This Bill Could Destroy Uber's Unsustainable Business Model

An unholy alliance of on-demand companies is desperately trying to stop a California bill from reclassifying their independent contractors as employees.

Last week, the California Senate's Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee held a hearing and passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which promises to make it harder for companies to claim workers are independent contractors and increase the operating expenses of Uber, Lyft, and other on-demand companies that already find themselves unable to turn a profit.

Undeterred, Uber and Lyft have managed to patch together a coalition of driver support, thanks in part to a manipulative campaign where they sent out a vague petition using their apps prompting drivers to "fight for driver flexibility and independence." Drivers later revealed they did not know what the petition was for and did not think they were able to opt-out of signing it. read more »

Class action lawyers probe Rio's Mongolian maelstrom

A bad week for Rio Tinto and Canada's Turquoise Hill Resources just got worse, with a US law firm flagging that it was investigating market disclosures surrounding the Mongolian mine that both companies have invested in.

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP has invited shareholders in Turquoise Hill to come forward if they have suffered losses on the back of this week's revelations about cost and schedule blowouts at Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi copper project. read more »

Former JPMorgan senior banker pleads not guilty to Hong Kong bribery charges

A former JPMorgan Asia investment banking vice-chair, Catherine Leung, pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery in a Hong Kong court on Thursday.

Leung was charged in May by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption with bribing the then chairman of a potential client, a logistics company, by employing his son at the U.S. investment bank. read more »

Brazilian meatpacker in Trump bailout scandal may have been illegally courting U.S. investors, Rep. Maloney says

A Brazilian meatpacking company under fire for raking in millions in farm subsidies from the Trump administration is hiding a federal investigation from potential investors in violation of U.S. law, New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney told financial regulators last week.

The Democratic vice chair of the House Financial Services Committee said in a Thursday letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton that American subsidiaries of Brazilian meat giant JBS have been securing financing from U.S. investors without disclosing that the SEC and the Justice Department are digging into the company’s affairs.

Court records reviewed by The News and referenced by Maloney confirms JBS’s parent company is under investigation by the Justice Department and the SEC for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. read more »