Back at it, and so much to discuss. Let’s get started –
Major news for the extended Blackstone & private equity family yesterday, as federal authorities arrested Wall Street exec Andrew Caspersen on charges of securities and wire fraud in what they’re labeling a “’brazen’ scheme to defraud investors” of up to $95 million by faking investments. Caspersen, a partner at Park Hill Group and former managing principal at the Blackstone Group, is son of Finn MW Caspersen—a “prominent philanthropist and . . . heir to the Beneficial Corporation fortune”—who was implicated in a tax shelter scheme in 2008 – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
The OCC’s rallying the troops [via white paper, of course] for a new Fintech regulatory framework—a “nod to complaints from traditional banks and startups alike that current rules both stifle innovations and provide insufficient oversight for new forms of finance” – WSJ
The latest on the ongoing Valeant saga, including the growing list of government investigations and private lawsuits it’s facing [NYTimes], the link between a recently admitted accounting error and long-time criticism of Valeant’s books [NYTimes], and the [largely overlooked] role that SF-based investor ValueAct has played in “virtually everything that’s happened to the company over nearly the last decade, both good and bad” – NYTimes
Streetwise says markets aren’t truly buying the recent rally in risky assets since mid-February, and it points to the lack of concurrent investor flight from safe asset havens (think gold and Treasury bonds) as proof – WSJ
The Supreme Court has rejected an opportunity to hear former Assisted Living Concepts CEO Laurie Bebo’s constitutional challenge to the SEC’s in-house court system, letting stand the 7th Circuit ruling that refused to let Bebo mount that challenge while the SEC enforcement action against her was underway – Law360
The High Court also refused to take up the 5th Circuit’s August decision that “resurrected” the FDIC’s $2.1 billion action against Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and RBS Securities alleging that they “lied in the marketing materials and sales” of mortgage-backed securities – Law360
The bad news for Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos keeps on coming. Researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Investigations that finger blood tests from Theranos produced more irregular results than “conventional tests offered by the nation’s two largest clinical laboratories”—Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp. Theranos has called the study “flawed and inaccurate” and tried last week to prevent its publication – NYTimes and WSJ
Starwood must be feeling like the belle of the ball these days, with potential merger suitors falling over each other to offer additional billions to win over the hotel chain. After Marriott countered Chinese-led Anbang Insurance Group’s initial merger-disrupting offer by offering $13.5 billion, Anbang [mysterious ownership and all] raised its bid to $14 billion—an amount potentially too rich for Marriott’s blood – NYTimes and WSJ
Speaking of takeover offers, JetBlue and Alaska Air are reportedly in the running for Virgin America—the 9th-largest US carrier by traffic with a $1.7 billion market cap – WSJ
Meet Ethereum, a blockchain-based system that hopes to compete with Bitcoin for virtual currency supremacy – NYTimes
Easter’s over, but John Oliver ensures that the mystery that is the Cadbury Creme Egg lives on – Last Week Tonight
