Apple and Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, provided customer data to hackers who posed as law enforcement officials. The incident occurred in mid-2021 when Apple and Meta, responding to a fake "emergency data request," provided a customer's address, phone number, and IP address to the hackers. Snap Inc. also received a forged legal request from the same hackers, but it is unknown if the company turned over any data. More: - The hackers sent their requests from compromised email addresses belonging to real law enforcement agencies.
- Requests for user data are usually accompanied by a search warrant or a subpoena signed by a judge; however, emergency data requests do not require a court order.
- Cybersecurity researchers suspect that some of the hackers sending the forged requests are minors located in the U.S. and the U.K.
- Last week, a U.K. teen believed to be the mastermind behind the hacking group Lapsus$ was arrested near Oxford, England.
- Lapsus$ was behind the recent hacking of Samsung, Microsoft, and Nvidia.
- London police have arrested seven suspects, ranging in age from 16 to 21, in connection with an investigation into Lapsus$.
- According to people involved in the fake emergency data requests investigation, a cybercrime group known as "Recursion Team" is believed to be behind some of the forged legal requests.
- Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company reviews every data request for legal sufficiency and uses advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse.
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Florida has reached a settlement of over $878M with CVS Health Corp and three other drug companies over their roles in fueling the opioid epidemic in the state. CVS will pay $484M over 18 years, with no admission of wrongdoing. Teva Pharmaceutical will pay $177M over 15 years and provide generic Narcan for 10 years, valued at $84M. Generic Narcan, or naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray, is used to treat an opioid overdose. More: - Allergan PLC, a unit of AbbieVie Inc., will pay $134M with no admission of wrongdoing.
- Walgreens did not agree to settle and will head to a jury trial on April 5 in New Port Richey, Florida.
- Walgreens claims a 2012 settlement covered these recent claims and noted the allegations are unjustified.
- Florida attorney general Ashley Moody accused the companies of unlawfully inflating the supply and demand for opioids.
- In July, several states, including New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana, reached a historic $26B settlement with drug companies over their role in fueling the opioid crisis, which claimed about half a million lives in the U.S.
- The companies were drug distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.
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 The SEC on Wednesday voted to advance new rules for SPACs that would hold them and the companies they acquire to similar standards as traditional IPOs. SPACs grew in popularity in 2020 and 2021, accounting for most U.S. IPOs in both years. In a statement, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler noted that since SPACs are being used as alternative means to conduct an IPO, investors deserve the same protection they would receive from traditional IPOs. More: - The new rules would require SPACs to disclose information about their sponsors' compensation and the dilution shareholders might suffer if an acquisition is completed.
- Also, a target company would be a co-registrant in merger documents that a SPAC files with the SEC, making the company and its officers and directors liable for misrepresentations or omissions in the merger documents.
- The new rules are open to public comments for at least 60 days before the commission begins the process to finalize them.
- The SEC vote went along party lines, with three Democrats voting to advance the rules and one Republican opposing.
In related news: - The commission also issued new guidance to broker-dealers and investment advisors on satisfying their obligations to retail investors and complying with agency rules when recommending investment products.
- The guidance clarifies brokers' and advisors' obligations under the SEC's long-standing Investment Advisor Fiduciary Standard and its Regulation Best Interest rule, passed in 2019.
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Amazon and Google are behind Connected Commerce Council (3C), a nonprofit organization that poses as a grassroots activist group representing small business owners. Amazon and Google are listed as "partners" of 3C on the organization's website. 3C spokesman Chris Grimm confirmed to CNBC that Amazon and Google are the organization's sole financial backers. CNBC discovered that some of the small business owners listed as members of 3C had, in fact, never heard of the organization and were surprised to learn they were members. More: - Grimm told CNBC that the council has over 16,000 current members.
- Until Monday, 3C had three partners listed on its website – Amazon, Google, and Square (Block).
- When CNBC reached out to Square, the payments company said it was not a partner of 3C and asked the council to remove the Square logo from its website.
- According to The Washington Post, Meta, Facebook's parent, was also listed as one of 3C's partners as recently as 2020 but is no longer affiliated with the group.
- Lobbying watchdog group Campaign for Accountability referred to 3C as an "Astroturf" lobbying organization, a Washington D.C. slang for a group that claims to represent grassroots entities but serves as an advocate for big industry.
- 3C has been lobbying against Big Tech oversight.
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Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), a major clearinghouse for credit default swaps (CDS) contracts, is considering moving its clearing operations from London to Chicago. The location of clearinghouses has become a politically sensitive topic since Britain left the EU. The EU has said that U.K.-based clearinghouses like ICE Clear Europe and the LCH would no longer serve EU customers after June 2025. More: - ICE, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, clears about 95% of the corporate and sovereign CDS market, with 85% in Chicago and 10% in London.
- The EU has permitted ICE to clear CDS trades of EU customers from its Chicago business.
- ICE moved trading in 245 futures and options contracts in North American oil and natural gas liquids from London to the U.S. in 2018.
- Last June, ICE also moved its EU carbon trading from London to the Netherlands.
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Citigroup has agreed to sell its Indian retail business to local lender Axis Bank for $1.6B in cash. Axis will take over Citi’s credit cards, retail banking, wealth management, and consumer loans businesses in India, as well as Citi’s 3,600 staff in the country. Citi said the deal is expected to release about $800M of allocated tangible common equity. More: - The sale is part of Citi’s goal to offload its poor-performing consumer business in 13 countries, including China, Poland, Mexico, and Russia.
- The company plans to redeploy the capital in its other businesses like wealth management and institutional banking.
- Citi plans to focus its wealth management business through hubs in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UAE.
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- Apple now allows developers of "reader" apps to add an in-app link to their website for account creation and management purposes. Apple considers reader apps as apps that provide one or more of the following digital contents as the app's primary functionality – books, audio, music, video, magazines, and newspapers.
- Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, becoming the first Republican to support President Biden's nominee.
- Spain on Wednesday ordered supermarkets to limit the sale of some products to prevent shortages when markets are under stress. The move is part of an emergency package from the government to minimize the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.
- Next year, FedEx will start testing Elroy Air's Chaparral autonomous air cargo system. The Chaparral can lift 300 to 500 pounds of cargo and deliver it up to 300 miles by air.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
Pipe is the world's first trading platform for recurring revenue. | |
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