In which @suryamattu.com and I try to answer the age-old question: Are we smarter than Billy the Cat, the World Cup-predicting phenom? The answer is, definitively: No.

@agordon.me and I conduct a useless (but fun) experiment. Gift Link: tinyurl.com/cc-world-cup...

NEW: A tax loophole costs the US government $48 billion a year. That's more than the budget of NASA and the 2026 health subsidy cuts combined. The loophole allows ETFs to defer or avoid capital gains tax on winning stock picks.

Full keyword list.

An interesting finding here is that TikTok’s “sensitive data” filter for state health sites is a bizarre keyword list with terms like MAGA, antifa, Teamsters, bhagavad, mulatto, queer, and nationalist. If your answer isn't on the list, it could still get sent w/ @suryamattu.com and Tanaz Meghjani

Rhode Island folks! If you're interested in the intersection of data, journalism, and art, come listen to me moderate a talk with @suryamattu.com at RISD on Thursday, March 5, at 6:30pm.

Stake says influencers like Drake and Adin Ross don’t win more than the average gambler. We ran the numbers, and guess what :) Here's our year-long data investigation into Stake and Kick's influencer empire, with @oliviasolon.bsky.social and @leonyin.bsky.social: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Our Stake investigation found that Drake won four times more often than the average gambler playing Stake's own games. And he wasn't the only influencer getting very lucky livestreaming Stake slots on Kick www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

This is 7th installment in our investigative series on Jeffrey Epstein based on previously unreleased emails Reporting by Max Abelson, @suryamattu.com Harry Wilson, me, @jeffykao.bsky.social and Ava Benny-Morrison and @dmehro.bsky.social Full story at this 🎁 link www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

And as Epstein was directing his high-powered attorneys to pressure the government into offering him a light sentence, he threatened legal action against Bear Stearns and top executives for steep losses.

After stories of Epstein’s teenage victims spilled into the open, Wall Street continued to stay in touch. He had access to prestigious names in global finance, including the investment firm of billionaire Carl Icahn.

They also show that Epstein’s ties on Wall Street were broader than previously known, involving not just standard banking relationships but some of the most sought-after hedge funds, such as Renaissance Technologies, whose reputation for success is almost mythical.

The emails provide new details about Epstein as an investor and adviser, including how he leveraged influence when his bets lost money.

NEW investigative report: "Things will get really nasty." Hedge funds. Brokerages. Billionaires. Jeffrey Epstein’s financial ties on and off Wall Street were broader than previously known, a cache of emails @bloomberg.com obtained earlier this year reveals 🧵 www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

This is the 6th story in our Epstein's Inbox series, which is based on 18K emails we obtained earlier this year. Find all of the stories here www.bloomberg.com/latest/epste...

The lawyer also demanded that Bloomberg “immediately send such documents to the Estate and destroy any copies in its possession.” (Bloomberg declined.)

An attorney for Indyke, in his role as the Epstein estate co-executor, said that his client’s email to Epstein was subject to the attorney-client privilege and that Bloomberg should not “publicly disclose the email itself or report on its contents.”

The email’s reference to “an Arab/Jewish thing” is unclear. There wasn’t a response from Epstein in the inbox.

Three days later, Indyke sent Epstein an email under the subject line, “Important.”

On Jan. 15, 2008, a few weeks after the HSBC letter was sent, Epstein’s personal attorney in New York, Darren Indyke, and his legal representative in Paris, Marie-Joseph Experton, traded emails about the closure of Epstein’s account. Experton said she would try to get to the bottom of it.

Epstein and Brunel clearly had a close relationship, which in the emails is shown through friendly banter about life, strategy about business rivals, Croatian models and industry gossip. One day after Epstein signed the non-prosecution agreement, Brunel sent him a lament, the emails we obtained show

Compliance staffers also flagged that Epstein’s stated business purposes for the withdrawals were dubious. A due diligence review on Epstein turned up “Informations défavorables,” or negative information, on Epstein in US media after news reports covered his arrest in Florida

Compliance officers at HSBC found that the French account had numerous round-dollar deposits and withdrawals were suspicious and bore hallmarks of money laundering and other financial misconduct.

An HSBC spokesman declined to comment. But two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the bank closed Epstein’s account because red flags were raised concerning financial transactions involving young women associated with the French modeling agency MC2 and its owner, Jean-Luc Brunel.

This is part of a series of stories based on emails sent to and from Jeffrey Epstein's private Yahoo account obtained by @bloomberg.com Emails and attachments from that account weren't included in more than 20,000 pages of documents that a congressional committee released publicly on Nov. 12.

The previously unreported closure, which HSBC officials announced to Epstein in a letter dated Dec. 21, 2007, is the only known instance of a major bank closing one of his accounts before he pleaded guilty to sex offenses in Fla. in 2008.

NEW/EXCLUSIVE: A French branch of HSBC closed a bank account maintained by Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 after compliance officers flagged transactions for suspicious activity, including payments tied to a modeling agent later accused of rape & sex trafficking 🧵 www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

Epstein’s Library 📚 Gift Link: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

A cache of 18,000 emails offers another window into Epstein’s mind. Bloomberg parsed Amazon receipts from that inbox—filtering, verifying, and cataloging book orders—to build this timeline.

Reporting this story with @jeffykao.bsky.social Max Abelson, Harry Wilson, Ava Benny-Morrison, @suryamattu.com & @dmehro.bsky.social was a massive effort. There are TONS more details in our report about prosecutors' efforts to follow Epstein's money, which have been shrouded in secrecy for 2 decades

Four days before he reported to prison, Epstein received an email from Wexner A spokesperson for Wexner declined to comment. A person close to Wexner said his email “expressed his strong disappointment that Epstein had breached his fiduciary duties and broken the family’s trust.”

As Epstein reflected on his case, his emails about it became more frantic. On Nov. 16, 2007, he sent one to Jimmy Cayne, the former CEO of Bear Stearns, and his friend the psychiatrist Henry Jarecki. Under the subject line, “this is how crazy,” it contained a litany of grievances toward prosecutor

And he took note of one particular move Villafaña made: "She calls Les Wexner to inform him of the investigation" The former law enforcement official said Villafaña contacted Wexner in an effort to get him to cooperate & provide info about Epstein, his business, his travels and his enterprise

Epstein was incensed. He and his attorneys took steps to back out of the NPA he’d signed. On Oct. 15, 2007, Epstein sent himself an email and attached a word document he wrote titled, “Did you know that.”

On Aug. 16, 2007, Villafaña requested that a grand jury issue subpoenas for Epstein’s financial records dating back to 2003. On the same day, Villafaña also sent a letter informing Epstein’s defense attorneys that she would continue investigating his finances as long as the NPA remained unsigned.

The evidence Villafaña collected was serious enough that she wrote in an 82-page prosecution memo that Epstein should be charged with money-laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to the former law enforcement official.

That was the basis for a potential charge against Epstein of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, according to the former law enforcement official.

At around the same time, prosecutors focused on a pattern of transactions in which Epstein directed some of his employees to withdraw large amounts of cash to disburse to women around the world he was suspected of having victimized

The money laundering probe was opened in Feb 2007 in February 2007, according to the former law enforcement official.

Yet the emails and documents from Epstein’s Yahoo account show that prosecutors in his office discussed the financial-crimes component of the investigation with Acosta and copied him on correspondence about it.

Last month, Acosta told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he didn’t recall any discussion of “potential financial crimes” as part of his office’s Epstein investigation.

The revelation that the investigation had a financial aspect also puts a spotlight on Alex Acosta, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who signed off on Epstein’s plea deal.

The money laundering probe adds a new layer to the narrative about how the govt conducted its investigation. It also raises questions about what evidence prosecutors may have gathered as they followed Epstein’s money, long before the public began demanding a full accounting of his case

Marie Villafaña, who was an AUSA for the Southern District of Florida at the time, even contacted Epstein’s longtime wealth-management client, Les Wexner, the billionaire businessman behind the brands Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, about the probe, according to the documents and emails.

The lead prosecutor requested that a grand jury issue subpoenas for “every financial transaction conducted by Epstein and his six businesses” dating to 2003, the emails show. Prosecutors also subpoenaed major banks for records about Epstein’s accounts and financial activity

🚨 EXPLOSIVE NEW investigation: We uncovered previously undisclosed details about an 18-month money laundering investigation into Jeffrey Epstein that took place alongside the 2007 sex crimes probe, according to emails obtained from Epstein's personal Yahoo account 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

NYC people: @suryamattu.com, @mariepastora.bsky.social and I will be talking about our NJ Transit/NYC commuter rail story on Nov 5. Hope to see some of you there! www.meetup.com/transit-tech...

NEW: Jeffery Epstein's emails, obtained by Bloomberg news, shine a freshlight on how the disgraced financier's elite network supported him as investigators closed in. 🎁 LINK: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

As investigators closed in, elite experts and professionals offered support and advice to Jeffrey Epstein. A cache of private emails obtained by Bloomberg News reveals details from his network. Read the Big Take ⬇️