manhattan federal court, Mr. Dimon said he had barely heard of Mr. Epstein before the financier\u2019s 2019 arrest.<\/p>\n It also comes after Jes Staley, the former JPMorgan executive who had close ties to Mr. Epstein, testified over the weekend in the case. The bank has sued Mr. Staley, seeking to ensure that he can be held liable for any damages the bank ends up paying. (Mr. Staley has denied any wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n But JPMorgan still faces a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands,<\/strong> which contends that the bank should pay damages for letting Mr. Epstein set up a sex trafficking operation on his private island off St. Thomas. The bank has shot back in legal filings that government officials there cozied up to Mr. Epstein for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n UBS closes its takeover of Credit Suisse. <\/strong>The combination of Switzerland\u2019s two biggest banks, completed on Monday, will create a financial giant with $1.6 trillion in assets and a formidable presence in wealth management. To prevent more of the kinds of scandals that plagued Credit Suisse, UBS has reportedly imposed restrictions on its former rival\u2019s bankers, including a ban on doing business with countries like Libya and Venezuela.<\/p>\n A major British hedge fund scrambles from #MeToo fallout tied to its founder.<\/strong> Odey Asset Management, which oversees $4.4 billion in assets, is said to be weighing limits on investor withdrawals after The Financial Times reported on sexual assault and harassment allegations against its namesake, Crispin Odey. The financier was ousted by his partners on Saturday, but suggested he would fight the move.<\/p>\n Reddit users rebel against the social network.<\/strong> Thousands of message threads on the platform will go dark over the next two days to protest the company\u2019s plan to charge more for access to its fire hose of data. (Several third-party apps have already shut over the changes.) The move is a black eye for Reddit as it prepares to go public as soon as the second half of the year.<\/p>\n Ahead of the U.S. Open golf championship this week, questions hang over the sport. Chief among them: Will the PGA Tour actually<\/em> merge with its erstwhile rival, the Saudi-backed LIV Golf?<\/p>\n Last week\u2019s stunning announcement came together quickly: a clandestine meeting in Venice between Jay Monahan, commissioner of the tour, and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia\u2019s $700 billion sovereign wealth fund, proved decisive. Still, doubts persist that the deal, which has not yet closed, will even happen.<\/p>\n Regulatory questions remain. <\/strong>Since the deal is not an acquisition in the traditional sense, it is not clear whether the tour and LIV will need to file for antitrust regulatory clearance. <\/span>That doesn\u2019t mean regulators won\u2019t move to block it. The Justice Department has demonstrated a willingness to go after non-M.&.A. deals. (Given the tour\u2019s European ambitions, regulators there also may scrutinize the matter.)<\/p>\n Adding to the complications: The D.O.J. continues to investigate the PGA Tour\u2019s seemingly cozy ties to powerful golf tournament organizations as observers see it as \u201ca dominant monopolist.\u201d Matt Stoller, a prominent critic of big mergers, wrote in a scathing blog post: \u201cThere is a lot of grey area in antitrust law, but when two companies want to merge to a monopoly, and announce it as such, that\u2019s a violation of black letter law. In fact, this deal is so wildly and comically against the law that I actually don\u2019t think it is intended to close.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Monahan may have fed that narrative when he said last week that a PGA-LIV alliance was good for the sport as it would \u201ctake the competitor off the board.\u201d<\/p>\n The PGA Tour board would need to approve it. <\/strong>Initial deal talks excluded most of the board members, including the former AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson. Rory McIlroy, a player-director on the board, gave the deal a grudging blessing last week. The sport\u2019s most famed star, Tiger Woods, has yet to weigh in \u2014 ditto for most sponsors and advertisers.<\/p>\n The deal essentially would create a new entity. But the parties have yet to agree on respective valuations and the share of equity apportioned to each side. (Ongoing litigation prevented them from delving into each other\u2019s books.) Sticking points could linger over how to value the contracts of existing players or individual teams.<\/p>\n What happens if a deal doesn\u2019t happen? <\/strong>It\u2019s unclear whether either side would have to pay the other a breakup fee. Speaking of money, would the tour be in a position to keep its dwindling roster of golfers from defecting to a free-spending LIV? And, what\u2019s to stop superstar golfers like Mr. Woods and Mr. McIlroy from making their <\/em>tour the new disruptive force in professional golf?<\/p>\n Just weeks after surviving a proxy fight with Carl Icahn, Francis deSouza said on Sunday that he would resign as C.E.O. of Illumina, the gene-sequencing giant. It\u2019s a belated victory for Icahn after winning just one of the three board seats he was seeking \u2014 and it raises questions about what\u2019s next for Illumina as it faces pressure to divest an acquisition that has drawn regulatory opposition on two continents.<\/p>\n Mr. Icahn had sought to oust Mr. deSouza,<\/strong> arguing that Illumina\u2019s $7 billion takeover of the cancer-detection specialist Grail was a mistake, especially after the company moved forward with the deal despite European regulators seeking to block it.<\/p>\n Though shareholders re-elected Mr. deSouza (who also serves as a Disney director) to the Illumina board last month, he faced opposition from the company\u2019s newly appointed nonexecutive chairman, Stephen MacMillan, according to The Wall Street Journal. Mr. DeSouza told employees that he informed the board of his decision last week.<\/p>\n Icahn tweeted that Mr. deSouza\u2019s departure was \u201ca very positive occurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s next for Illumina?<\/strong> Mr. DeSouza \u2014 who will work as an adviser until July 31 \u2014 will be replaced on an interim basis by Charles Dadswell, the company\u2019s general counsel, as it seeks a permanent successor. (Mr. Icahn\u2019s choice, the former Illumina C.E.O. Jay Flatley, is unlikely to get the job, The Journal reports.)<\/p>\n But bigger questions hover around the Grail takeover. While Illumina has appealed efforts by the F.T.C. and the European Commission to block the transaction, analysts and investors increasingly believe the company will have little choice but to unwind the deal even if it wins those efforts.<\/p>\n After decades running one of the most prominent and politically active financial empires, George Soros is handing the reins of his $25 billion Open Society Foundation to his son Alex.<\/p>\n It\u2019s another example of succession planning by Wall Street\u2019s old guard. But the changeover at the foundation is especially notable because it involves the elder Soros, whose unabashed support of liberal causes, to the tune of $1.5 billion a year, has long made him a boogeyman of the right.<\/p>\n Alex Soros will follow in his father\u2019s footsteps.<\/strong> \u201cWe think alike,\u201d George Soros told The Wall Street Journal. Alex Soros supports causes including voting and abortions rights and gender equity.<\/p>\n The younger Soros was elected the foundation\u2019s chairman in December. He also serves as president of the Soros super PAC and is the only family member on the investment committee for Soros Fund Management.<\/p>\n Alex Soros\u2019s rise was somewhat unlikely.<\/strong> The soft-spoken 37-year-old was better known in his younger days for high-profile partying than for high finance. Many had considered his half-brother Jonathan, a lawyer and former Soros employee, to be the more natural successor, until a falling-out with their father more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n Will Alex Soros become a political lightning rod like his father?<\/strong> George Soros has drawn criticism \u2014 some laced with antisemitism \u2014 for his political activities for years, including from Elon Musk, who recently compared him to the sometime X-Men villain Magneto.<\/p>\n The Journal notes that Alex Soros is a quieter public presence than his father, with the executive director of the A.C.L.U. telling The Journal, \u201cAlex is unlikely to be the boogeyman that George Soros was for the right.\u201d But the younger Soros is also more focused on domestic politics and is by his own admission \u201cmore political.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 <\/em>William Barr<\/em>, an attorney general under former President Donald Trump, says the charges against his ex-boss over handling of classified government documents seem \u201cvery, very damning.\u201d Trump is set to be arraigned on Tuesday in a Miami federal court \u2014 and then will <\/em>host the first fund-raiser<\/em> for his 2024 campaign.<\/em><\/p>\n Interest-rate decisions, inflation reports \u2014 this is the week many investors have had circled on their calendars. Here\u2019s what to watch:<\/p>\n Tuesday: <\/strong>The Consumer Price Index is scheduled for release. According to economists polled by Reuters, \u201ccore\u201d inflation probably edged down to 5.2 percent on an annual basis.<\/p>\n Wednesday: <\/strong>The Fed wraps up its two-day rate-setting meeting. The futures markets this morning was pricing in no change to the prime lending rate, but a probable increase in July.<\/p>\n Thursday:<\/strong> It\u2019s the European Central Bank\u2019s turn. Economists widely expect the central bank to raise borrowing costs by another 0.25 percentage points.<\/p>\n Friday:<\/strong> The Bank of Japan is expected to stand pat. Elsewhere, the University of Michigan publishes its latest consumer sentiment report.<\/p>\n Deals<\/strong><\/p>\n Glencore has offered to buy the coal business of Teck Resources, as an alternative to a full takeover of the Canadian mining group (Teck)<\/p>\n Nasdaq agreed to buy Adenza, a maker of financial risk management software, for $10.5 billion from the investment firm Thoma Bravo. (Nasdaq)<\/p>\n Andreessen Horowitz will open an office in London, its first abroad, with a focus on crypto investments. (FT)<\/p>\n Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, the Republican who wooed Wall Street and crypto executives to his city, teased that he may run for president. (Politico)<\/p>\n American tech giants have blocked Hong Kong from their A.I.-powered chatbots. (WSJ)<\/p>\n \u201cHow Warner used CNN to lobby Andrew Cuomo\u201d (Semafor)<\/p>\n Best of the rest<\/strong><\/p>\n WeWork\u2019s ongoing struggles have some investors and landlords worried that the office space company may file for bankruptcy. (NYT)<\/p>\n Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian media mogul turned polarizing and scandal-ridden prime minister, died on Monday. He was 86. (NYT)<\/p>\n \u201cThe A.I. Revolution Will Change Work. Nobody Agrees How.\u201d (NYT)<\/p>\n We\u2019d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.<\/p>\n Andrew Ross Sorkin is a columnist and the founder and editor at large of DealBook. He is a co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and the author of “Too Big to Fail.” He is also a co-creator of the Showtime drama series “Billions.” @<\/span>andrewrsorkin \u2022<\/span> Facebook <\/span><\/p>\n Ravi Mattu is the managing editor of DealBook, based in London. He joined The New York Times in 2022 from the Financial Times, where he held a number of senior roles in Hong Kong and London. @<\/span>ravmattu <\/span><\/p>\n Bernhard Warner joined the The Times in 2022 as a senior editor for DealBook. Previously he was a senior writer and editor at Fortune focusing on business, the economy and the markets. @<\/span>bernhardwarner <\/span><\/p>\nHERE\u2019S WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING <\/span><\/h3>\n
What could trip up the LIV-PGA deal <\/h2>\n
Illumina loses its chief <\/h2>\n
An unlikely Soros heir rises <\/h2>\n
\u201cIf even half of it is true, he\u2019s toast.\u201d <\/h2>\n
The week ahead <\/h2>\n
THE SPEED READ <\/span><\/h3>\n