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They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters — as NBC News reported last year. And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program.

From ‘Biggest fraud in a generation’: The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP.

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Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who oversees Covid relief spending, told “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt in an exclusive interview that Covid relief programs were structured in ways that made them ripe for plunder.

“The Small Business Administration, in sending that money out, basically said to people, ‘Apply and sign and tell us that you’re really entitled to the money,’” said Horowitz, the chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. “And, of course, for fraudsters, that’s an invitation. … What didn’t happen was even minimal checks to make sure that the money was getting to the right people at the right time.”

From ‘Biggest fraud in a generation’: The looting of the Covid relief program known as PPP.

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“Nothing like this has ever happened before,” said Matthew Schneider, a former U.S. attorney from Michigan who is now with Honigman LLP. “It is the biggest fraud in a generation.”

At the root of all of these frauds is a broken identity system in which individuals and companies can 

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the plan agreed by Yellen and Draghi to freeze a large part of Moscow’s $643bn of foreign currency reserves was something very different: they were effectively declaring financial war on Russia

From Weaponisation of finance: how the west unleashed ‘shock and awe’ on Russia | Financial Times.

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Early Warning Services, LLC and seven of the largest banks in the US introduce Authentify, a new identity verification service for consumers and businesses. While on a participating business’ website or app, consumers can choose to be redirected to log into their online or mobile banking experience. The consumer can then share their bank-trusted data with that company, helping them streamline their identity verification process.

From Early Warning Announces Authentify, a New Identity Verification Service.

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We’ll ask you for your consent each time you use the U.S. Bank Mobile App to verify your identity when connecting to companies or online services. After you opt in and confirm the accuracy of your information, we’ll encrypt and securely pass it to the company or government entity of your choice, enabling you to sign up or access new accounts and services using trusted personal information from U.S. Bank.

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Congrats to Early Warning and their participating banks in the Launch of the Authentify wallet a service 6 yrs in the making and driven by my good friend and former EWS president Eric Woodward.

From Authentify – Bank ID Service – Noyes Payments Blog.

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This is an obvious reason why JPMC is behind the service, as processor of 70% of eCom transactions they can help every merchant and partner (think Sq and PayPal) leverage a trusted identity and open an account.

From Authentify – Bank ID Service – Noyes Payments Blog.

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Banks have largely lost their data advantage in consumer identity. Consumer trust has shifted toward Apple and Google.  This service is perhaps their last shot to retain it.. In some form.

From Authentify – Bank ID Service – Noyes Payments Blog.

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That chance message launched DiResta and her colleague Josh Goldstein at the Stanford Internet Observatory on an investigation that uncovered more than 1,000 LinkedIn profiles using what appear to be faces created by artificial intelligence.

From The latest marketing tactic on LinkedIn: AI-generated faces : NPR.

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The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has included in its plans for 2022/23 the removal of barriers to to the uptake of A2A retail payments, which it says can provide a “credible” alternative to card schemes.  As part of these plans it intends to investigate whether the commercial incentives for banks, intermediaries and merchants are there to support greater use of A2A payments and to see what it can do to increase uptake and promote competition with cards. The PSR is also working with the CMA, FCA and Treasury on the future of open banking regulation, which will play a major role in A2A payments uptake.

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FTX is seeking to bypass the brokers and use an approach that has evolved in the do-it-yourself, 24/7 crypto trade. In this world, digital assets move on computer networks that have no opening or closing times, or any of the traditional gatekeepers that were required by older technologies.

Under the FTX plan, customers would deposit collateral in FTX accounts — cash or crypto — and be responsible for keeping enough on hand to cover margin requirements at all times. Margin levels would be calculated every 30 seconds. If the margin falls too low, FTX would start liquidating the position in seconds, selling it off in 10 per cent increments or, in worst-case scenarios, offering it to “backstop liquidity providers who agree ahead of time to accept a set amount”. FTX also promised to put $250mn of cash into a guarantee fund.

FTX officials argue that the current practice of asking for margin creates a world of unsecured credit in which FCMs basically hope the customer will pay at some point. Their automated system would be safer, they say. Liquidations would be more frequent, but less ruinous. As proof, they pointed to the ability of their three-year-old international exchange to survive the ferocious volatility of digital asset prices.

From Blockchain and financial markets: will computers push out brokers? | Financial Times.

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Jamie Dimon says competition from Apple and Walmart is ‘intensifying’

From JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Warns That Nonbank Competition Is ‘Intensifying’.

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