Alexander Saeedy

It's as much of the company's performance as it is, one, the world's richest man owns this company, and two, he's now very close with the most powerful man in the United States, the president.

It's as much of the company's performance as it is, one, the world's richest man owns this company, and two, he's now very close with the most powerful man in the United States, the president.

Advertisers started to signal that they weren't sure that they wanted to keep advertising on Twitter, soon to be X, because of the new ownership. The financial picture just really deteriorated, and that was true for about two years now.

Advertisers started to signal that they weren't sure that they wanted to keep advertising on Twitter, soon to be X, because of the new ownership. The financial picture just really deteriorated, and that was true for about two years now.

Where is he?

Where is he?

Musk capitalized on a wave of investor enthusiasm for him and his companies. Because of his alliance with President Trump, you know, there's a lot of Trump trades happening around that time. And in a way, X kind of looked like another Trump trade. And I think that that's what people felt really positive about.

Musk capitalized on a wave of investor enthusiasm for him and his companies. Because of his alliance with President Trump, you know, there's a lot of Trump trades happening around that time. And in a way, X kind of looked like another Trump trade. And I think that that's what people felt really positive about.

On the advertiser front, I mean, what you saw was advertisers who hadn't been on the platform in a while were willing to come back. I mean, most notably, Amazon announced that they would come back, which is a major shift after pulling advertising more than a year ago.

On the advertiser front, I mean, what you saw was advertisers who hadn't been on the platform in a while were willing to come back. I mean, most notably, Amazon announced that they would come back, which is a major shift after pulling advertising more than a year ago.

Apple also is ramping up ad spending on X. So without a doubt, you're seeing the momentum from advertisers move in a positive direction.

Apple also is ramping up ad spending on X. So without a doubt, you're seeing the momentum from advertisers move in a positive direction.

Not only does Musk now have, like, financial power and commercial power, he's got political power. You know, X also had a little bit of a stick, too, you know? They could say, hey, we are really close with the administration now. You gotta, like, respect us.

Not only does Musk now have, like, financial power and commercial power, he's got political power. You know, X also had a little bit of a stick, too, you know? They could say, hey, we are really close with the administration now. You gotta, like, respect us.

A lawyer from X called a lawyer at this advertising group Interpublic and said that your deal to Merge could face trouble given Musk's sort of powerful role there. So we need you to sort of, you know, play ball with us. Otherwise, we can make your life a little difficult.

A lawyer from X called a lawyer at this advertising group Interpublic and said that your deal to Merge could face trouble given Musk's sort of powerful role there. So we need you to sort of, you know, play ball with us. Otherwise, we can make your life a little difficult.

Well, they did it, according to our reporting. And I don't think it was sort of like, if you don't advertise now, we're blocking the merger. But I think it was more of a sort of like, it's a nice ad agency you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

Well, they did it, according to our reporting. And I don't think it was sort of like, if you don't advertise now, we're blocking the merger. But I think it was more of a sort of like, it's a nice ad agency you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

The way bank loans like that often work is that the banks, while they sort of put the cash upfront, you know, to make sure the deal can happen, they often will sell and cut up those loans and give them to a broad investor base. You know, everything from mutual funds that can hold corporate debt, like a bond fund, to asset managers who focus on corporate debt.

The way bank loans like that often work is that the banks, while they sort of put the cash upfront, you know, to make sure the deal can happen, they often will sell and cut up those loans and give them to a broad investor base. You know, everything from mutual funds that can hold corporate debt, like a bond fund, to asset managers who focus on corporate debt.

And that was the plan on the bank's side.

And that was the plan on the bank's side.

It was the first time that the banks had decided we were going to test the whole market and see if there's interest in buying this debt.

It was the first time that the banks had decided we were going to test the whole market and see if there's interest in buying this debt.

All in, including a series of transactions that played out over, you know, about a month after that happened, the banks ended up selling $10 billion of debt all in when they were only planning to sell around three.

All in, including a series of transactions that played out over, you know, about a month after that happened, the banks ended up selling $10 billion of debt all in when they were only planning to sell around three.

Musk really likes X. I'm sure there must be something about it.

Musk really likes X. I'm sure there must be something about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There must be some reason to it. He's such a nerd. Like, I'm sure there's some nerdy reason. I'd say this as a nerd myself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There must be some reason to it. He's such a nerd. Like, I'm sure there's some nerdy reason. I'd say this as a nerd myself.

XAI has trained itself off of X slash Twitter data, which is quite extensive. And there's a lot of data that automatically gets loaded up to it, financial market data, commentary, news. So one of the advantages I think XAI has is that it's not training itself off of a static set of existing data.

XAI has trained itself off of X slash Twitter data, which is quite extensive. And there's a lot of data that automatically gets loaded up to it, financial market data, commentary, news. So one of the advantages I think XAI has is that it's not training itself off of a static set of existing data.

It actually has found a sort of live database that is truly in real time being updated with developments around the world.

It actually has found a sort of live database that is truly in real time being updated with developments around the world.

It was a really tough deal for the banks. They were stuck holding debt that, you know, while they were getting paid interest on it, they don't want to, you know, have their money tied up in these loans. So it wasn't something they loved. But we're talking now because the story's changed. The story has changed.

It was a really tough deal for the banks. They were stuck holding debt that, you know, while they were getting paid interest on it, they don't want to, you know, have their money tied up in these loans. So it wasn't something they loved. But we're talking now because the story's changed. The story has changed.

People were starting to sort of work for two companies at the same time. Like you started to see there were people at X who had, you know, two hats at once. They were both XAI and X engineers, for example. So Elon was very purposefully, you know, moving resources inside of his empire towards the AI company. It was clearly a big priority for him.

People were starting to sort of work for two companies at the same time. Like you started to see there were people at X who had, you know, two hats at once. They were both XAI and X engineers, for example. So Elon was very purposefully, you know, moving resources inside of his empire towards the AI company. It was clearly a big priority for him.

I think what I can say with confidence is that X is a lot better off because of XAI. There is a huge advantage in having this web of companies that kind of rely on each other and can share resources. Like if one business is going through problems, then you can pull on some of your others to help it out.

I think what I can say with confidence is that X is a lot better off because of XAI. There is a huge advantage in having this web of companies that kind of rely on each other and can share resources. Like if one business is going through problems, then you can pull on some of your others to help it out.

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a very unique transaction in a lot of ways. I mean, one thing that might give you a sense for the flavor of the kind of deal it was, was that you actually had, you know, for X and XAI, they had the same law firm and the same bank advising both companies on the deal. So normally that never happens because...

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a very unique transaction in a lot of ways. I mean, one thing that might give you a sense for the flavor of the kind of deal it was, was that you actually had, you know, for X and XAI, they had the same law firm and the same bank advising both companies on the deal. So normally that never happens because...

you want to ensure that each side is getting the best deal for themselves. So everyone acknowledged that's not typical. It's not usual.

you want to ensure that each side is getting the best deal for themselves. So everyone acknowledged that's not typical. It's not usual.

One key thing to remember is when Elon bought Twitter, he very explicitly said, you know, my goal is to, one, rechristen it X, and then to turn this into the everything app. You do your payments through it. You do messaging through it. You communicate and read the news through it. And the question was like, okay, so you want to do that. How are you going to do that?

One key thing to remember is when Elon bought Twitter, he very explicitly said, you know, my goal is to, one, rechristen it X, and then to turn this into the everything app. You do your payments through it. You do messaging through it. You communicate and read the news through it. And the question was like, okay, so you want to do that. How are you going to do that?

And now it's become clear that the way he at least first sees himself embarking on doing that is by merging these two companies together. And I think that there's no doubt about it that with X and XAI as one, like, it will move more in that direction. XAI can be the, like, computing power that makes all of the everything happen.

And now it's become clear that the way he at least first sees himself embarking on doing that is by merging these two companies together. And I think that there's no doubt about it that with X and XAI as one, like, it will move more in that direction. XAI can be the, like, computing power that makes all of the everything happen.

I think it shows that he can make a few good bets and have them pay off. He bet on the right horse in the election. He listened to the advice that was being given to him to use this open window in the beginning of 2025 to... sell things to investors. And that paved the way for these successes.

I think it shows that he can make a few good bets and have them pay off. He bet on the right horse in the election. He listened to the advice that was being given to him to use this open window in the beginning of 2025 to... sell things to investors. And that paved the way for these successes.

And obviously, I mean, XAI, you know, its interrelations with X have been true for the entirety of its existence. So that was clearly foresight, was seeing a way to bring these two companies together and just waiting for the right opportunity to do it. This has definitely been a good stretch of months for X and X AI, but who knows what the future holds. There's still a lot of risks out there.

And obviously, I mean, XAI, you know, its interrelations with X have been true for the entirety of its existence. So that was clearly foresight, was seeing a way to bring these two companies together and just waiting for the right opportunity to do it. This has definitely been a good stretch of months for X and X AI, but who knows what the future holds. There's still a lot of risks out there.

So we'll see.

So we'll see.

We got Bitcoin getting a new all-time high. It topped $50,000 a coin. Bitcoin plunged by 22% to below $42,000.

We got Bitcoin getting a new all-time high. It topped $50,000 a coin. Bitcoin plunged by 22% to below $42,000.

A cryptocurrency surge that's been gripping Wall Street since President-elect Trump won the election last week. We're talking about cryptocurrency. It's hitting record highs after the election. Bitcoin hit another record high yesterday.

A cryptocurrency surge that's been gripping Wall Street since President-elect Trump won the election last week. We're talking about cryptocurrency. It's hitting record highs after the election. Bitcoin hit another record high yesterday.

It will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the Bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future. We'll keep 100%. I hope you do well, please.

It will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the Bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future. We'll keep 100%. I hope you do well, please.

There are 12 real people sitting here listening and deciding whether or not you're going to really go to jail or not. And when he said it in front of the jury, you could feel it in the room that the stakes just got a lot higher. And I'm not trying to be dramatic. It really did feel that way.

There are 12 real people sitting here listening and deciding whether or not you're going to really go to jail or not. And when he said it in front of the jury, you could feel it in the room that the stakes just got a lot higher. And I'm not trying to be dramatic. It really did feel that way.

Who is making sure that everything at this complex financial institution is legit and above board and the data is real and we know everything that's going on? The events of the Frank acquisition suggest at least there are some checks missing in the work that some of its teams are doing at a very high level.

Who is making sure that everything at this complex financial institution is legit and above board and the data is real and we know everything that's going on? The events of the Frank acquisition suggest at least there are some checks missing in the work that some of its teams are doing at a very high level.

I think everybody acknowledges it was a mistake to do it, but they can also say, hey, we were just lied to. We relied on this individual and the data she provided. You know, we can't always protect ourselves from lies. But I think they at least feel vindicated through the justice system.

I think everybody acknowledges it was a mistake to do it, but they can also say, hey, we were just lied to. We relied on this individual and the data she provided. You know, we can't always protect ourselves from lies. But I think they at least feel vindicated through the justice system.

It was worth paying attention to because it offered a pretty unprecedented insight into how the sausage gets made at arguably the most powerful bank in the world. The big question was, well, how did this happen at the biggest bank in the country that's supposed to be an expert in deal-making?

It was worth paying attention to because it offered a pretty unprecedented insight into how the sausage gets made at arguably the most powerful bank in the world. The big question was, well, how did this happen at the biggest bank in the country that's supposed to be an expert in deal-making?

I would say I did get the answers.

I would say I did get the answers.

That's a good question. She named it Frank, according to a TV interview that I saw. It means I'm forthright with you.

That's a good question. She named it Frank, according to a TV interview that I saw. It means I'm forthright with you.

So that's why it was called Frank.

So that's why it was called Frank.

The bank says that what they felt that they were buying was a list of customers, a highly vetted and high-quality list of customers.

The bank says that what they felt that they were buying was a list of customers, a highly vetted and high-quality list of customers.

It came up on them slowly and then all at once.

It came up on them slowly and then all at once.

And Chase says, great, why don't we run a test marketing campaign with a portion of the total users, just see what the results are, and we'll iterate our marketing campaigns from there. And as the executives testified, only 28% of the emails sent in that campaign even delivered to an inbox. And the average for a Chase marketing campaign is 99%.

And Chase says, great, why don't we run a test marketing campaign with a portion of the total users, just see what the results are, and we'll iterate our marketing campaigns from there. And as the executives testified, only 28% of the emails sent in that campaign even delivered to an inbox. And the average for a Chase marketing campaign is 99%.

So that means that the email addresses in the data file were not legit and likely did not have anything to do with the names of the people who were in the data file.

So that means that the email addresses in the data file were not legit and likely did not have anything to do with the names of the people who were in the data file.

Correct. She was put on administrative leave. The bank ran an internal investigation into the matter. And then they fired Charlie as a result and denied her the remainder of her $20 million retention bonus that she was given as part of the purchase agreement when the bank bought her startup.

Correct. She was put on administrative leave. The bank ran an internal investigation into the matter. And then they fired Charlie as a result and denied her the remainder of her $20 million retention bonus that she was given as part of the purchase agreement when the bank bought her startup.

She told him, this is the whole synthetic data thing, we have this seed data set of 300,000 profiles. We want you to create a larger data file with 4 million profiles, but whose characteristics are identical to the seed file. So he just thought he was doing a, you know, consulting project outside of his normal tasks as a professor.

She told him, this is the whole synthetic data thing, we have this seed data set of 300,000 profiles. We want you to create a larger data file with 4 million profiles, but whose characteristics are identical to the seed file. So he just thought he was doing a, you know, consulting project outside of his normal tasks as a professor.

He said, the names are fake. The names are made up. And he said, it would have been pretty obvious if you had done some basic due diligence.

He said, the names are fake. The names are made up. And he said, it would have been pretty obvious if you had done some basic due diligence.

She tells him, I need you to create a synthetic database of containing four million profiles, essentially artificial data.

She tells him, I need you to create a synthetic database of containing four million profiles, essentially artificial data.

The key argument for them was that this wasn't fraud. What we're seeing is actually buyer's remorse. J.P. Morgan, they actually just made a bad investment, and they're really mad about that.

The key argument for them was that this wasn't fraud. What we're seeing is actually buyer's remorse. J.P. Morgan, they actually just made a bad investment, and they're really mad about that.

Charlie's two top attorneys are Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan. They're kind of a team that have worked on a lot of cases together, most recently including the Harvey Weinstein trials. They were co-attorneys for Harvey as a defendant in those cases. So they know how to play things for a jury because it's the jury who's deciding everything here.

Charlie's two top attorneys are Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan. They're kind of a team that have worked on a lot of cases together, most recently including the Harvey Weinstein trials. They were co-attorneys for Harvey as a defendant in those cases. So they know how to play things for a jury because it's the jury who's deciding everything here.

Like before the judges even like passed the mic to him, he like jumps out of his seat and he's like, you wanted to date Ms. Chavis, didn't you? You sent her flowers. You sent her messages saying you have a terrifically fit body. He's like ranting and raving at this guy on the witness stand. You know, the judge is like, can you please move to the podium?

Like before the judges even like passed the mic to him, he like jumps out of his seat and he's like, you wanted to date Ms. Chavis, didn't you? You sent her flowers. You sent her messages saying you have a terrifically fit body. He's like ranting and raving at this guy on the witness stand. You know, the judge is like, can you please move to the podium?

He like knocks over like a computer monitor on his way. He's like kind of out of breath. Like it was very embellished behavior.

He like knocks over like a computer monitor on his way. He's like kind of out of breath. Like it was very embellished behavior.

There was a younger person in their, I think, early 30s who was called to testify, who was essentially a bit of a mid-level employee. She was responsible for, like, taking notes during meetings and building PowerPoints. You know, she wasn't a decision maker, but she was helping the decision makers. And there was a Skype message that Charlie's defense attorneys pulled up.

There was a younger person in their, I think, early 30s who was called to testify, who was essentially a bit of a mid-level employee. She was responsible for, like, taking notes during meetings and building PowerPoints. You know, she wasn't a decision maker, but she was helping the decision makers. And there was a Skype message that Charlie's defense attorneys pulled up.

that this young woman had sent to her boss saying, you know, Charlie's startup, they barely make any revenue. So how can we even know that she's got these customers? And her boss sent back to her, well, it'll all come out in confirmatory due diligence. Don't worry about it.

that this young woman had sent to her boss saying, you know, Charlie's startup, they barely make any revenue. So how can we even know that she's got these customers? And her boss sent back to her, well, it'll all come out in confirmatory due diligence. Don't worry about it.

And now with hindsight, it's like, wow, she was actually asking the exact right question and nobody was really taking it that seriously.

And now with hindsight, it's like, wow, she was actually asking the exact right question and nobody was really taking it that seriously.

And she had underlined segments of that letter and sent it to the whole team working on the Frank deal. And in that annual letter, he actually had a section about due diligence. And he said in one part of it, you know, sometimes you don't need to do analysis. to know if a deal is a good deal. Sometimes you just know. You know, that's me paraphrasing what he said.

And she had underlined segments of that letter and sent it to the whole team working on the Frank deal. And in that annual letter, he actually had a section about due diligence. And he said in one part of it, you know, sometimes you don't need to do analysis. to know if a deal is a good deal. Sometimes you just know. You know, that's me paraphrasing what he said.

Well, at first he says, is this even legal? And he then says he refused to do it. because he wasn't sure it was even legal, what was being asked of him. In reply, Charlie said to him, don't worry, I don't want to end up in an orange jumpsuit. It was when the jumpsuit comment happened that it was like, this is a real trial about real crimes.

Well, at first he says, is this even legal? And he then says he refused to do it. because he wasn't sure it was even legal, what was being asked of him. In reply, Charlie said to him, don't worry, I don't want to end up in an orange jumpsuit. It was when the jumpsuit comment happened that it was like, this is a real trial about real crimes.

And Chavis' attorney said, isn't this proof that you guys were willing to rush your work to move ahead on this deal? And she said, it was a joke to my team. I didn't really mean it. But the point was made to the jury, which was that some people knew that things were moving really fast inside of J.P. Morgan. And nobody necessarily pumped the brakes enough to double-check all the work.

And Chavis' attorney said, isn't this proof that you guys were willing to rush your work to move ahead on this deal? And she said, it was a joke to my team. I didn't really mean it. But the point was made to the jury, which was that some people knew that things were moving really fast inside of J.P. Morgan. And nobody necessarily pumped the brakes enough to double-check all the work.

Now, what this firm really seemed to do was to take the synthetic data file that Charlie had created, essentially go and count the number of rows and how many rows had information in it. So it didn't actually validate that the people were real, but they sort of took an Excel spreadsheet and said, okay, there seem to be 4 million people with first names and last names.

Now, what this firm really seemed to do was to take the synthetic data file that Charlie had created, essentially go and count the number of rows and how many rows had information in it. So it didn't actually validate that the people were real, but they sort of took an Excel spreadsheet and said, okay, there seem to be 4 million people with first names and last names.

So the defense just tried to paint a picture saying the bank either you know, didn't care about how many customers there really were, or, you know, they rushed their work to, you know, get this deal done and missed key details in the process.

So the defense just tried to paint a picture saying the bank either you know, didn't care about how many customers there really were, or, you know, they rushed their work to, you know, get this deal done and missed key details in the process.

And then around 2.30, a note was sent to one of the clerks running the court that said the jury has reached a verdict.

And then around 2.30, a note was sent to one of the clerks running the court that said the jury has reached a verdict.

And then Charlie's defense attorney said, well, we want to poll the jury. Because sometimes, you know, these juries give a verdict and you poll every jury member to make sure that there's not someone who's like kind of on the fence about things or whatever. And they polled all 12 being like, on count one, did you find the verdict guilty? Yes. Yes.

And then Charlie's defense attorney said, well, we want to poll the jury. Because sometimes, you know, these juries give a verdict and you poll every jury member to make sure that there's not someone who's like kind of on the fence about things or whatever. And they polled all 12 being like, on count one, did you find the verdict guilty? Yes. Yes.

They went through everyone on every charge and everyone unanimously said, yes, we think they're guilty of everything.

They went through everyone on every charge and everyone unanimously said, yes, we think they're guilty of everything.

Silently. She was completely silent. And you could feel that she was stunned. You could feel that her family, who's been in court every day, were also stunned.

Silently. She was completely silent. And you could feel that she was stunned. You could feel that her family, who's been in court every day, were also stunned.

Hi, so just got out of court. Charlie and her co-executive have been required to now wear ankle monitors. There was two hours back and forth where their attorneys both tried to say this wasn't necessary. In Charlie's case, they said, you know, her main source of income now is teaching Pilates. It's, you know, cumbersome to teach Pilates while you're wearing an ankle monitor.

Hi, so just got out of court. Charlie and her co-executive have been required to now wear ankle monitors. There was two hours back and forth where their attorneys both tried to say this wasn't necessary. In Charlie's case, they said, you know, her main source of income now is teaching Pilates. It's, you know, cumbersome to teach Pilates while you're wearing an ankle monitor.

After a lot of back and forth, the judge said, we're going to request that you wear this ankle monitor. So here we go.

After a lot of back and forth, the judge said, we're going to request that you wear this ankle monitor. So here we go.

it was damaging for JP Morgan in the sense that it showed that some of the people in charge weren't asking the right questions about the investment that they were embarking to make. Now, this deal cost the bank $175 million. That, in the context of JP Morgan, a very large financial institution, is not a lot of money. But it goes to, I think, a bigger point

it was damaging for JP Morgan in the sense that it showed that some of the people in charge weren't asking the right questions about the investment that they were embarking to make. Now, this deal cost the bank $175 million. That, in the context of JP Morgan, a very large financial institution, is not a lot of money. But it goes to, I think, a bigger point

It's as much of the company's performance as it is, one, the world's richest man owns this company, and two, he's now very close with the most powerful man in the United States, the president.

Advertisers started to signal that they weren't sure that they wanted to keep advertising on Twitter, soon to be X, because of the new ownership. The financial picture just really deteriorated, and that was true for about two years now.

Where is he?

Musk capitalized on a wave of investor enthusiasm for him and his companies. Because of his alliance with President Trump, you know, there's a lot of Trump trades happening around that time. And in a way, X kind of looked like another Trump trade. And I think that that's what people felt really positive about.

On the advertiser front, I mean, what you saw was advertisers who hadn't been on the platform in a while were willing to come back. I mean, most notably, Amazon announced that they would come back, which is a major shift after pulling advertising more than a year ago.

Apple also is ramping up ad spending on X. So without a doubt, you're seeing the momentum from advertisers move in a positive direction.

Not only does Musk now have, like, financial power and commercial power, he's got political power. You know, X also had a little bit of a stick, too, you know? They could say, hey, we are really close with the administration now. You gotta, like, respect us.

A lawyer from X called a lawyer at this advertising group Interpublic and said that your deal to Merge could face trouble given Musk's sort of powerful role there. So we need you to sort of, you know, play ball with us. Otherwise, we can make your life a little difficult.

Well, they did it, according to our reporting. And I don't think it was sort of like, if you don't advertise now, we're blocking the merger. But I think it was more of a sort of like, it's a nice ad agency you got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

The way bank loans like that often work is that the banks, while they sort of put the cash upfront, you know, to make sure the deal can happen, they often will sell and cut up those loans and give them to a broad investor base. You know, everything from mutual funds that can hold corporate debt, like a bond fund, to asset managers who focus on corporate debt.

And that was the plan on the bank's side.

It was the first time that the banks had decided we were going to test the whole market and see if there's interest in buying this debt.

All in, including a series of transactions that played out over, you know, about a month after that happened, the banks ended up selling $10 billion of debt all in when they were only planning to sell around three.

Musk really likes X. I'm sure there must be something about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There must be some reason to it. He's such a nerd. Like, I'm sure there's some nerdy reason. I'd say this as a nerd myself.

XAI has trained itself off of X slash Twitter data, which is quite extensive. And there's a lot of data that automatically gets loaded up to it, financial market data, commentary, news. So one of the advantages I think XAI has is that it's not training itself off of a static set of existing data.

It actually has found a sort of live database that is truly in real time being updated with developments around the world.

It was a really tough deal for the banks. They were stuck holding debt that, you know, while they were getting paid interest on it, they don't want to, you know, have their money tied up in these loans. So it wasn't something they loved. But we're talking now because the story's changed. The story has changed.

People were starting to sort of work for two companies at the same time. Like you started to see there were people at X who had, you know, two hats at once. They were both XAI and X engineers, for example. So Elon was very purposefully, you know, moving resources inside of his empire towards the AI company. It was clearly a big priority for him.

I think what I can say with confidence is that X is a lot better off because of XAI. There is a huge advantage in having this web of companies that kind of rely on each other and can share resources. Like if one business is going through problems, then you can pull on some of your others to help it out.

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a very unique transaction in a lot of ways. I mean, one thing that might give you a sense for the flavor of the kind of deal it was, was that you actually had, you know, for X and XAI, they had the same law firm and the same bank advising both companies on the deal. So normally that never happens because...

you want to ensure that each side is getting the best deal for themselves. So everyone acknowledged that's not typical. It's not usual.

One key thing to remember is when Elon bought Twitter, he very explicitly said, you know, my goal is to, one, rechristen it X, and then to turn this into the everything app. You do your payments through it. You do messaging through it. You communicate and read the news through it. And the question was like, okay, so you want to do that. How are you going to do that?

And now it's become clear that the way he at least first sees himself embarking on doing that is by merging these two companies together. And I think that there's no doubt about it that with X and XAI as one, like, it will move more in that direction. XAI can be the, like, computing power that makes all of the everything happen.

I think it shows that he can make a few good bets and have them pay off. He bet on the right horse in the election. He listened to the advice that was being given to him to use this open window in the beginning of 2025 to... sell things to investors. And that paved the way for these successes.

And obviously, I mean, XAI, you know, its interrelations with X have been true for the entirety of its existence. So that was clearly foresight, was seeing a way to bring these two companies together and just waiting for the right opportunity to do it. This has definitely been a good stretch of months for X and X AI, but who knows what the future holds. There's still a lot of risks out there.

So we'll see.

There are 12 real people sitting here listening and deciding whether or not you're going to really go to jail or not. And when he said it in front of the jury, you could feel it in the room that the stakes just got a lot higher. And I'm not trying to be dramatic. It really did feel that way.

Who is making sure that everything at this complex financial institution is legit and above board and the data is real and we know everything that's going on? The events of the Frank acquisition suggest at least there are some checks missing in the work that some of its teams are doing at a very high level.

I think everybody acknowledges it was a mistake to do it, but they can also say, hey, we were just lied to. We relied on this individual and the data she provided. You know, we can't always protect ourselves from lies. But I think they at least feel vindicated through the justice system.

It was worth paying attention to because it offered a pretty unprecedented insight into how the sausage gets made at arguably the most powerful bank in the world. The big question was, well, how did this happen at the biggest bank in the country that's supposed to be an expert in deal-making?

I would say I did get the answers.

That's a good question. She named it Frank, according to a TV interview that I saw. It means I'm forthright with you.

So that's why it was called Frank.

The bank says that what they felt that they were buying was a list of customers, a highly vetted and high-quality list of customers.

It came up on them slowly and then all at once.

And Chase says, great, why don't we run a test marketing campaign with a portion of the total users, just see what the results are, and we'll iterate our marketing campaigns from there. And as the executives testified, only 28% of the emails sent in that campaign even delivered to an inbox. And the average for a Chase marketing campaign is 99%.

So that means that the email addresses in the data file were not legit and likely did not have anything to do with the names of the people who were in the data file.

Correct. She was put on administrative leave. The bank ran an internal investigation into the matter. And then they fired Charlie as a result and denied her the remainder of her $20 million retention bonus that she was given as part of the purchase agreement when the bank bought her startup.

She told him, this is the whole synthetic data thing, we have this seed data set of 300,000 profiles. We want you to create a larger data file with 4 million profiles, but whose characteristics are identical to the seed file. So he just thought he was doing a, you know, consulting project outside of his normal tasks as a professor.

He said, the names are fake. The names are made up. And he said, it would have been pretty obvious if you had done some basic due diligence.

She tells him, I need you to create a synthetic database of containing four million profiles, essentially artificial data.

The key argument for them was that this wasn't fraud. What we're seeing is actually buyer's remorse. J.P. Morgan, they actually just made a bad investment, and they're really mad about that.

Charlie's two top attorneys are Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan. They're kind of a team that have worked on a lot of cases together, most recently including the Harvey Weinstein trials. They were co-attorneys for Harvey as a defendant in those cases. So they know how to play things for a jury because it's the jury who's deciding everything here.

Like before the judges even like passed the mic to him, he like jumps out of his seat and he's like, you wanted to date Ms. Chavis, didn't you? You sent her flowers. You sent her messages saying you have a terrifically fit body. He's like ranting and raving at this guy on the witness stand. You know, the judge is like, can you please move to the podium?

He like knocks over like a computer monitor on his way. He's like kind of out of breath. Like it was very embellished behavior.

There was a younger person in their, I think, early 30s who was called to testify, who was essentially a bit of a mid-level employee. She was responsible for, like, taking notes during meetings and building PowerPoints. You know, she wasn't a decision maker, but she was helping the decision makers. And there was a Skype message that Charlie's defense attorneys pulled up.

that this young woman had sent to her boss saying, you know, Charlie's startup, they barely make any revenue. So how can we even know that she's got these customers? And her boss sent back to her, well, it'll all come out in confirmatory due diligence. Don't worry about it.

And now with hindsight, it's like, wow, she was actually asking the exact right question and nobody was really taking it that seriously.

And she had underlined segments of that letter and sent it to the whole team working on the Frank deal. And in that annual letter, he actually had a section about due diligence. And he said in one part of it, you know, sometimes you don't need to do analysis. to know if a deal is a good deal. Sometimes you just know. You know, that's me paraphrasing what he said.

Well, at first he says, is this even legal? And he then says he refused to do it. because he wasn't sure it was even legal, what was being asked of him. In reply, Charlie said to him, don't worry, I don't want to end up in an orange jumpsuit. It was when the jumpsuit comment happened that it was like, this is a real trial about real crimes.

And Chavis' attorney said, isn't this proof that you guys were willing to rush your work to move ahead on this deal? And she said, it was a joke to my team. I didn't really mean it. But the point was made to the jury, which was that some people knew that things were moving really fast inside of J.P. Morgan. And nobody necessarily pumped the brakes enough to double-check all the work.

Now, what this firm really seemed to do was to take the synthetic data file that Charlie had created, essentially go and count the number of rows and how many rows had information in it. So it didn't actually validate that the people were real, but they sort of took an Excel spreadsheet and said, okay, there seem to be 4 million people with first names and last names.

So the defense just tried to paint a picture saying the bank either you know, didn't care about how many customers there really were, or, you know, they rushed their work to, you know, get this deal done and missed key details in the process.

And then around 2.30, a note was sent to one of the clerks running the court that said the jury has reached a verdict.

And then Charlie's defense attorney said, well, we want to poll the jury. Because sometimes, you know, these juries give a verdict and you poll every jury member to make sure that there's not someone who's like kind of on the fence about things or whatever. And they polled all 12 being like, on count one, did you find the verdict guilty? Yes. Yes.

They went through everyone on every charge and everyone unanimously said, yes, we think they're guilty of everything.

Silently. She was completely silent. And you could feel that she was stunned. You could feel that her family, who's been in court every day, were also stunned.

Hi, so just got out of court. Charlie and her co-executive have been required to now wear ankle monitors. There was two hours back and forth where their attorneys both tried to say this wasn't necessary. In Charlie's case, they said, you know, her main source of income now is teaching Pilates. It's, you know, cumbersome to teach Pilates while you're wearing an ankle monitor.

After a lot of back and forth, the judge said, we're going to request that you wear this ankle monitor. So here we go.

it was damaging for JP Morgan in the sense that it showed that some of the people in charge weren't asking the right questions about the investment that they were embarking to make. Now, this deal cost the bank $175 million. That, in the context of JP Morgan, a very large financial institution, is not a lot of money. But it goes to, I think, a bigger point

We got Bitcoin getting a new all-time high. It topped $50,000 a coin. Bitcoin plunged by 22% to below $42,000.

A cryptocurrency surge that's been gripping Wall Street since President-elect Trump won the election last week. We're talking about cryptocurrency. It's hitting record highs after the election. Bitcoin hit another record high yesterday.

It will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the Bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future. We'll keep 100%. I hope you do well, please.