Financial news

• ‘He knew it was wrong’: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison over FTX fraud

  28-03-2024 19:38
  
  Judge orders disgraced crypto mogul to forfeit $11bn in assets and says he showed no remorse for his crimesSam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul who perpetrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11bn in assets. His lawyer reiterated a pledge to appeal the sentence the same day.The judge, Lewis Kaplan, issued the penalty in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday. Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of
  
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• Thames Water on road to state rescue amid investor standoff with Ofwat

  28-03-2024 19:36
  
  After regulator resists 40% increase in bills, shareholders deny request for more money – raising prospect of nationalisation• Who will win in standoff between Thames’s investors and watchdog?Thames Water appears to be on the road to nationalisation after its investors signalled they were unwilling to pump more money into the debt-laden utilities company, amid a standoff with the regulator and the government over raising customers’ bills.Britain’s biggest water suppl
  
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• England's ludicrous experiment in privatised water is coming to a messy end | Adam Almeida

  28-03-2024 19:31
  
  If Thames Water collapses in the weeks ahead, there is only one smart, long-term response: public ownership• Adam Almeida is a senior data analyst at the thinktank Common WealthThe question mark over the future of Britain’s largest water supplier, Thames Water, has put its 16 million customers across London and south-east England – myself included – in an uncertain position. While water will still keep coming out of our taps, the price of these financial woes will probably
  
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• Sunak and Gove accused of caving in to lobbying in favour of landlords

  28-03-2024 18:10
  
  Opposition MPs criticise changes to renters’ reform bill, which cast doubt on removal of no-fault evictionsRishi Sunak and Michael Gove have been accused of caving in to Tory MPs lobbying in favour of landlords’ interests after it emerged that significant aspects of the renters’ reform bill are to be watered down.Changes will include an amendment to prevent tenants ending contracts in a tenancy’s first six months, and another casting doubt on the removal of no-fault evict
  
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• Star stock-picker Terry Smith’s equity fund downgraded by ratings firm

  28-03-2024 17:15
  
  Morningstar demotes Fundsmith Equity to silver rating, saying ill-timed share sale hurt performanceThe UK’s largest shares-focused investment fund has been downgraded by a leading ratings firm after a “number of missteps” by the star stock-picker Terry Smith.Morningstar demoted the £25bn Fundsmith Equity fund’s rating from gold to silver, saying the manager’s ill-timed sale of shares in large companies including Amazon and the software firm Adobe had hurt perf
  
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• Sam Bankman-Fried is going to prison. The crypto industry isn’t any better for it

  28-03-2024 17:00
  
  There have been no changes since the ex-mogul’s conviction as lawmakers fail to pass regulations to protect the publicThere is a palpable feeling of relief in the cryptocurrency industry. Evangelists are preaching the good news that the industry has been purged of the Sam Bankman-Frieds, the Alex Mashinskys, the Do Kwons and the Changpeng Zhaos of the world. They proclaim that crypto can finally ascend from its purgatorial, “wild west” days to become a respectable sector of the
  
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• Starmer launches Labour local election campaign and defends ‘difficult decisions’ over dropped pledges– politics live

  28-03-2024 15:25
  Opposition leader says some commitments were made before ‘the Tories did enormous damage to the economy’Starmer is summing up the Labour offer.This Labour party with Rachel Reeves as chancellor will value every pound as if it’s yours – because at the end of the day, it is.One, higher growth, with a reform planning system, no longer blocking the homes, the infrastructure, the investment that the country needs.Two, safer streets, with 13,000 Extra neighbourhood police offic
  
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• Who screwed millennials? Yanis Varoufakis on the death of capitalism – podcast

  28-03-2024 15:00
  
  In Guardian Australia’s new series Who screwed millennials, co-host Matilda Boseley spoke to Yanis Varoufakis about how the Australian housing market entrenches inequality.In this bonus episode, we hear more from Varoufakis on the state of the economy, how young people are coping with financial hardship, and how capitalism has mutated into something he calls technofeudalism Continue reading...
  
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• Why UK recession may be deeper than two quarters of falling GDP suggest

  28-03-2024 14:23
  
  Greater fall per head and latest trade data illustrate longer term decline of economy• Blow for Sunak as revised figures confirm UK went into recession last yearBusiness live – latest updatesAs the UK economy struggled for momentum, with households tightening their belts, higher defence spending in the second half of last year was a factor that prevented it from contracting by more than it did.The second estimate by the Office for National Statistics of national income, as measured by
  
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• Who will win in standoff between Thames Water’s investors and watchdog?

  28-03-2024 13:57
  
  Ofwat denies shareholder demands for higher bills and looser environmental regulation• Thames on road to state rescue amid investor standoff with OfwatThe news that Thames Water’s investors have pulled the plug on future investment in the ailing utility, leaving it vulnerable to future nationalisation, is the culmination of a long game of brinkmanship with the industry regulator, Ofwat.As talks behind closed doors reached their conclusions in recent weeks, tempers were fraying. One in
  
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• Airbnb host increased price by 39% after booking

  28-03-2024 08:00
  
  We were forced to cancel when the host wanted thousands extra, but were still charged a feeMy daughter used my credit card to book a five-month stay using Airbnb after taking up an internship in Toronto. After the host accepted the booking, she got an email saying the price for the overall stay had increased by £4,000 – a further 39%.Panicked, and unable to afford the extra sum, she cancelled. Airbnb has taken a £1,962 fee, plus a further £682 for cleaning and taxes. As m
  
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• UK households urged to submit meter readings ahead of energy price cut

  28-03-2024 06:00
  
  Martin Lewis among those encouraging consumers to make a note so they do not overpay when cap reducedMillions of households are being urged to submit meter readings to their energy supplier this weekend to ensure they do not overpay when cheaper prices come in on Monday.The consumer champion Martin Lewis is among those urging people to get their phones, pens and notepads out so that they benefit fully from the 12.3% cut to the Ofgem energy price cap, which is altered quarterly. Continue reading.
  
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