Good morning. Bank of America has opened an internal investigation following allegations that bankers in Asia shared nonpublic information with investors before the bank sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stock.

The whistleblower complaint alleged that bankers shared transaction details with investors before a stock sale in India was announced this spring, according to a copy of the complaint reviewed by The Wall Street Journal—potentially enabling the investors to engage in what is known on Wall Street as “front running.”

• Alleged WhatsApp tips: Company records shared with the Journal showed that bankers in Asia contacted investors in March ahead of the deal cited in the whistleblower complaint, a roughly $200 million sale of stock for a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla and financial firm Sun Life. People familiar with the sale said that bankers contacted investors via WhatsApp to share details of the transaction before it was announced.
   
• Front-running: Sharing nonpublic information ahead of a major sale of publicly traded stock is illegal in many countries because it can give the recipients an advantage over others. Investors with advance knowledge could “front run” bets on how shares would perform and profit if the market moved as predicted. The practice is illegal in India, and sharing nonpublic information about deals is prohibited under Bank of America’s policies.
   
• Bank response: A Bank of America spokesman said, “We take complaints seriously and thoroughly investigate them. At this time we have not found anything to support these allegations.”

Getting Oasis tickets was a nightmare. Ticketmaster is again being asked for answers.

Ticketmaster is facing an investigation from U.K. regulators over its use of so-called dynamic pricing for the much-hyped Oasis reunion tour.

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority is probing whether the ticket seller, a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment, “engaged in unfair commercial practices” when hiking prices for the band’s 2025 reunion tour.

The CMA said it was investigating whether people were put under pressure to buy tickets at a higher price within a short period of time, “potentially impacting their purchasing decisions.”

Former Trump campaign adviser charged with violating Russia sanctions.

An adviser on President Trump’s 2016 presidential bid was charged with violating U.S. sanctions over his work as a host on the Russian state-controlled broadcaster Channel One Russia.

Dimitri Simes, host of Channel One Russia’s “The Great Game” program, was charged along with his wife in an indictment unsealed Thursday. Anastasia Simes also faces charges that she helped purchase art and antiques for sanctioned Russian oligarch Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov.

Dimitri Simes, a Soviet-born American citizen who also served as an informal adviser on foreign policy to Richard Nixon, previously figured in a report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign by special counsel Robert Mueller III, although he wasn’t accused of wrongdoing.

The couple maintained a home in Huntly, Va., which was raided by law enforcement agents in August, according to a local news report. They are believed to be in Russia, prosecutors said.

• Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov denied that the messaging app refused to cooperate with European authorities to counter illegal content and said it removes millions of posts every day, his first public comments since French authorities arrested and charged him with complicity in spreading illicit content on the platform.
   
• Canada’s efforts to seize a massive Russian cargo plane are running into legal headwinds, foreshadowing hurdles other countries could face as they try to expropriate Russian assets to help Ukraine fund its reconstruction.
   
• Japan’s biggest steelmaker hoped it could counter China’s export onslaught with a deal in the U.S., where it would enjoy protection from Chinese rivals. Instead, it found U.S. politics was an equally challenging foe.
   
• Chinese authorities have detained several employees of British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca on suspicion of bringing an unapproved cancer drug into the country, people familiar with the matter said.

Ford, Coors Light and other brands retreat from a gay-rights index.

Ford told employees it would stop providing workplace data to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights lobbying group, which spent decades persuading big companies to embrace policies hospitable to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees and customers.

Other companies dialing down diversity initiatives this summer also said they would distance themselves from HRC: Harley-Davidson , Lowe’s, rural retailer Tractor Supply and distiller Brown-Forman, which makes Jack Daniel’s. On Tuesday, Molson Coors also said it would stop working with the group. The focus on the HRC—and in particular its equality ranking—marks a shift in efforts to unwind diversity initiatives in the private sector.

• Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he hadn’t given up on peace negotiations with Ukraine, in comments apparently aimed at the West ahead of a U.S. visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to try to elicit more military backing.
   
• A Chinese central bank official raised the possibility of further relaxing the amount of reserves banks are required to hold but signaled that no aggressive monetary easing is in the pipeline amid growing calls for Beijing to consider bolder moves to revive sluggish growth.
   
• A fleet of new lithium mines are set to open across Europe in the next few years as the European Union pushes to increase the supply of the metal deemed vital for the energy transition in a bid to combat China’s grip on the market.
   
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t changed his stance on a cease-fire deal despite protests and a strike.

• Artificial intelligence and its staggering costs have frayed the nerves of investors, but CEOs still believe they can make the technology pay off.
   
• AI has brought a host of new obligations to the role of chief privacy officer, among them decisions on ethics and cybersecurity.
   
• Before he joined Sorrento Therapeutics, the drugmaker’s restructuring chief hosted a party for the Houston bankruptcy judges who later oversaw the company’s liquidation.
   
• Falling costs of renewable energy have made desalination a more affordable way to help alleviate the stress that droughts and data centers are putting on water supplies.

Rajinder Singh comes to Pagaya from Newrez/Caliber Home Loans, a residential mortgage lending and servicing company, where he served as its head of risk. He also previously worked as chief risk officer for Citi’s consumer mortgage business, and as head of risk/reward management at U.S. Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile.

• Americans want to grow old in their own homes. But pursuing that dream has gotten harder, and is putting huge financial and emotional strains on families.
   
• Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax charges Thursday, heading off a trial that was expected to further shine an unflattering light on his past business dealings and freewheeling lifestyle.
   
• A 14-year-old charged with killing two students and two teachers in a shooting at a high school outside Atlanta was interviewed last year about online threats to commit a school shooting, law-enforcement officials said.
   
• Former President Donald Trump said he would ban undocumented immigrants from obtaining home mortgages.

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