A poster giving details for a lecture by artist and data journalist Surya Mattu. The event will take place at 6:30pm on March 5, in College Building (yes that's the official name) room 412.
Rhode Island folks! If you're interested in the intersection of data, journalism, and art, come listen to me moderate a talk with @suryamattu.com at RISD on Thursday, March 5, at 6:30pm.
Stake says influencers like Drake and Adin Ross don’t win more than the average gambler. We ran the numbers, and guess what :)
Here's our year-long data investigation into Stake and Kick's influencer empire, with @oliviasolon.bsky.social and @leonyin.bsky.social: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Our Stake investigation found that Drake won four times more often than the average gambler playing Stake's own games. And he wasn't the only influencer getting very lucky livestreaming Stake slots on Kick www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
This is 7th installment in our investigative series on Jeffrey Epstein based on previously unreleased emails
Reporting by Max Abelson, @suryamattu.com Harry Wilson, me, @jeffykao.bsky.social and Ava Benny-Morrison and @dmehro.bsky.social
Full story at this 🎁 link
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
And as Epstein was directing his high-powered attorneys to pressure the government into offering him a light sentence, he threatened legal action against Bear Stearns and top executives for steep losses.
After stories of Epstein’s teenage victims spilled into the open, Wall Street continued to stay in touch. He had access to prestigious names in global finance, including the investment firm of billionaire Carl Icahn.
They also show that Epstein’s ties on Wall Street were broader than previously known, involving not just standard banking relationships but some of the most sought-after hedge funds, such as Renaissance Technologies, whose reputation for success is almost mythical.
The emails provide new details about Epstein as an investor and adviser, including how he leveraged influence when his bets lost money.
NEW investigative report: "Things will get really nasty." Hedge funds. Brokerages. Billionaires. Jeffrey Epstein’s financial ties on and off Wall Street were broader than previously known, a cache of emails @bloomberg.com obtained earlier this year reveals
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www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
This is the 6th story in our Epstein's Inbox series, which is based on 18K emails we obtained earlier this year.
Find all of the stories here
www.bloomberg.com/latest/epste...
The lawyer also demanded that Bloomberg “immediately send such documents to the Estate and destroy any copies in its possession.” (Bloomberg declined.)
An attorney for Indyke, in his role as the Epstein estate co-executor, said that his client’s email to Epstein was subject to the attorney-client privilege and that Bloomberg should not “publicly disclose the email itself or report on its contents.”
The email’s reference to “an Arab/Jewish thing” is unclear. There wasn’t a response from Epstein in the inbox.
The email says FROM : To: <jeeproject@yahoo.com> DATE: Fr1. Jan 18 2008 3:56 PM SUBJECT: Important HSBC has made a unilateral decision to close down the French bank account effective January 21, 2008. Experton has been trying to get an answer from the Bank for the past couple of days regarding why. The acct never had a negative balance. Finally, Experton reached the person in charge of the account today and that person said the reason for the closure was account activity. When Experton asked this person to clarify, the person would not. Experton then asked the account rep to tell Experton if the account rep either was not allowed to tell Experton why or simply refused to do so. Experton asked if it was maybe an Arab/Jewish thing or something about Epstein that the bank does not like at which point Experton claims that the bank representative got nervous but would not confirm either of the two questions. Experton wants to know if she should push hard or is there something that she does not know, so that she should just back off from the bank. In the interim, for the next 15 days or so, Experton is willing to use her escrow account to make any necessary payments. She suggests that we wire the money from HSBC into her escrow account. Please advise asap. Thanks. Sincerely, Darren K. Indyke Attorney-At-Law Fourth F1oor
Three days later, Indyke sent Epstein an email under the subject line, “Important.”
On Jan. 15, 2008, a few weeks after the HSBC letter was sent, Epstein’s personal attorney in New York, Darren Indyke, and his legal representative in Paris, Marie-Joseph Experton, traded emails about the closure of Epstein’s account. Experton said she would try to get to the bottom of it.
The email says FROM: jeanluc <jeanluc@mc2mm.com> To: Jeffrey Epstein <jeeproject@yahoo.com> DATE: Tue, Sep 25 2007 6: 25 PM SUBJECT : HI H have been running to write you. I cannot even imagine how it must be for you.
Epstein and Brunel clearly had a close relationship, which in the emails is shown through friendly banter about life, strategy about business rivals, Croatian models and industry gossip. One day after Epstein signed the non-prosecution agreement, Brunel sent him a lament, the emails we obtained show
Compliance staffers also flagged that Epstein’s stated business purposes for the withdrawals were dubious. A due diligence review on Epstein turned up “Informations défavorables,” or negative information, on Epstein in US media after news reports covered his arrest in Florida
Compliance officers at HSBC found that the French account had numerous round-dollar deposits and withdrawals were suspicious and bore hallmarks of money laundering and other financial misconduct.
An HSBC spokesman declined to comment. But two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the bank closed Epstein’s account because red flags were raised concerning financial transactions involving young women associated with the French modeling agency MC2 and its owner, Jean-Luc Brunel.
This is part of a series of stories based on emails sent to and from Jeffrey Epstein's private Yahoo account obtained by @bloomberg.com Emails and attachments from that account weren't included in more than 20,000 pages of documents that a congressional committee released publicly on Nov. 12.
The previously unreported closure, which HSBC officials announced to Epstein in a letter dated Dec. 21, 2007, is the only known instance of a major bank closing one of his accounts before he pleaded guilty to sex offenses in Fla. in 2008.
The letter says We hereby inform you that we do not intent to maintain our relationship and notify you this day, subject to a one-month notification period, the end of our banking contract for your account in existence since December 22", 2006. that is with effect on January 21", 2008. Consequently, after this period is over, you should retumn all unused checks still in your possession and provide us with your new banking references, in order to enable us to wire the amount remaining on your account upon closing date. If not provided, we will issue a certified check for said amount, Furthermore, we would like to have communication of the list of drawn checks which may still be presented for payment on your account, so as to keep sufficient and useful amount in order to avoid your account to become in debit. Failing that, your checks will be rejected. The end of our banking contract occurring at HSBC's request, no charge will be invoiced for the closing down of your account.
The letter says We hereby inform you that we do not intent to maintain our relationship and notify you this day, subject to a one-month notification period, the end of our banking contract for your account in existence since December 22", 2006. that is with effect on January 21", 2008. Consequently, after this period is over, you should retumn all unused checks still in your possession and provide us with your new banking references, in order to enable us to wire the amount remaining on your account upon closing date. If not provided, we will issue a certified check for said amount, Furthermore, we would like to have communication of the list of drawn checks which may still be presented for payment on your account, so as to keep sufficient and useful amount in order to avoid your account to become in debit. Failing that, your checks will be rejected. The end of our banking contract occurring at HSBC's request, no charge will be invoiced for the closing down of your account.
NEW/EXCLUSIVE: A French branch of HSBC closed a bank account maintained by Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 after compliance officers flagged transactions for suspicious activity, including payments tied to a modeling agent later accused of rape & sex trafficking
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www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads By Davey Alba Priyanjana Bengani Leon Yin Ashley Carman Julia Love Rachael Dottle Elena Mejía Technology Big Tech November 20, 2025 On YouTube’s conservative airwaves, podcast hosts tout products that let people buy into the MAGA crowd: Republican Red Winery vintages for toasting the “silent majority;” Black Rifle Coffee for caffeinating gun owners; XX-XY Athletics for workout clothes symbolizing opposition to the “lunacy of the left social agenda.”
The popularity of YouTube podcasts among conservatives is driving a boom in small businesses tailoring ads to their millions of listeners, paying hosts like Joe Rogan and Candace Owens to read out promotions in the hope that fans will place orders. The phenomenon has enriched both the hosts and YouTube, supporting further growth of the businesses using ideology to sell. A Bloomberg analysis of host-read ads across nearly 1,000 videos from eight of the platform’s top right-leaning podcasters found that advertisers on the shows routinely tapped into political identity in marketing. At least one host-read ad with a political message appeared in 91% of videos reviewed.
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
Epstein’s Library 📚
Gift Link:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A cache of 18,000 emails offers another window into Epstein’s mind. Bloomberg parsed Amazon receipts from that inbox—filtering, verifying, and cataloging book orders—to build this timeline.
Reporting this story with @jeffykao.bsky.social Max Abelson, Harry Wilson, Ava Benny-Morrison, @suryamattu.com & @dmehro.bsky.social was a massive effort. There are TONS more details in our report about prosecutors' efforts to follow Epstein's money, which have been shrouded in secrecy for 2 decades
FROM: Wexner, Les <LesW@ To: jeeproject@yahoo.com <> DATE: Thu, Jun 26 2008 5:45 PM SUBJECT : Abigail told me the result...al1 I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number 1 rule... Always be careful.
Four days before he reported to prison, Epstein received an email from Wexner
A spokesperson for Wexner declined to comment. A person close to Wexner said his email “expressed his strong disappointment that Epstein had breached his fiduciary duties and broken the family’s trust.”
FROM: ijeffrey epstein <littlestieff@vahoo.com> To: jcayne@ , henry jarecki < DATE: Fri, Nov 16 2007 9:08 AM SUBJECT: this is how crazy > 1.my team consists of professionals with over 250 vears of criminal experience. In an abundance of care , we have also consulted with outside ethics experts,and former justice dept officials . The clear and unanimous consensus is they find the conduct outrageous and frankly not one of them , has been able to recall seeing anything like this before.. .2. After the state had conducted its own investigation and returned a grand jury indictment.,the federal gov't , while adamantly refusing to coordinate with the duly elected district attorney, and his sex prosecutor of 13 years, ", engaged in a virtual extortion , to force the defendant and his counsel to go the state and in a wholly unprecedented step, demand , himself that he be charged with a crime greater than the state and grand jury thought appropriate. They then further demanded he obtain, from the state a sentence much greater than the state and its officials wanted., including having to register as a sex offender, a position that the state adamantly opposed. They then compounded their outrageous behavior by then demanding that Epstein pay an unnamed list of people ""alleged victims"",, a minimum of 150 thousand dollars each. No matter what their actual damages. They then refused the defendant, even the right to contact these adults.or conduct his own investigation. This was demanded in exchange for the gov't not prosecuting him for crimes, that they , the feds admittedly could only make the most tenuous connection to. The ausa then suggested the defendant be required to hire one of her friends as a continency lawyer, to , be paid for by the defendant to actually sue the defendant himself on behalf of a list of adults that she would onlv make avaliable after sentencing.. They threatened to use the sex tourism statute 2423 ( with a min mandatory sentence of 10 years) , and appl…
As Epstein reflected on his case, his emails about it became more frantic. On Nov. 16, 2007, he sent one to Jimmy Cayne, the former CEO of Bear Stearns, and his friend the psychiatrist Henry Jarecki. Under the subject line, “this is how crazy,” it contained a litany of grievances toward prosecutor
And he took note of one particular move Villafaña made: "She calls Les Wexner to inform him of the investigation"
The former law enforcement official said Villafaña contacted Wexner in an effort to get him to cooperate & provide info about Epstein, his business, his travels and his enterprise
Epstein's email 20. She begins a money laundering investigation, wi thout the necessary requirement of specified illegal funds, 21 She says she iS contemplating charging a violation of a money transmi tting statute, though Epstein has no such business,
Epstein was incensed. He and his attorneys took steps to back out of the NPA he’d signed. On Oct. 15, 2007, Epstein sent himself an email and attached a word document he wrote titled, “Did you know that.”
