Elon Musk has threatened to reassign NPR’s Twitter account to “another company.”

In a series of emails sent to this reporter, Musk said he would transfer the network’s main account on Twitter, under the @NPR handle, to another organization or person. The idea shocked even longtime observers of Musk’s spur-of-the-moment and erratic leadership style.

Handing over established accounts to third parties poses a serious risk of impersonation and could imperil a company’s reputation, said social media experts.

“If this is a sign of things to come on Twitter, we might soon see even more of a rapid retreat by media organizations and other brands that don’t think it’s worth the risk,” said Emily Bell, a professor at Columbia Journalism School who studies social media. “It’s really an extraordinary threat to make.”

Even if you bracket the chilling effects on speech that such action would have on news companies using the platform, this is just bad business, man. You don’t have to be a professor of journalism who studies social media to see that Bell is making a lot of sense. You could also be a former Twitter executive:

One former Twitter executive was taken aback by the remark, telling NPR that such a threat should be alarming to any business operating on the site, since it indicates that acquiescing to Musk’s every whim may be necessary in order to avoid being impersonated.

For most of its 17-year history, Twitter has had rules that maintained a certain level of order and offered both individuals and organization some control over their presence on the platform.

And while this is current players are just NPR and Musk’s tantrum throwing, it is worth wondering how the stability of the Twitterscape will bode for law firms. Take, for example, Hogan Lovells‘ $8 subscription for the two-factor authorization. Will they keep it up if, due to Musk’s tomfoolery, the only users left after the exodus are the bots and Musketeers trying to blow him? What about if King Twit follows through with charging brands $1,000 a month for the higher tiers of verification? Godspeed to the partner who has to tell their client that the firm still needs to be reimbursed for its Twitter Gold subscription after Elon decides to give the @HoganLovells handle to Cravath because he thought it was funny.

Elon Musk Threatens To Re-Assign @NPR On Twitter To ‘Another Company’ [NPR]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, sign up for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.

This is simply the new reality.

In that context, it's pretty wild to see a lawsuit filed just last week that alleges the CEO of a dark pool operation in the year 2019 is still fond of doing things like asking a senior female HR executive at his company "What do you do for sex?"

And yet, here we sit, looking at a lawsuit on November 8th by Mary Corradino, an HR director and Global Head of Talent Acquisition" at the trading platform Liquidnet, alleging years of sexual harassment aimed at her by men at her firm. The suit specifically names CEO Seth Merrin as a co-defendant, and the accusations made against him in the suit make him appear to be a bit...let's go with "Behind the times."

Like this one for instance:

Aside from the obviously hilarious syntax of the question "What do you do for sex?" this appears to be a rather very inappropriate question for a guy to be asking his female subordinate. Call us prudes, but it really seems like Merrin should have allegedly made some better behavioral choices:

See, again, this seems to be a very stupid thing to say to a female subordinate...in front of another executive...and his wife. This Merrin appears to be an allegedly rather silly fellow. But the behavior is also so boldly unctuous and brazenly horny that it feels almost vanilla by today's obscene scale of behavior. Merrin just seems like a guy who maybe says very dumb shit to women that work for him...

Oh, that escalated quickly. 

When asked by Dealbreaker whether the allegations against Merrin are believable, one former employee of Liquidnet said: "Yeah, that's not a shocker." Another former Liquidnet employee responded simply "100 percent." Both sources were complimentary regarding their interactions with Corradino when they worked together.

A spokeswoman for Liquidnet emailed Dealbreaker this statement: 

"Liquidnet does not tolerate sexual harassment or discrimination. We take such claims very seriously and believe they run completely counter to the culture of our company. But believing this is not enough, which is why we will continue our independent investigation to objectively and thoroughly address these allegations. Based on the information reviewed to date, we believe that these claims have no merit and we intend to vigorously defend against them." 

According to that spokeswoman, the investigation is being handled by a third party and overseen by Liquidnet's General Counsel.

Per CNBC:

Investing legend Charles Schwab, founder and chairman of his namesake brokerage firm, said he would stay away from money-losing companies going public.

“I would never buy a company like that that has huge losses and no sight ahead of you [about] how you are going to make money,” Schwab said in an interview with CNBC’s Bob Pisani.

No, hear him out, you guys...

“You want to buy companies that have great values. That means No. 1 they have to be growing in revenue and they have to be making money. Pretty simple formula and a lot of these companies just don’t make money yet,” Schwab said.

Who says hyper-conservative Catholic octogenarians can't spit hot takes?

“Some of the IPOs we’ve seen with very large valuations based upon no earnings. That’s sort of an obvious place to look at [for potential bubbles]. You can avoid buying into those things and wait till they start making money,” Schwab said.

Mindblowing investment advice here. We cannot believe this guy is just giving it away for free.

How is this news? How is any of this news?

Charles Schwab says he would never buy the money-losing companies going public these days [CNBC]

According to breaking news from the WSJ, WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann has decided to step down from the company he runs with a patchouli fist and shots of tequila...

WeWork co-founder and Chief Executive Adam Neumann is expected to step down after the company’s much-anticipated initial public offering was derailed, capping a remarkably swift fall from grace for the leader of one of the country’s most valuable startups.

Mr. Neumann and the company’s advisers have agreed that the best path forward for the office-sharing startup is for him to relinquish the CEO role, people familiar with the matter said. He is expected to remain nonexecutive chairman of We Co., as the company is officially known.

Sure, Neumann will retain almost all of the voting rights and essential control over the company, but the board is pretty pissed at him so Neumann will have to be careful trying to exert control over his successor as CEO...who - if WeWork acts like itself - will be his wife, his assistant or his BFF, retired pro surfer Laird Hamilton.

But this is a step forward for WeWork's future. All it has to do now is get Neumann to pay it $2 billion every year until it figures out how to be profitable.

Convicted former drug company CEO Martin Shkreli sued the son of one of his investors Friday in a dispute over losses from a failed hedge fund.

Oh, it gets better...

The countersuit in federal court in Brooklyn claims the son of George Yaffe pressured Shkreli into signing an invalid promissory note for $250,000 after Yaffe lost a $100,000 investment when the fund tanked in 2012.

The suit seeking unspecified damages says the son, Lee Yaffe, told Shkreli that paying back his father “was the ‘right thing’ to do and that Mr. Shkreli should ‘man up.’”

It describes the younger Yaffe as a sophisticated Wall Street broker “who knew Mr. Shkreli did not owe George Yaffe anything” because the note “included a usurious compound interest provision that is invalid under New York law.”

If Martin Shkreli cannot keep his name out of the news while serving out his federal prison sentence for fraud and continues to be a media spectacle who publicly sues people for the crimes for which he has been convicted, we all know how this will end...

Martin Shkreli is going to be the President of the United States.

Ex-drug company CEO Martin Shkreli sues former investor [AP]

In yesterday's Times, James Stewart dropped a bizarre little tale of visiting Epstein's mansion last August. And not to be outdone, our pal Charlie Gasparino just unloaded a real whammy on Fox Business detailing what appears to have been something of a cautious, phone-centric quasi-bromance between him and Epstein.

The whole thing is really Gaspolicious, and we encourage you to read it in full, but the part you absolutely need to see is right here:

Either way, Epstein wanted me to know that despite what I have been reading, he’s not the pervert the media is making him out to be.

“I just want you to know I’m not a pedophile,” he said, adding, “Maybe the only thing worse than being called a pedophile is being called a hedge fund manager,” he said with a slight laugh.

So, YA BURNT, hedge fund managers! Jeffrey Epstein was ashamed of you.

Anyway, Jeffrey Epstein is still dead.

Jeffrey Epstein before he died: 'The only thing worse than being called a pedophile is being called a hedge fund manager': FOX Business exclusive [FoxBiz]

Jeffrey Epstein, the financier indicted on sex trafficking charges last month, committed suicide at a Manhattan jail, officials said on Saturday.

Mr. Epstein hung himself and his body was found this morning at roughly 7:30.

Clearly, the existential relief of waking up on a Saturday morning doesn't extend to people about to go on trial for operating a web of human trafficking and financial crimes, decades of raping young girls, and almost certainly extorting wealthy and powerful men for doing the same.

But while some of you will see the image of Epstein swinging slowly in his cell as a moment of just finality, we would like to caution that Epstein has been on suicide watch for a few weeks and is the most high-profile prisoner in New York City right now, so it's a little strange that the Bureau of Prisons wasn't keeping a closer eye on the dude. Adding in the fact that the list of people potentially exposed to Epstein's crimes are pretty much the exact same people your crazy uncle thinks are in the Illuminati, and you have the perfect recipe for conspiracy theories to flourish before they even cut Epstein's body loose from his bedsheets. Those theories will almost certainly fail to take into account that the Feds were not relying on Epstein's cooperation to name names and investigate whatever evidence they found in Epstein's mansion[s].

This is a dark and troubling moment in an even darker and more troubling tale, but we're sorry to say that we think it's nothing close to the end.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Excited to see how much bullshit we can all attempt to swallow tomorrow

[Wilbur] Ross doesn’t hold routine meetings with senior staffers, according to a person familiar with the department’s inner workings and a former outside adviser — a departure from past practice that one source attributed to the secretary’s lack of stamina.

“Because he tends to fall asleep in meetings, they try not to put him in a position where that could happen so they’re very careful and conscious about how they schedule certain meetings,” said the former outside adviser. “There’s a small window where he’s able to focus and pay attention and not fall asleep.”

Well, to be fair, government work is boring for a guy who just wants to go finish his days helping the Bank of Cyprus do its good works, maybe get married one last time, and never ay income taxes again. Plus, he's basically wearing pillows on his feet...you can't expect him not to doze off now and then.

‘It’s a disaster over there’: Commerce reaches new heights of dysfunction [Politico]

Jeffrey Epstein will remain behind bars after a judge denied his request for bail, an early win for prosecutors that increases the pressure on the accused child sex trafficker and his defense team.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman on Thursday turned aside Epstein’s bid to be confined to his Manhattan mansion, where he had offered to pay for armed guards and wear an ankle bracelet showing his location.

“I doubt that any bail package can overcome danger to the community,” the judge said.

What? A guy with shadily-earned millions, a fake passport with a Saudi address, two private planes, a private Caribbean Island and a proven taste for raping young girls can't be trusted to just hang in his Upper East Side mansion while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges?

These activist judges are out of control!

Jeffrey Epstein Is Denied Bail Because He Poses a ‘Danger’ to the Community [Bloomberg]

But the one thing that we, and really no one, seems to be able to figure out for certain is how or if this guy actually did finance. Considering that the business of moving money requires actual counterparties. We have yet to see one example of a person in the world claiming that they were on the other side of a transaction from Jeffrey Epstein [except Deutsche Bank of course, but it's a given that they would be involved in anything this messy]. And we will count pimping and blackmailing as "Financial transaction" [we call this "Sage Kelly Rules"].

So, let's do it here! We're a well-known receptacle of rumor and innuendo that is morally comfortable believing anonymous sources if they can prove basic legitimacy, so reach out and tell us if you're a person - or know a person - who has done actual business with Jeffrey Epstein. We will tell your story for you.

To keep things anonymous email tips@dealbreaker, DM us on twitter @dealbreaker  or hit us up on Signal at TCM718.

But, like almost anyone who ever invested in Wilbur's private equity fund, or the legion of people who married him, The President of the United States would like everyone to know that his haughty narcoleptic Commerce Secretary is very much full of shit.

The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019

#FakeNews, in this case, being an actual statement from the actual Commerce Secretary. We know that Wilbur sleeps through a lot of meetings, but we have a hard time seeing him going rogue on this.

Even we're pretty shocked by this level of passive-aggressive savagery from Trump towards Wilbur. It's starting to feel like Wilbur might be charging fees again.

In that vein, Gorman's interview with a human Tom Hiddleston acting choice on CNBC presented a nice opportunity to enjoy the man doing his thing:

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said that China and the U.S. must come to a truce in its trade dispute because the alternative would be devastating.

“We can’t have a trade war,” Gorman said in an interview with CNBC’s Wilfred Frost. “It will have a devastating effect to the global economy. That doesn’t mean there can’t be changes to the way the trade agreements are being written.”

Or as we heard it: "Cut the bloody shit, Trump, ya deekhead! Ya don't piss up the world economy just crack the shit with China, ya derro!" Because that's how Jim Gorman really talks but cleans it up for CNBC lest WIlf Frost recoil at the sound of Gorman's "Prisoner accent."

Anyway, The CEO of an $850 billion financial services firm thinks Trump better cut a deal in Japan today. Blimey!

Trade war would have a ‘devastating’ impact on the world economy, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman says [CNBC]

Ladies and gentlemen, we're talkin' 'bout the real-life Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross. Here's Wilbur talking China on CNBC this morning:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross predicted on Tuesday that the U.S. and China will successfully negotiate a trade deal.

“Eventually, this will end in negotiation,” Ross said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Even shooting wars end in negotiations.”

It's amazing really. Wilbur is so bad at this that it's almost an art. This isn't even the first time he's said this borderline crazy shit.

Not only has he decided to go on TV as a cabinet member and start talking about "Shooting wars" totally unprompted, but he's also managing to make it clear that his words are utterly meaningless. See?

“Judge this administration by results,” Ross said. “Don’t judge it by interim soundbites.”

Like, don't really think about the Commerce Secretary talking about shooting wars on the morning news. That's just normal these days, right?

Hey, at least Wilbur has evolved his narcoleptic kleptocrat comedy routine beyond props.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross predicts Trump and China will reach a trade deal — ‘even shooting wars end in negotiations’ [CNBC]

Copenhagen-based Genmab said Tuesday that it had filed a Form F-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential offering of shares on the US market, wherein it would trade under the ticker symbol GMAB. The company already trades on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, officially called the Nasdaq Copenhagen, under the ticker symbol GEN. Its market capitalization 75 billion Danish kroner, or $11.2 billion. It also trades on the over-the-counter market in the US under the ticker symbol GMXAY.

The company is looking to raise $500 million in its US market debut, according to the Form F-1. Morgan Stanley is the lead book runner, joined by BofA Merrill Lynch, Guggenheim Securities, Jefferies and RBC Capital Markets.

The company’s lead product is Darzalex (daratumumab), a CD38-targeting monoclonal antibody partnered with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the blood cancer multiple myeloma. Another approved product it has is Arzerra (ofatumumab), a monoclonal antibody that targets the CD20 antigen and is approved for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia, partnered with Swiss drugmaker Novartis.

Darzalex is currently the only FDA-approved monoclonal antibody targeting CD38, though a potential competitor, French drugmaker Sanofi’s isatuximab, is in Phase III development, with data slated for presentation at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting this weekend. Other CD20-targeting drugs include two by Roche, namely Rituxan (rituximab) and Gazyva (obinutuzumab). A biosimilar version of Rituxan, Celltrion’s Truxima (rituximab-abbs), is also approved.

Drugs in Genmab’s pipeline include two antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumors respectively in Phase II and Phase I/II development, tisotumab vedotin and enapotamab vedotin, both partnered with Seattle Genetics. The company also has a drug in Phase III development for thyroid eye disease, teprotumumab, partnered with Horizon Pharma. Other drug candidates in early development are partnered with Janssen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and others companies, along with about 20 preclinical programs. In its Form F-1, the company said it hopes to launch its own drug product by 2025.

So when the president invited Jay Powell over for a fun birthday dinner [and who would Powell rather spend his birthday with than his underminer-in-chief?], we can only assume that Jay did some real quick political math, told Richard Clarida to get his ass over to the White House, then took special care to say nothing interesting and eat his overcooked steak as quickly as possible before getting the fuck out of 1600 Penn and ordering this:

At the President's invitation, Chair Powell and Vice Chair Clarida joined the President and the Treasury Secretary for an informal dinner tonight in the White House residence, to discuss recent economic developments and the outlook for growth, employment and inflation.

Chair Powell's comments in this setting were consistent with his remarks at his press conference of last week. He did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook.

Translated: "Trump made me spend my birthday dinner listening to him brag about how great a job he's doing despite my terrible love of interest rates, while Mnuchin sat there mouthbreathing and staring at me with those dead eyes behind those fucking Transition shades, so I brought Dick Clarida to witness what was really said in case those two assclowns wanted to really ruin my special day by talking bullshit on Twitter about how I said "I screwed up on rates, I hate them now, you're the best Mr. President and I suck" or some bullshit."

And in case anyone was still confused...

Finally, Chair Powell said that he and his colleagues on the FOMC will set monetary policy in order to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis.

Translated: "Jay-Pow gonna do Jay-Pow so stop trying to trap me in private dinners, you moron."

But by all means enjoy that sticker, you sick fucks.

In officially unrelated news, this happened, just like the SEC warned you it would:

The Securities and Exchange Commission separately said it obtained a court order, unsealed late Monday, that permits a receiver to seize cryptocurrencies held by AriseBank, which allegedly marketed and received the proceeds from the coin offering. The SEC called the deal a “scam” and alleges the company and its executives misled investors about buying a federally insured bank and its ability to offer a VISA card backed by “any of 700-plus cryptocurrencies.”

AriseBank’s ICO featured some of the hallmarks of suspicious deals that the SEC has repeatedly warned about. The company signed up a celebrity endorser—retired boxer Evander Holyfield—and made heady claims about the scope of its business, claiming to be “one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms ever built” and the world’s first “decentralized bank,” according to an SEC complaint filed in federal court in Dallas.

Crypto Hedge Fund Polychain Says It Won’t Proceed With IPO [Bloomberg]
SEC Moves to Stop $600 Million Digital Coin Offering [WSJ]

Bernie Sanders, after a rough primary night, said in an interview that he would lay off hundreds of campaign workers https://t.co/LMEBY7cS4b

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 27, 2016