Articles by Austin Weinstein

Wall Street WhatsApp, Texting Fines Exceed $2.5 Billion

Wells Fargo & Co. and BNP Paribas SA are among firms that will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties for employees using unofficial communications like WhatsApp, personal texts or email to conduct business — the latest in US …

Tech Firms Try to Muzzle Workers With NDAs, SEC Tipsters Say

Some top US technology companies are forcing workers to sign allegedly illegal labor agreements, according to complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, despite years of enforcement by the agency against the practice. Firms, including an Apple Inc. subcontractor, …

Signature Bank Faced Criminal Probe Ahead of Firm’s Collapse

US prosecutors were investigating Signature Bank’s work with crypto clients before regulators suddenly seized the lender this past weekend, according to people familiar with the matter. Justice Department investigators in Washington and Manhattan were examining whether the New York bank …

Shell Accused of Greenwashing by Climate Group in SEC Claim

A climate activist group is urging the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Shell Plc’s claims about its investments in renewable energy are misleading to investors. Global Witness said that it filed a complaint with the SEC’s Climate …

Trump Orders U.S. Exit from Pacific Trade Pact and Reset on NAFTA

President Donald Trump abruptly ended the decades-old U.S. tilt toward free trade by signing an executive order to withdraw from an Asia-Pacific accord that was never ratified and promising to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Great thing for …