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The Morning Risk Report: U.S. Eyes Sanctions Against Global Network It Believes Is Shipping Iranian Oil
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Good morning. The U.S. is considering sanctions that would target a United Arab Emirates-based businessman and a network of companies suspected of helping export Iran’s oil, part of a broader effort to escalate diplomatic pressure on Tehran as U.S. officials push to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
The firms and individuals under scrutiny have been using ship-to-ship transfers of oil in waters that lie between Iraq and Iran and then forging documents to hide the origin of the cargo, according to corporate documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, shipping data and people familiar with the matter. By passing off the blended oil as Iraqi, those involved can avoid Western sanctions targeting Iranian oil.
[Continued below...]
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Yet within the administration, there isn’t consensus on plans to target these sorts of suspected sanctions-evading operations. The administration wants to renew a nuclear deal as a way to rein in Iran’s nuclear plans, but is also dealing with opposition to a deal and grappling with the economic impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine and sanctions, current and former officials familiar with the issue said.
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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Ms. Renzin will continue to oversee the company’s compliance function along with legal, risk, regulatory engagement and responsible gaming functions, according to a company spokesman.
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U.S.-listed American depositary shares of Alibaba have lost 55% of their value over the past 12 months. PHOTO: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday added Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to a list of Chinese companies at risk of being delisted from the U.S. exchanges if their auditors can’t be inspected before spring 2024.
Under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020—which took effect in 2021—the U.S. can ban the trading of securities of companies whose auditors can’t be inspected by the American audit watchdog for three consecutive years.
The move comes days after Alibaba said it would apply for a primary listing in Hong Kong, where it obtained a secondary listing in 2019. Securing a primary listing in the Asian financial hub would allow Alibaba’s shares to continue to be traded even if it is booted from the American bourse.
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The judge overseeing Twitter Inc.’s lawsuit against Elon Musk over their stalled $44 billion merger set the week of Oct. 17 for a trial in Delaware Chancery Court.
Last week, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, Chancery’s chief judge, granted Twitter’s request to fast-track the lawsuit and ordered a five-day trial in October, over Mr. Musk’s objections. Chancellor McCormick said the case should be resolved quickly, agreeing with Twitter’s claim that it could be harmed by uncertainty about its future as a public company.
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Two merger trials, each beginning Monday at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., will provide an early test for Biden administration antitrust enforcement and determine the fate of multibillion-dollar deals in the publishing and healthcare industries.
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Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder testified Thursday via a non-public Zoom link before the House committee investigating the team’s workplace culture, climaxing a weeks long battle over the terms of his appearance.
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A bankruptcy judge on Friday accepted most of the Boy Scouts of America’s $2.7 billion plan for compensating sex-abuse victims, setting the youth group on a path out of the largest chapter 11 case involving childhood abuse.
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Restaurant Brands International Inc. proposed settling lawsuits in three Canadian provinces after the company’s Tim Hortons app was found to unknowingly track people’s location. Impacted customers would receive a free hot beverage and a baked good.
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Russia’s intelligence service worked for nearly a decade to recruit members of fringe political groups in the U.S. to advance pro-Russia propaganda, including during the invasion of Ukraine, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
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China’s export sector, a key growth engine for the country’s initial postpandemic recovery, continued to disappoint in July. PHOTO: CFOTO/ZUMA PRESS
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China’s major economic pillars wobbled in July with weakness in manufacturing and the all-important property sector, showing the pressure on a country that remains a drag on the struggling global economy.
Chinese manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in July, as Beijing’s stringent Covid-19 restrictions and weak demand undercut hopes for a more robust economic revival.
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The first grain shipment since the start of Russia’s invasion left Ukraine’s port of Odessa on Monday, under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages and bolstering Ukraine’s finances.
The first ship to depart, the Razoni, left carrying 26,000 metric tons of corn with a final destination of Tripoli, Lebanon, according to Ukrainian officials and the Turkish government, which helped broker the deal. The Sierra Leone-flagged bulk carrier is expected to arrive in Istanbul on Aug. 2, and then continue following inspections.
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Economic growth in the eurozone accelerated even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy and food costs surging and shattered household and business confidence, but cuts to supplies of natural gas threaten to push it into contraction over coming months.
The world’s third-largest economy was buoyed by the lifting of most pandemic restrictions during the first half of the year, which helped it grow at a faster-than-expected clip despite higher energy costs and continued blockages in supply chains.
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The U.S. economy is enduring a rocky transition from an exceptionally strong recovery to a steep slowdown as rising inflation and interest rates weigh on consumers and businesses.
Economic growth surged last year, as consumers unleashed spending and businesses recovered from the short, deep pandemic recession of early 2020. But that robust growth is grinding to an abrupt halt as households, companies and policy makers face deep challenges, with four-decade-high inflation chief among them.
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Ernst & Young’s pension debt of $10 billion, and how it will be managed, is slowing negotiations over the firm’s split. PHOTO: SUSANA VERA/REUTERS
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Ernst & Young’s effort to split its audit and consulting businesses has been slowed by a change in its U.S. leadership, as well as complications over its multibillion-dollar debts, according to people familiar with the matter.
A “go or no go” decision by the Big Four accounting firm’s senior executives, originally scheduled for June, is now expected mid-August at the earliest, according to internal EY documents and the people familiar with the matter.
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Jack Ma has controlled Ant since he carved its precursor assets out of Alibaba more than a decade ago. PHOTO: PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Billionaire Jack Ma plans to relinquish control of Ant Group Co., people familiar with the matter said, part of the fintech giant’s effort to move away from affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. after more than a year of extraordinary pressure from Chinese regulators.
The authorities halted Ant’s $34 billion-plus IPO in 2020 at the 11th hour and are forcing the technology firm to reorganize as a financial holding company regulated by China’s central bank. As the overhaul progresses, Ant is taking the opportunity to reduce the company’s reliance on Mr. Ma, who founded Alibaba.
Mr. Ma, a 57-year-old former English teacher and one of China’s most prominent entrepreneurs, has been the target of government action that appears designed to reduce his influence and the power of his companies.
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Binance is now the dominant exchange for crypto spot-trading. PHOTO: BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
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Two crypto exchanges—Binance and FTX—are extending their reach amid the continuing market rout.
Binance’s spot-trading market share rose to 49.7% in June from 45% in January, according to data from research firm CryptoCompare. FTX, which has been aggressive in both marketing and acquisitions, boosted its market share to 8.95% in June from 6% in January. It is now the second-largest spot market.
The longer this downturn lasts, the more it favors dominant players such as Binance, Coinbase Global Inc. and FTX, said Charles Hayter, CryptoCompare’s chief executive and co-founder. “The future favors the big,” he said.
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The world’s biggest tech companies just had one of their most tumultuous earnings periods in years, highlighting the breadth of the economic slowdown and how business conditions have rapidly deteriorated in recent months.
Amazon.com Inc. posted a loss for a second straight quarter on Thursday, the same day Intel Corp. shocked investors with a net loss in the second quarter as it suffered its biggest drop in quarterly revenue in more than a decade. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., a day earlier, reported its first-ever quarterly sales retreat, and Microsoft Corp. earlier in the week disclosed its slowest earnings growth in two years.
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Steven Cortez works full time from home as a project manager for Cisco Systems, a job he landed in part through an Uber partnership with a job-training and placement program. PHOTO: SOPHIA WILSON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Some companies are using remote work to bring more diversity into their workforces, by hiring or developing recruits far from the communities where the companies are based.
As more staff return to offices, some employers say remote work remains a tool to recruit and retain workers, including those from ethnic or racial minority backgrounds. A broader recruiting net lets them hire in places with bigger pools of Black and other minority talent than, for instance, Silicon Valley or the rural Midwest. And recent surveys show a greater share of Black workers want jobs that let them work from home, compared with their white peers.
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Uber Technologies Inc. is introducing a host of new features aimed at appealing to drivers as it grapples with a yearlong labor shortage that has kept ride prices high.
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