Judge Rules on "Funding Secured"

Moderna CFO Fired After First Day

Wild news in the Covid-19 world today: Vaccine maker Moderna has fired its new CFO one day into the job, after the executive’s previous employer disclosed in an SEC filing that it had launched an investigation into fraudulent financial reporting.

Moderna disclosed the departure of Jorge Gomez in a terse press release issued Wednesday morning. His firing, the company said, “follows the May 10 public disclosure by Mr. Gomez’s former employer, Dentsply Sirona, of an ongoing internal investigation into certain matters, including financial reporting.”

Grayscale tells SEC that turning biggest bitcoin fund into ETF will unlock $8 billion for investors

Grayscale, the asset manager running the world’s largest bitcoin fund, met privately with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week in an effort to persuade the regulator to approve the conversion of its flagship fund into an ETF, CNBC has learned.

Turning the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a NYSE-traded ETF would broaden access to bitcoin and enhance protections while unlocking up to $8 billion in value for investors, according to a 24-page presentation obtained by CNBC.

U.S. judge says Musk recklessly tweeted that ‘funding secured’ for taking Tesla private

A U.S. judge has determined that Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets that funding had been secured to take electric car maker Tesla private was inaccurate and reckless, saying “there was nothing concrete” about financing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund at that time.

San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s pre-trial decision represented a major victory for investors in a lawsuit accusing the world’s richest person of inflating stock prices by making false and misleading statements, causing billions of dollars in damages.

SEC’s Gensler Says Crypto Exchanges Trading Against Clients

The US Securities and Exchange Commission chair reiterated Tuesday that most digital assets fall under his agency’s purview and venues trading them should register with the regulator. The SEC is also beefing up its enforcement efforts, he added.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg News, Gensler said he’s concerned that crypto exchanges aren’t putting up proper walls between different parts of their businesses such as custody, market-making, and offering a trading venue. He said the “commingling” of services may not be in clients’ best interests.

The Pushback on E.S.G. Investing

While speaking about energy policy in Texas yesterday, former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender, said he wanted to “rein in” E.S.G., or investing based on environmental, social and governance principles. He is not alone.

Some notable names are pushing back as businesses get increasingly tangled up in cultural and political fights, and as the federal government builds E.S.G. principles into regulations. A new financial firm, Strive, started by Vivek Ramaswamy, the author of “Woke, Inc.,” and backed by the billionaire investors Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman, has a similar mission: It will urge companies not to get involved in social, political or environmental issues.