Contributing Editor &
Research Analyst,
Wealth Solutions Report
Plus Hallucinated Kidnapping With Guns, Talking Head Now Hiding, SCOTUS Hears Arguments On Warhol And Prince, And Advisor Catches Million Dollar Baseball
The news reflects realism these days. Instead of rainbows and puppies, we have runaway inflation, sabotaged pipelines and Vladimir Putin threatening nukes. Do you think Vlad the Irradiator will stop with a few teensy-weensy nukes on Ukraine?
Of course not! And to that I say – can you really make Phoenix worse by nuking it? Those of you in California have your beaches and New Yorkers have your scenic views of the East River, but in flyover country we’re just nuke bait.
People around here talk about fleeing to the desert, but who wants to die slowly of thirst surrounded by saguaros and rattlesnakes? Just relax in front of your television and let humanity do what it does best – blow stuff up.
Do we really not deserve to be annihilated by nukes? Today’s newsworthy items will convince you otherwise – except for the last story, which is bizarre in a fun and random way.
1) Kim Kardashian to Pay $1.3M to SEC for Crypto Touting
“Kim Kardashian will pay $1.26 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that she broke US rules by touting a crypto token without disclosing she was paid for the promotion.
“The SEC said Monday Kardashian was paid $250,000 to post on her Instagram account about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset offered by EthereumMax.”
“In 2018, the regulator fined boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled for failing to disclose payments they received for hyping initial coin offerings.”
Kim Kardashian can afford this. After all, she is a billionaire. But this sends a strong signal to influencers that the same SEC that KO’d Mayweather will not tolerate bad crypto behavior.
However, if you’re Elon Musk you can tout Dogecoin and cause a bubble without facing consequences. The difference here: you can’t just be a basic billionaire, you need mega billions to thumb your nose at the SEC.
To read the full article by Lydia Beyoud of Think Advisor, click here.
2) ‘Kidnapping’ delusion drove Morgan Stanley shooting, Bernstein’s son claims
“Attorneys for Leonard Bernstein’s family are denying allegations filed on behalf of Christopher Bayouth, who was shot by then-colleague Bernstein in June.”
“Leonard Bernstein ‘was having a delusion that he was being kidnapped by [Bayouth] and acted in what he thought was self-defense to protect himself,’ a legal response filed by David Bernstein and an attorney representing him claims.”
“The suit claims that Bernstein’s widow, Sheryl Bernstein, neglected her duties of care given his declining mental state … The suit seeks to recover damages from Sheryl Bernstein.”
People with mental illness shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns. I should know – that’s why I carry a sword.
on elderly widows!
If somebody tries to kill you and dies before the state can lock him up, you should sue to take his widow’s inheritance for your medical bills, because suing your health insurance company is so much harder.
To read the full article by Sam Bojarski of Citywire RIA, click here.
3) Ex-CNBC Guest Analyst and Advisor, Thought to Be in Hiding, Is Charged With Fraud
“A former advisor who served as a frequent guest analyst on CNBC financial TV news shows who is believed by investigators to be in hiding was charged Wednesday with securities fraud on complaints that he lost tens of millions of dollars of clients’ investments and misused money from a purported capital raise.”
“The Justice Department charged James Arthur McDonald Jr., 50, formerly of Arcadia, California, with one count of securities fraud, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, it said.”
We finally have an answer to the question of whether any of those talking heads on financial television go to jail. And the answer is … no, they just go into hiding.
Unfortunately, the talking heads you really want to disappear (here’s looking at you, Jim Cramer) never go away.
To read the full article by Jeff Berman of Think Advisor, click here.
4) Satirical ‘Dilbert’ becomes the voice of ESG opposition
“In a series of illustrations published last week [Sept. 12-16], author Scott Adams criticized ESG, comparing it to a ‘colicky’ baby with ‘firehouse diarrhea.’”
“In one of his cartoons, Adams pokes fun at the ESG rating system with one character saying he can help improve his client’s rating for $1 million. The client asks: ‘Don’t you own an independent ESG rating service?’ And the character responds: ‘I didn’t say it would be hard.’”
Nobody cares when Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett trash ESG, but when Dilbert rolls up his sleeves, an uproar ensues.
For those of you concerned about ESG, don’t worry, no matter which side you’re on. The threat to the environment will end as soon as Vlad volleys a few hypersonics this way. Yeah, the desert may glow for a while, but that’s just part of the process.
To read the full article by Tim Quinson of Financial Planning, click here.
5) Andy Warhol Foundation Lawsuit Hits the Supreme Court
“In 1981, iconic celebrity photographer Lynn Goldsmith photographed Prince, a then-emerging rock star, in concert and at her studio. In 1984, Vanity Fair licensed one of Goldsmith’s photos, which it sent to Warhol as a reference for a commissioned illustration of Prince.”
“According to ABA Journal, Goldsmith claims that she wasn’t aware that her photo was used as the basis for the Warhol Prince series.”
“The issue before the court is to decide whether the second use [of a print from the Warhol Series] – for which the Vanity Fair didn’t pay Goldsmith – infringes Goldsmith’s copyright in the photograph on which Warhol based all the images.”
“It’s a loaded question because of the potential implications for the future of copyright law, with amicus briefs being filed on both sides.”
Andy Warhol and Prince both get another 15 minutes of fame not because of their skills as artists, but because the entertainment industry has lots of dough riding on the impact of the case on copyright laws.
important stuff
If you understand the legal issues, congrats on wasting three years in law school! For the rest of us hoi polloi, SCOTUS will make a ruling about famous dead people and we’ll have no idea what it meant, so we’ll all nod in agreement with the talking heads and try to look smart.
To read the full article by Anna Sulkin of WealthManagement.com, click here.
6) Fisher Investments adviser snags Judge’s history-making homer
“Cory Youmans, a Fisher Investments vice president and investment adviser in Plano since 2013, caught Aaron Judge’s historic 62nd home run of this season on Tuesday night in game two of the New York Yankees doubleheader with the Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
“‘The man who caught the historic Aaron Judge baseball, Cory Youmans, doesn’t exactly need the money,’ a USA Today baseball columnist wrote last night on Twitter. ‘He is a vice president at Fisher Investments, which manages $197 billion worldwide. It may be the price of Judge’s next contract.’”
“Grabbing the baseball could turn into a multimillion-dollar windfall for Youmans… Such souvenirs have at times fetched millions of dollars from wealthy collectors.”
The fact that a reporter might not know the difference between Youmans’ personal wealth and the assets under management at Fisher is all kinds of disturbing. Does the reporter own all the cash in USA Today’s coffers?
Potentially disturbing ignorance aside, this shows that money – rather than ICBMs – sometimes falls out of the sky. Good for you, Cory Youmans! Until next month, let’s end on that note.
To read the full article by Bruce Kelly of InvestmentNews, click here.
James Miller, Contributing Editor & Research Analyst at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at ContributingEd@wealthsolutionsreport.com
