Good morning. New York defense lawyer Chris Morvillo started his career following in the footsteps of his famous father, and ended it celebrating his greatest legal victory after building a reputation that was very much his own. Morvillo, a partner at the Clifford Chance law firm, was presumed dead after a freak storm sank the superyacht Bayesian on Monday off the coast of Sicily, Italy.

• What happened: The British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch, also among those believed to have died, invited him aboard after Morvillo recently secured his acquittal of fraud charges in a dramatic Silicon Valley case that centered on a company Lynch sold to Hewlett Packard in 2011 for about $11 billion, a deal that was a disaster for HP. The lawyer’s wife, Neda Morvillo, a jewelry designer, was also on the boat and is presumed dead. The couple had two adult daughters.
   
• A distinguished legal family: Morvillo, 59 years old, was born in Rockville Centre, N.Y. His father, Robert Morvillo, was a pioneer in white-collar defense and a famed trial lawyer who represented clients including Martha Stewart and former AIG Chief Executive Maurice Greenberg. Chris Morvillo and his three brothers—Gregory, Scott, and Robert—became lawyers, and all practiced alongside their father at some point in their careers. Following his father’s path, Chris in 1999 was sworn in as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where the elder Morvillo had once served as chief of the criminal division. 
   
• His own path: In 2005, Morvillo went to work at his father’s firm, now called Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello. But while the elder Morvillo could be direct and pugnacious, the younger was strategic and refined, they said. In 2011, the younger Morvillo decided it was time to move in a different direction. Morvillo joined Clifford Chance alongside two other lawyers—Ed O’Callaghan and David Raskin—whom the firm collectively code-named the Three Musketeers.

Also: Mike Lynch’s Sunken Superyacht Is Largely Intact, Italian Officials Say

U.K. authority closes competition probes into Google, Apple App stores.

The U.K.’s antitrust authority closed investigations into Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store as it prepares for the rollout of new rules that give the watchdog greater powers to boost competition in digital markets.

The Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that it expects to consider competition concerns regarding the U.S. tech giants’ app stores under a new regulatory regime after the U.K.’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act was passed in May.

TD Bank sets aside $2.6 billion for possible U.S. anti-money laundering penalties.

TD Bank has set aside $2.6 billion for fines it is likely to face from U.S. regulators because of weaknesses with its anti-money-laundering practices.

Canada’s second-largest bank by market capitalization said Wednesday the fiscal third-quarter provision reflects its current estimate of the total fines related to these matters.

• A former Vitol commodities trader has pleaded guilty to additional charges following his conviction earlier this year over schemes to bribe officials at state oil companies in Ecuador and Mexico.
   
• FTX has said it will fully repay its swindled customers. Genesis Global, another bankrupt crypto platform, hasn’t made such a promise, but its customers could end up getting a lot more.
   
• Deutsche Bank said it had settled with dozens of plaintiffs, meaning a longstanding takeover dispute will likely cost it nearly half a billion dollars less than previously feared.
   
• Kehinde Wiley, the artist whose portrait of Barack Obama catapulted him to fame, is facing multiple allegations made online of sexual assault, which he denies. “The person being described in these posts is just so foreign to me,” he tells The Wall Street Journal.
   
• Shares of Franklin Resources, the $1.7 trillion asset management firm better known as Franklin Templeton, were on pace for their largest drop in four years after the company disclosed on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sent a Wells Notice to a top executive of one of Franklin’s money management businesses, according to Barron’s.
   
• Regulators have fined FlowPoint Partners for misleading investors about whether it used an independent auditor, as U.S. financial authorities continue to scrutinize private-fund managers. (subscription required)
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• Despite deep concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence, efforts to pass legislation to address its risks have been elusive in the U.S. Lawmakers at the Democratic National Convention say they continue to push for an election year breakthrough.

Minutes show Fed officials gearing up for September rate cut.

Federal Reserve officials overwhelmingly said they wanted to cut interest rates at their next meeting in September, with some even suggesting a cut in July.

Minutes released Wednesday showed that “several” of the 19 Fed officials saw “a plausible case” for cutting rates by 0.25 percentage point at the July 30-31 meeting or indicated “that they could have supported such a decision.” Their position was based on declines in inflation and a rise in the unemployment rate that were already showing up in economic data. 

• The Make-or-Break Moment That Will Determine the Economy’s Fate
• U.S. Job Market Was Weaker Than Previously Reported, Data Show

Canada’s railroads lock out 9,000 employees as labor talks break down.

Canada’s two main railroads locked out over 9,000 employees Thursday after they were unable to reach new labor deals with a Teamsters union, the start of a work stoppage that threatens to stanch hundreds of millions of dollars in daily cross-border trade and upend North American supply chains.

The simultaneous moves by Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City sent the country’s businesses and policymakers scrambling to limit the fallout, as they warned of serious harm to the world’s 10th-largest economy unless the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference clinched new agreements.

• Ford Motor’s decision this week to kill a highly touted future electric vehicle is a sign that the industry’s pullback on EVs is deepening. The industry’s cuts to planned EV output have sent ripples through the automotive supply base.
   
• One of the biggest sticking points to emerge from the on-running Gaza cease-fire talks is the future of a key crossing point into the enclave and control over two corridors within it.
   
• Weapons have become a political tool as Washington seeks to bring about an end to fighting in Gaza.
   
• Wages in the eurozone rose at a significantly slower pace during the three months through June, paving the way for further cuts in borrowing costs by the European Central Bank.
   
• The Thai prime minister’s ouster last week rekindled jitters about the country’s nascent economic recovery. While the new leader’s quick appointment soothed nerves, politics still cloud the economy’s outlook.

• Charles Schwab’s biggest moneymaker is its bank. It is also a sore spot the company is trying to fix.
   
• Walt Disney Co. has tapped former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman to lead the search for Bob Iger’s successor.
   
• Members of Walmart+ will soon get discounted meals at Burger King, the latest in a string of new benefits as the membership program chases its far larger rival, Amazon Prime.
   
• Ukrainian troops said they are moving to encircle an estimated 3,000 Russian troops that are hemmed against a river in Russia’s Kursk province, seeking a fresh blow against Moscow.
   
• Hundreds of Mexican federal judges went on strike Wednesday to protest a judicial-system overhaul that they say is an authoritarian power grab by departing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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