YouTuber Mutekimaru Channel is well-known for livestreaming their pet fish playing various games through motion tracking software, which registers the pets’ positions as button inputs. The fish have accomplished some pretty impressive things during these streams — in 2020, they even beat Pokemon Sapphire after a 3,195 hour run. But earlier this month, their fish did what no fish has (hopefully) done before: commit credit card fraud.
During a livestream 12 days ago, the fish were off to a good start in Pokemon Violet, winning a few battles and slowly but surely progressing through the story. About 5 hours into the stream, however, the game crashed, giving the fish free access to the rest of their owner’s Switch.
These fish committed credit card fraud while playing Pokémon. 💳🐟🐟🐟🐟 pic.twitter.com/w0TgKgJSUL
— IGN (@IGN) January 25, 2023
From there, the fish went to the eShop and added 500 yen (about $3.85) of funds to their owner’s account, even exposing their owner’s credit card information to viewers in the process.
They also sent their owner a PayPal verification email, redeemed Nintendo Switch Online points for a Nintendo Switch Sports profile picture, and downloaded the Switch’s Nintendo 64 emulator app.
Luckily, according to TechSpot, the YouTuber was able to get a refund after explaining the situation to Nintendo.
The 10 Best Pokemon Video Games
We gave Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet a 6 in our review, praising its massive open world and story but criticizing its all too apparent performance issues.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
Mr. Solomon received $25 million in total compensation last year, down from $35 million in 2021. His 2022 pay package consisted of a $2 million base salary, a cash bonus of $6.9 million and a $16.1 million stock award that is tied to how well the bank performs in the next few years, Goldman said in a regulatory filing.
Mr. Solomon’s 2022 compensation reflects the bank’s performance compared with 2021, Goldman said in the filing. Profit fell 48% last year, and revenue declined 20%, largely due to a slowdown in corporate deal-making that had previously fueled blockbuster earnings. Still, Goldman shares outperformed the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index and the broader S&P 500 last year.
In 2021, the bank’s shares were soaring and the bank was minting money in a merger boom that kept its high-price bankers busy.
Goldman doubled Mr. Solomon’s pay that year, an acknowledgment of the bank’s record profits and following a year when he was penalized for the firm’s involvement in the 1MDB corruption scandal. The bank also awarded Mr. Solomon a one-time stock award of about $30 million that year, citing “the rapidly increasing war for talent in the current environment.”
Late last year, Mr. Solomon engineered a restructuring of Goldman’s businesses meant to spotlight steadier businesses like asset and wealth management, taking some of the focus off its more volatile Wall Street operations.
He’s also paring back the bank’s consumer-facing Marcus operations and has admitted that Goldman’s attempts to do too much there contributed to missteps. The bank’s newly created Platform Solutions division, which houses credit cards and other pieces of the consumer business, lost about $2 billion on a pretax basis in 2022.
Mr. Solomon has moved to cut costs at Goldman. The bank laid off some 3,000 employees this month and slashed bonuses for many bankers by up to 40%.
Goldman’s compensation committee also considered the bank’s “continued progress in its strategic evolution as well as Mr. Solomon’s strong individual performance and effective leadership,” according to the filing.
Mr. Solomon’s pay fell more than his Wall Street counterparts.
Morgan Stanley
paid Chief Executive James Gorman $31.5 million for his work in 2022, a 10% pay cut from the year before.
JPMorgan Chase
& Co. awarded CEO Jamie Dimon $34.5 million in 2022 compensation, in line with a year earlier.
Wells Fargo
& Co. CEO Charles Scharf’s 2022 pay also stayed flat at $24.5 million in 2022.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com
“Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” Vanessa shared on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blonde, blonde and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.'”
She continued, “Then in January, he was sitting at the piano. And he’s playing and he’s singing and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, but you need to figure out how you can play Elvis. Like, I don’t know how we get rights or what we do, but you need to play him.'”
Since their breakup, Vanessa hasn’t spoken out on Austin’s now Golden Globe-winning performance as Elvis, though she did take a moment to acknowledge a post that poked fun at his Elvis-like accent that has mesmerized and puzzled fans alike.
As she simply commented, “Crying.”
He’s now dating model Kaia Gerber and Vanessa is with baseball player Cole Tucker.
Image: Nintendo / PNGWing / Kotaku / designer491 (Getty Images)
A YouTuber created an alternative Nintendo Switch controller for their pet fish, which allows them to play video games on livestream. That fish managed to spend real money on some digital purchases while trying to beat a gym leader in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (h/t: GamesRadar). And all of this happened because Scarlet and Violet are so buggy that they can sometimes cause the game to crash to the home page.
Mutekimaru Channel is a popular Japanese YouTuber who streams fish playing video games via an assistive device—an initiative that was intended to help viewers stay home during the pandemic. When a fish swims over a certain area of the “controller,” the game registers it as a specific button input. It’s not just one fish playing Pokémon either. The owner of the channel rotates fish every twelve hours in order to keep them healthy.
If the entire story stopped at “a fish was playing Pokémon on stream,” then I would have been suitably impressed. But no, the fish took things a step further. Not only have multiple fish managed to travel through towns and the wilderness with a specialized controller, they have even managed to spend its owner’s real-life money. I’m a little afraid to think about what else these fish might be capable of. Armed robbery?
ライブ配信でペットの魚にクレジットカード情報を公開され、挙句の果てに決済されてしまった件について
Normally, only one fishy gamer is allowed into the Switch tank at any given time. Once the owner walked away from the game, multiple fish took over and planned their nefarious heist.
The fish had been in the middle of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but the game crashed due to its infamous performance issues. Once the fish was taken to the main Nintendo Switch home page, they managed to open the eshop, where its owner’s credit card information had been saved (and doxxed as a result).
The fish added 500 yen into their owner’s account. Then it used the resulting Nintendo gold coins (a loyalty reward from digital purchases) to buy a golfing cosmetic from Nintendo Switch Sports. According to Sora News 24, the owner intends to request a refund from Nintendo.
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Samsung Reserve
Reserve the next gen Samsung device All you need to do is sign up with your email and boom: credit for your preorder on a new Samsung device.
Be careful out there, gamers. Not only can hackers and other unscrupulous types get your credit card information, so can common pet fish. So don’t put your credit card number on shared devices!
Switzerland’s second largest bank Credit Suisse is seen here next to a Swiss flag in downtown Geneva.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images
Credit Suisse is seeing a sharp reduction in client outflows, as the embattled Swiss lender progresses with its major strategic overhaul, new CEO Ulrich Koerner told CNBC on Wednesday.
The bank in November projected a $1.6 billion fourth-quarter loss after announcing a raft of measures to address persistent underperformance in its investment bank and a series of risk and compliance failures. It also revealed at the time that it had continued to experience substantial net asset outflows.
“The outflows, as we said, have reduced very significantly, and we are seeing now money coming back in different parts of the firm,” Koerner said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
As part of the overhaul, Credit Suisse shareholders in November greenlit a $4.2 billion capital raise, including a new private share offering that will see the Saudi National Bank become the largest interest holder, with a 9.9% stake.
Koerner said the transformation towards a “new Credit Suisse” was going well.
“We laid out a very clear plan, and we talked to all different stakeholder groups in the last three months, as you would expect,” he said.
“I think the plan, the strategy resonates very much. We are in full execution swing, so I think we are making really good progress.”
Credit Suisse has also reached out to tens of thousands of clients in Switzerland and around the world for feedback, Koerner said.
“That has generated very positive momentum, and I think this is momentum that travels with us through 2023,” he added.
‘Zero concerns’ over Klein business acquisition
Koerner confirmed that the reported departure of 10% of Credit Suisse’s investment bankers in Europe was part of its previously announced plans to cut 2,700 jobs by 2023 and reduce headcount by a total 9,000 by 2025.
As part of the overhaul, Credit Suisse will spin off and rebrand its U.S. investment banking division as CS First Boston. The new unit will be headed by former Credit Suisse board member Michael Klein. Credit Suisse is reportedly on the verge of buying Klein’s boutique investment advisory firm.
Koerner insisted that he had “zero concerns” about conflicts of interest, stressing that the bank could deal with the situation “in the utmost professional way.”
“I am really looking forward for Michael to join, because Michael is an excellent banker, he is an excellent dealmaker, and he is very entrepreneurial, and that is why I want to go together with him on a journey.”
U.S. investor Harris Associates has more than halved its stake in Credit Suisse since June 2022. Koerner said he could not judge the firm for its timing, but “we will certainly have discussions.”
Head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had accused Russia’s military establishment of trying to ‘steal victory’ in Soledar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mocked infighting between the Russian defence ministry and the Wagner mercenary group over who should take credit for efforts to seize the town of Soledar, saying it showed “a clear sign of failure for the enemy”.
In a late-night video address on Friday, Zelenskyy said the battles for Soledar and other eastern towns and cities in Ukraine were continuing despite competing claims by Wagner and the Russian government that it was their forces who had taken control of the salt-mining town.
The fall of Soledar would mark Russia’s first significant battlefield gain after months of military retreats and setbacks against Ukrainian forces, though military analysts and the United States have downplayed the strategic significance of the town, which has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in the war so far.
“The tough battle for the Donetsk region continues. The battle for Bakhmut and Soledar, for Kreminna, for other towns and villages in the east of our country continues,” Zelenskyy said in his address.
“Although the enemy has concentrated its greatest forces in this direction, our troops – the Armed Forces of Ukraine, all defence and security forces – are defending the state,” he said.
Zelenskyy then addressed the tussle between the Russian defence ministry and Wagner mercenaries.
“They are already fighting among themselves over who should be credited with some tactical advance,” he said.
“It’s a clear signal of failure for the enemy. And it’s another incentive for all of us to put more pressure on the occupier and to inflict heavier losses on the enemy.”
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had captured Soledar on Thursday evening, allowing them potentially to cut off Ukrainian supply routes to the city of Bakhmut, southwest of Soledar, and trap remaining Ukrainian forces there.
In its statement, the ministry credited the town’s seizure to Russian troops and aviation without mentioning the role of the Wagner group.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has harshly criticised the failings of the regular Russian army, had issued a premature claim earlier this week that Soledar had fallen. He also maintained the fighting there was exclusively being waged by his men.
In comments apparently aimed at Russia’s defence establishment, Prigozhin complained on Friday about “infighting, corruption, bureaucracy and officials who want to stay in their positions”, as well as what he called constant attempts to “steal victory” from Wagner.
In response, Russia’s defence ministry late on Friday issued a second statement seeking “to clarify” the situation and acknowledging the role of Wagner Group fighters in Soledar.
“As for the direct storming of Soledar’s city quarters occupied by the armed forces of Ukraine, this combat task was successfully accomplished by the courageous and selfless actions of volunteers from the Wagner assault detachments,” the defence ministry said.
The Kyiv Independent news outlet noted that the competition for credit between the Russian forces had not gone unnoticed in Ukraine, with Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the president’s office, saying on Twitter that the “public rumble” over “who is fighting better” in Soledar was “a good sign of the beginning of the stunning end”.
A public rumble started between 🇷🇺 fake news agency (MoD) & military-criminal ultras (Prigozhin/Zolotov/Surovikin) about who is fighting better on the 11th month of the 3-day war & who will sow Soledar with their corpses the most. A good sign of the beginning of the stunning end!
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) January 13, 2023
Russia has allowed Prigozhin to recruit tens of thousands of its prisoners for Wagner, which US officials say is a 50,000-strong force, and let him equip them with tanks, aircraft and missile defence systems.
According to Reuters, the Kremlin has also stood by while the Wagner boss has flung sometimes profane criticism at Russia’s top brass, although some Western military analysts suggested the recent appointment of the most senior Russian general to lead the war in Ukraine was designed to balance Prigozhin’s influence.
Despite its sometimes publicly strained ties with the Russian defence ministry, some Western military analysts suspect Wagner is closely affiliated with it.
One source close to the Russian authorities, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters the Kremlin viewed Prigozhin as a useful operator but maintained unspecified safeguards in terms of his growing power.
“There is a ceiling (of growth) and mechanisms in place,” said the source, who declined to provide more details.
said a big chunk of its consumer lending business has lost about $3 billion since 2020, revealing for the first time the costly toll of the Wall Street giant’s Main Street push.
Ahead of fourth-quarter earnings next week, Goldman released financial information that reflects its new reporting structure. The bank in October announced a sweeping reorganization that combined its flagship investment-banking and trading businesses into one unit, while merging asset and wealth management into another.
Marcus, Goldman’s consumer-banking arm, launched in 2016 to a strong start.
Rivals
JPMorgan Chase
& Co. and
Bank of America Corp.
were posting big profits on the back of strong consumer businesses that carried them through rocky stretches in their Wall Street operations. Goldman, long reliant on its gold-plated investment banking and trading arms, wanted in on the action.
The bank rolled out savings accounts, personal loans and credit cards. Its 2019 credit-card partnership with
Apple Inc.
signaled its ambitions to be a big player in the business.
Goldman invested billions of dollars in Marcus. But it struggled to bulk up the credit-card business following an early win with the Apple Card. A long-awaited checking account never materialized.
Economists and financial analysts look at bank earnings to get a sense of the economy’s health. WSJ’s Telis Demos explains how inflation as well as recession concerns can be reflected in their results. Illustration: Lorie Hirose
The consumer unit was never profitable. In October, Goldman formally scaled back its plan to bank the masses.
The reshuffling parceled out the consumer business to different parts of the bank.
Before the shift, it was under the same umbrella as Goldman’s wealth-management division.
Much of Marcus will be folded into Goldman’s new asset and wealth management unit. Some pieces, including its credit-card partnerships with Apple and
General Motors Co.
, as well as specialty lender GreenSky, are moving into a new unit called Platform Solutions.
Goldman on Friday disclosed that its Platform Solutions unit lost $1.2 billion on a pretax basis in the nine months that ended in September 2022. It lost slightly more than $1 billion in 2021 and $783 million in 2020, after accounting for operating expenses and money set aside to cover possible losses on loans. The unit also includes transaction banking, with services such as enabling banks to send payments to each other, vendors and elsewhere.
Goldman shares closed up about 1% Friday at $374.
The bank said it set aside $942 million during the first nine months of 2022 for credit losses in Platform Solutions, up 35% from full-year 2021. Operating expenses for the division increased 27% during this period. After hovering around record lows for much of the pandemic, consumer delinquencies are rising across the industry.
Net revenue for Platform Solutions’ consumer platforms segment, which reflects credit cards and GreenSky, totaled $743 million during the first nine months of 2022, up 75% from all of 2021 and up 295% from 2020. Goldman completed its acquisition of GreenSky last year.
The disclosure didn’t reveal financial details for Goldman’s consumer deposit accounts, personal loans and other parts of Marcus. Those business lines are included in the firm’s asset and wealth management division, which is profitable, and aren’t material to the firm’s overall profits, according to people familiar with the matter.
Goldman is in the process of winding down personal loans, according to people familiar with the matter. It will be ending its checking account pilot for employees, one of the people said, while it considers other ways to offer the product. One possible option is pitching the checking account to workplace and personal-wealth clients.
As recently as the summer, Goldman executives were saying the checking account would unlock new business opportunities for the bank.
Marcus has been a divisive topic at Goldman. Some partners, senior executives and investors were against continuing to pour billions of dollars into the effort, in particular for checking accounts and other products that Goldman would be developing on its own.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com and Charley Grant at charles.grant@wsj.com
Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at Manhattan federal court on January 3.Gotham/GC Images
Bankruptcy lawyers said Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda had access to a $65 billion credit line from FTX.
The customer loans were made available via a backdoor created by FTX cofounder Gary Wang, they said.
The money was used for luxury purchases like planes, parties, and political donations, the court heard.
Sam Bankman-Fried instructed his FTX cofounder Gary Wang to create a “secret” backdoor to enable his trading firm Alameda to borrow $65 billion of clients’ money from the exchange without their permission, the Delaware bankruptcy court was told Wednesday.
Wang was told to create a “backdoor, a secret way for Alameda to borrow from customers on the exchange without permission,” said FTX lawyer Andrew Dietderich.
“Mr. Wang created this back door by inserting a single number into millions of lines of code for the exchange, creating a line of credit from FTX to Alameda, to which customers did not consent,” he added. “And we know the size of that line of credit. It was $65 billion.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) made similar allegations when it brought charges against Wang in December. But the value of that line of credit hasn’t been discussed before now. The CFTC then described it as “virtually unlimited.”
And in November, Reuters cited unnamed sources as saying that Bankman-Fried had moved $10 billion between the two companies, with a further $2 billion still unaccounted for.
Dietderich told the court that with the $65 billion back door, Alameda “bought planes, houses, threw parties, made political donations.”
Bankman-Fried is the second-highest donor to Democratic causes, but says he donated just as much to Republicans using “dark” money.
$256.3 million of Bahamian real estate was also registered in FTX’s name – including 15 condos in the same building. Other court filings say FTX spent $6.9 million on “meals and entertainment” in just nine months.
Dietderich said the rest of the money went towards personal loans, sponsorships, and investments.
“We know that all this has left a shortfall, in value to repay customers and creditors,” he added. That amount “will depend on the size of the claims pool and our recovery efforts.”
The court heard that FTX had so far recovered $5 billion of cash, crypto, and securities, with “plans to monetize over 300 other non-strategic investments” worth $4.6 billion.
Bankman-Fried’s attorney did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.
Correction: January 13, 2023 — A headline in an earlier version of this story mischaracterized a figure cited in bankruptcy court. An FTX attorney said Sam Bankman-Fried had access to a $65 billion credit line from FTX, not that he borrowed that amount.
Converting your monthly billpay to paperless can result in “over $1,000 a year in savings”, according to an expert.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
The No. 1 financial new year’s resolution for 2023 is to boost savings, according to a recent Bank of America survey. And while building a savings account has never been easy, many savings accounts are now paying more than they have in a decade (see the highest savings rates you may get now here). That means that, at least on the interest-earning side of things, you’ll be able to boost your balance easier.
Here are simple steps that financial pros say you can take to save more in 2023.
1. Open a high-yield savings account
The national average annual percentage yield, or APY, for a conventional savings account these days is 0.30%, according to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) data. Taking advantage of a high-yield savings account like one of these, on the other hand, can deliver an average APY of around 3% or more.
Amy Hubble, principal investment advisor at Radix Financial in Oklahoma City, said for those with savings still parked in a low yielding bank account, now is the time to act. “Now that interest rates have increased, many online savings accounts through banks such as Capital One or SoFi can offer rates of over 3.5%,” she said.
MaxMyInterest CEO Gary Zimmerman says it’s also critical to read the fine print attached to any of those accounts. “Make sure your money is held directly in your own name, in your own FDIC-insured savings accounts,” and Zimmerman says to “be wary of Fintech apps or cryptocurrency platforms that promise high yield; there is often a catch.”
Another area to consider are fees, Zimmerman adds. “If there is a monthly fee on a bank account, it’s a sign that the bank doesn’t want your business.”
2. Play it smart with that holiday bonus
With the 2022 holiday season now behind us, Hubble says that those who were fortunate enough to have an employer who offered holiday bonuses should likely use it to boost their savings account. “Make sure that a portion of any bonuses or gifts you receive go towards your savings goals so that by this time next year, you’re not again making a pledge to begin saving,” he says. (See the highest savings rates you may get now here.)
3. Exceed your employer match
A Vanguard report found that the average employer match is somewhere in the ballpark of 4.5%, but Hubble says that isn’t necessarily enough. “Many employers will also match a portion of your contributions, but a mistake many people make is by limiting their contributions to the amount of the match, often 3% to 5%,” says Hubble, adding that “all Americans need to be saving at least 10% of their income, regardless of your age.”
And in 2023, maxing out your contribution limits for both 401(k)s and IRAs is even more lucrative. Employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan can now contribute as much as $22,500 per year, according to the IRS. That’s 2,000 more than in 2022. For IRAs, contribution limits increased to $6,500, up from $6,000.
4. Go paperless
It may be small, but it’s an easy way to save money, so we’re including it: Convert your billpay to paperless, says Bunio. Everyone from cell phone companies to insurance companies to financial companies offer discounts to those who opt out of paper statements.
5. Set long-term goals
Although financial markets largely posted losses this past year, the longer term results tell a different tale. Take the S&P 500 for instance. Its year-to-date figures, as measured by the SPDR S&P 500 EST Trust, also known as SPY, posted a loss of 18.04% as of Dec. 26, according to Morningstar. Over the past 10 years, however, the tracker had an annualized gain of 12.45%.
Jeanne Sutton, certified financial planner and managing director at Strategic Retirement Partners, in Nashville, says figures like that are just why it’s critical to set long-term investment goals and not focus on the short-term turmoil.
“A long-term diversified investment strategy, supported by a financial plan, is optimal for almost everyone,” Sutton says, adding that it’s also important for savers to “pay particular attention to time horizon,” and “not necessarily time to retirement.” She adds that it’s important for people to understand that “the day you plan to actually start distributing from your accounts may be very different than your actual retirement date. This same goes for younger investors saving for shorter goals, like a first home or kids college.”
6. Deal with your insurance coverage
Whether it’s medical, car, disability, homeowners or another kind of insurance, many of us get a plan and then stick with it for years and years to come. And that means many of us are overpaying. Switch providers, and you might be able to save you hundreds of dollars per year.
Even if you’re happy with your provider, it’s still worth looking at your coverage. “One should always look at what their current plans cover. What are they getting out of it for the monthly cost,” says Nicholas Bunio, a certified financial planner with Retirement Wealth Advisors in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
The average 40-year-old adult in 2023 will spend $477 per month on health insurance, according to a Money Geek report. And while there’s no arguing the importance of health coverage, there is such a thing as being in the wrong plan, says Bunio. “For example, my parents are on Medicare,” Bunio says, adding that “their Part C plan also covers dental. Yet, they were paying $70 per month for a separate dental plan. Eliminating this extra plan is almost $900 per year in savings!”
7. Make a budget that plans for ‘fun along the way’
Tess Zigo, an LPL advisor, says the most critical factor of all when setting up a comprehensive spending plan is to “create your spending plan that encompasses enjoying yourself today, whether it’s through travel or other things that matter to you.” She adds that “being responsible with money doesn’t mean you have to pinch pennies and only save. If you’re not having fun along the way, it defeats the purpose.”
The advice, recommendations or rankings expressed in this article are those of MarketWatch Picks, and have not been reviewed or endorsed by our commercial partners.
Bahamas securities regulators said they seized digital assets valued at $3.5 billion from FTX’s local operation in mid-November as the cryptocurrency exchange spiraled toward collapse, a figure that FTX’s U.S. managers cast doubt on Friday.
Christina Rolle, executive director of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, said in an affidavit made public Thursday that the commission sought control of the crypto assets held by FTX Digital Markets Ltd. last month after FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried told local authorities under oath about a hacking attempt. Her affidavit, filed with the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, also confirmed that the Securities Commission relied on Mr. Bankman-Fried and another FTX co-founder, Gary Wang, to make the transfers happen.
