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Good Wednesday. Robert Mueller testifies before Congress today, and Facebook’s F.T.C. settlement may finally be announced — more on those stories below. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)
The German lender was already having a tough year. Now it has another headache: dealing with revelations that it helped Mr. Epstein move money outside the U.S. for years, David Enrich and Jo Becker of the NYT report.
Mr. Epstein became a client of the bank in 2013, after JPMorgan Chase dropped him, five years after pleading guilty to state prostitution charges. Deutsche Bank provided wealth-management services — including several dozen banking accounts — and loans.
Compliance officials raised alarms about Deutsche Bank’s relationship with the financier in 2015 and 2016, the NYT reports. They also flagged potentially illegal activity in one of his accounts, including the movement of money outside the U.S.
The bank didn’t dump Mr. Epstein until late last year, after The Miami Herald published an investigation into sexual abuse accusations against him. Even then, the bank’s antiquated systems made it hard to figure out how many accounts he had.
It’s the latest black eye for Deutsche Bank, which is under criminal investigation for potential money laundering, has been scrutinized over its relationship with President Trump and is in the middle of a costly reorganization. (The bank reported a $3.6 billion loss this morning tied to its restructuring.)
The Justice Department announced yesterday that it will start a review into how internet giants accumulated market power and whether they’ve acted to reduce competition, Daisuke Wakabayashi, Katie Benner and Steve Lohr of the NYT report.
• The department “did not name specific companies, but said it would look into concerns about search, social media and some retail services — presumably putting Google, Facebook and Amazon on notice.”
• It has not yet settled on a theory of harm, according to unnamed sources who spoke to the NYT. But it has been meeting with tech industry experts to learn more about what that might look like.
“Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands,” Makan Delrahim, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in a statement.
This review is “a separate and next step” beyond news from May in which the Justice Department and the F.T.C. split up potential antitrust investigations into Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
The announcement is unusual, according to Sam Weinstein, a former antitrust official at the Justice Department, who said that the agency tended to keep investigations under wraps. The openness may signal that “it wants to respond to concerns about the growing power of tech giants and to let their competitors know that the door is open for complaints,” according to the NYT.
The long-awaited $5 billion settlement between Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission is expected to land today. It could contain a few surprises.
• Mark Zuckerberg may have to “personally certify that the company is taking steps to protect consumer privacy” on a quarterly basis as part of the deal, according to the WSJ. “A false statement in such a certification would be subject to potential penalties.”
• An accompanying complaint from the F.T.C. may accuse the company of using users’ phone numbers (submitted for security authentication) to target advertising, and failing to tell some users about how to turn off facial-recognition technology, according to the WaPo.
The S.E.C. is also expected to announce a Facebook settlement today, according to the WSJ. Its investigation into whether the company adequately disclosed privacy risks to investors will reportedly lead to “a fine larger than $100 million.”
Expect hand-wringing from lawmakers over the news. Many outspoken critics of Big Tech — including Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, and Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia — have argued that the F.T.C. isn’t going far enough to curb Facebook’s power. They will no doubt speak out again today.
This morning, the former special counsel will testify before Congress about his investigation into President Trump. The big questions: Will there be any fireworks, and will it matter?
The hearings are unlikely to produce revelations. Mr. Mueller (who didn’t want to testify in the first place) is likely to stick to what was published in his 448-page report. And most of America has reached its own conclusions on what his investigation uncovered.
Democrats hope for drama anyway. Aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi circulated a memo to Democratic lawmakers with points to emphasize in their questions, focused on the Trump administration’s “unparalleled abuses of power and corruption.” They’re also planning a social-media blitz.
The biggest issue: whether the hearings will persuade Ms. Pelosi to allow impeachment hearings for Mr. Trump to begin.
Don’t expect much impact on the markets. Al Root of Barron’s writes that congressional testimony doesn’t tend to shake up trading unless there’s a bombshell revelation.
Watch the hearings live on the NYT app or at nytimes.com, with analysis from our reporters, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern.
Mr. Johnson became leader of the governing Conservative Party yesterday, and is due to become Britain’s new prime minister today. He faces a huge test in extricating the country from the European Union, but so far has shown little sign of how he intends to do it.
Mr. Johnson’s latest political ascent was powered by Brexit, when he became one of the movement’s most visible cheerleaders. In his speech accepting the Conservative Party leadership, he reiterated that Britain would leave the E.U. by Oct. 31, with or without a deal (though Parliament has already made moves against leaving the E.U. without an agreement).
He offered no clues about how he would make that happen, continuing a pattern in his career of flip-flopping between political views. “He doesn’t seem to have any fundamental commitments or attachments to anything, and seldom knows the details of policy, let alone what he wants to do,” Rob Ford, a professor at the University of Manchester, told the NYT.
One likely course may be to further align Britain with the U.S., given that Mr. Johnson shares with President Trump a taste for political disruption. Mr. Trump is expected to continue dangling the prospect of a trade agreement with the U.S. to coax Britain into leaving the E.U. by Oct. 31. He may also push Mr. Johnson into more firmly pressuring Iran.
And Mr. Johnson faces other huge challenges. It’s unclear whether his government will be able to afford the $25 billion in tax cuts that he has promised along with big spending increases. A no-deal Brexit, which experts say would decimate Britain’s finances, could make those pledges even less plausible.
The incoming European Commission reportedly plans new regulations that would force tech companies to remove illegal content from their platforms, the FT reports.
• The laws would subject tech companies to “notice and take down” orders that would force the removal of illegal content, or impose fines.
• “Hate speech, other illegal content and political advertising” could fall under the rules.
• It may also see a the creation of a dedicated E.U. tech regulator to enforce the legislation.
• The Digital Services Act is reportedly scheduled to be unveiled at the end of next year.
It would be the broadest regulation of content on a global basis. It’s undoubtedly spurred by the creation in Britain, France and Germany of their own national rules to regulate content, in the wake of scandals about political disinformation and extremist content.
And remember: The E.U. does not mess around in such matters. Its sweeping privacy law, introduced last year, can severely punish companies for violations. There’s little reason to expect the content rules to be any different.
The Spanish bank Santander plans to fight Andrea Orcel in court if he sues the company for withdrawing its offer to make him C.E.O.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has reportedly approached Ian Stuart, the head of HSBC’s British operations, for its C.E.O. position.
Martin Gilbert will step down from the board of Standard Life Aberdeen as he becomes chairman of the British upstart bank Revolut.
Jodi Rudoren, a senior editor at the NYT, will become the new editor in chief at The Forward, the Jewish news publication.
Deals
• WeWork is said to be considering going public in September, earlier than expected. (WSJ)
• Dish Network is reportedly near a $5 billion deal to buy assets from T-Mobile and Sprint, which would help the telecoms seal their merger. (Bloomberg)
• Beijing Auto said it would buy a 5 percent stake in Daimler. (NYT)
• KKR agreed to buy Campbell Soup’s Australian snack division for $2.2 billion. (Reuters)
• Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, is setting its sights on India and Southeast Asia. (FT)
Politics and policy
• President Trump sued New York State officials and a House committee over efforts to obtain his state tax returns. (NYT)
• Congressional leaders are said to be increasingly confident that a deal over the federal budget will pass, despite grumbling from Republicans and Democrats. (Politico)
• Documents show that Education Department aides gave support to failing for-profit colleges. (NYT)
• Which Democratic presidential candidate spent $12,075 on paella? (Politico)
Trade
• The U.S. and China are expected to resume in-person trade talks next week. (WSJ)
• The Agriculture Department will pay at least $15 per acre in aid to farmers hit by the U.S.-China trade war. (Reuters)
• Apple reportedly asked the Trump administration to waive tariffs on parts for its Mac Pro computer. (Bloomberg)
• The International Monetary Fund reduced its G.D.P. growth predictions for the year, citing global trade tensions. (WSJ)
Tech
• Apple offerings reportedly dominate search results within its App Store. The company denied favoritism. (WSJ)
• Huawei’s revenue growth has slowed slightly, but it’s still at a healthy 30 percent. And the rules about what U.S. products can be sold to the company remain murky, despite White House pledges to clarify them. (Bloomberg, Axios)
• DoorDash is changing its tipping policy, after an NYT investigation highlighted that tips often went toward guaranteed base payments rather than being added on top. (Engadget)
• Anonymized data isn’t quite as anonymous as you might hope. (NYT)
Best of the rest
• The Fed will host its first conference focused on climate change. (Axios)
• KPMG has been fined 5 million pounds, or about $6.2 million, for misconduct in its work for BNY Mellon. (FT)
• Car dealers are struggling to sell vehicles, even once-popular S.U.V.s and pickups. (NYT)
• Central banks are wondering whether to switch up their strategies. (Bloomberg)
• After Neil Armstrong’s death, his sons contended that incompetent medical care had cost the astronaut his life, leading to a $6 million payout. (NYT)
Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.
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