Month: January 2023

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified congressional leaders in a letter on Thursday that she is implementing “extraordinary measures” to meet U.S. financial obligations — this after the United States hit the national debt limit of $31.4 trillion, which requires Congress to increase it in order to meet existing national financial obligations.

Yellen wrote to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: “I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.” According to Yellen, it’s not clear exactly how long government cash and extraordinary measures can work to fulfill the nation’s economic obligations but said it’s unlikely resources will be exhausted “before early June.”

House Republicans have indicated they will demand deep spending cuts before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling; the Biden administration wants the debt ceiling raised without conditions. Yellen warned congressional leadership that failure to raise the limit in time would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy. Despite that warning, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters this week raising the limit without cutting spending is off the table. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing that Republicans “are threatening to kill millions of jobs and 401(k) plans by trying to hold the debt limit hostage unless they can, again, cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut Medicaid,” adding that President Biden “will not allow Republicans to take the economy hostage or make working Americans pay the price for their schemes to benefit the wealthiest Americans and also special interests.”

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Actor Alec Baldwin has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of ‘Rust’ cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. ‘Rust’ armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. A statement released on Thursday by New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and Rust special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb announced that charges were filed against Baldwin after the gun he was holding discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza on the film set in New Mexico. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed’s will be “charged in the alternative” with the two counts of manslaughter, meaning that a jury would decide not simply if they were guilty, but under which definition of involuntary manslaughter they were guilty.

According to the release from Carmack-Altwies’s office, involuntary manslaughter is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine if proven. The DA and special prosecution will formally file these charges with the New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court by the end of the month. Carmack-Altwies said: “After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew. On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

The shooting occurred on Oct. 21, 2021, inside a building on a film set outside Santa Fe. Baldwin maintains that he did not know the gun was loaded; he is currently suing several ‘Rust’ crew members and accusing them of negligence for providing him with a loaded weapon without his knowledge. The actor initially stated that he “didn’t pull the trigger,” but in his lawsuit against the crew, his team says he pulled back and released the hammer of the gun in Hutchins’ direction while they were preparing camera angles.

The state initially fined the production company the maximum penalty of $136,793 for not following proper safety protocols. Hutchins’ family also sued Baldwin and the production company over wrongful death. They have since reached a settlement. ‘Rust’ is currently scheduled to resume filming this year with Matthew Hutchins, Hutchins’ husband, now involved as an executive producer.

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At a press conference in Washington on Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department and Treasury Department announced they have charged Bitzlato Ltd. with money laundering, and arrested its founder in Miami. Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, was arrested in Miami on Tuesday night and will appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He is the founder, majority owner and senior executive of Bitzlato Ltd., which is based in Hong Kong.

Bitzlato allegedly allowed its users to use its services with loose restrictions, allowing users to create accounts based on false information, which they used to engage in transactions with an “illicit” black market called Hydra Market. Hydra Market is a black market platform where narcotics, stolen personal and financial information and money laundering services can be procured; the Justice Department said it is the “largest and longest running darknet market in the world.” Hydra was shut down by a cooperative effort between U.S. and German law enforcement agencies last April. Bitzlato users exchanged an estimated $700 million in cryptocurrency for illegal activities with Hydra until it was closed. The Justice Department alleges Legkodymov knew of the criminal activities carried out by Bitzlato’s users, disregarding warnings from other executives about the dangers of allowing these activities to continue because he did not want to sacrifice profits. Bitzlato’s website has been shut down with agencies throughout the world taking aim at its infrastructure.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said: “Institutions that trade in cryptocurrency are not above the law and their owners are not beyond our reach. As alleged, Bitzlato sold itself to criminals as a no-questions-asked cryptocurrency exchange, and reaped hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of deposits as a result. The defendant is now paying the price for the malign role that his company played in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

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Microsoft informed company employees on Wednesday that 10,000 layoffs are coming by the end of third quarter. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made the announcement in blog post on the company’s website, saying some employees would given their notice Wednesday.  The company said the layoffs will affect nearly 5% of Microsoft’s 200,000-strong global workforce.

Nadella blamed the decision on the need to align Microsoft’s cost structure with its revenue and where it sees customer demand. The blog post read: “As we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less. We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one ..At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we’re turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform.”

Nadella promised employees being let go would be treated with dignity, respect and in accordance with U.S. employment law or, for overseas hires, the laws of their respective countries. He said the software company would take a $1.2 billion charge in the second quarter to cover costs related to severance liabilities. The company said the job cuts, changes to its hardware portfolio and consolidation of its real estate holdings would result in a $1.2 billion charge.

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