AP Business SummaryBrief at 11:17 p.m. EDT (2024)

Ex-CEO of Nevada-based health care company Ontrak convicted of $12.5 million insider trading scheme

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former CEO of a publicly traded health care company based in Nevada has been found guilty of a multimillion-dollar insider trading scheme. A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Terren Scott Peizer on Friday. The Justice Department says it's the first case it has prosecuted exclusively based on a special trading plan that lets company insiders create a predetermined plan to sell shares while also setting limits on certain trading practices. Authorities say Peizer violated some of those limits when he set up plans in 2021 to sell shares of Ontrak, after learning the company's largest customer was terminating its contract. One of Peizer’s lawyers says they will appeal.

Facial recognition startup Clearview AI settles privacy suit

CHICAGO (AP) — Facial recognition startup Clearview AI has reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights. Attorneys estimate the deal could be worth more than $50 million. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, of the Northern District of Illinois, gave preliminary approval to the agreement Friday. But the unique agreement gives plaintiffs in the case a share of the company’s potential value, rather than a traditional payout. Clearview does not admit any fault as part of the agreement. An attorney for the company says it is pleased to have reached an agreement.

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky denies it's a hazard after the US Commerce Dept bans its software

The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has denied it is a security threat after the U.S. Commerce Department banned the use of its software in the United States. The Moscow-based company, whose CEO is Russian, said in a statement that the Commerce Department's decision, announced Thursday, would not affect its ability to sell and promote its cyber security products and training in the U.S. Kaspersky said the government had based its decision on the “geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns” rather than independently verifying if there was a risk. The government says the firm's Russian connections mean the company poses an “undue or unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or the safety and security.”

Norfolk Southern said ahead of the NTSB hearing that railroads will examine vent and burn decisions

Days before the National Transportation Safety Board is set to explain why first responders were wrong to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside after the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern said Friday it plans to lead an industrywide effort to improve the way those decisions are made. The railroad said it promised to lead this effort to learn from the aftermath of its disastrous derailment as part of its settlement with the federal government. The NTSB will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss what caused the Feb. 3, 2023 derailment and how to prevent similar derailments in the future.

Trump is proposing to make tips tax-free. What would that mean for workers?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s proposal to exclude tips from federal taxes is getting strong reviews from some Republican lawmakers. But major questions remain about the impact of the policy and how it would work. What’s certain is that a change in the taxation of tips would affect millions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 2.24 million waiters and waitresses across the country, with tips making up a large percentage of their income. While Trump assumes that a tax cut would help workers, Democrats have generally endorsed efforts to increase hourly wages instead.

US home sales fall for the 3rd straight month in May amid rising mortgage rates, record-high prices

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in May for the third straight month as rising mortgage rates and record-high prices discouraged many prospective homebuyers during what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest period of the year. Existing home sales fell 0.7% last month from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11 million, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Sales also fell 2.8% compared with May last year. The median U.S. home price climbed compared with a year earlier for the 11th month in a row to record $419,300.

US will gradually resume avocado inspections in conflictive Mexican state, ambassador says

MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. government inspections of avocados and mangoes in the Mexican state of Michoacan will gradually resume. U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar made that announcement Friday, a week after they were suspended over an assault on inspectors. Salazar says in a statement that the U.S. Agriculture Department inspectors “will gradually begin to return to the packing plants following recent aggression against them." The ambassador said earlier this week that two USDA employees were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants in Michoacan last weekend. That led the U.S. to suspend inspections in Mexico’s biggest avocado-producing state.

US proposes rules to stop Americans from investing in Chinese technology with military uses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department has fleshed out its proposed rule that would restrict and monitor U.S. investments in China for artificial intelligence, computer chips and quantum computing. The proposed rule, released Friday, stems from President Joe Biden’s August 2023 executive order regarding the access that “countries of concern” have to American dollars that fund advanced technologies, which the U.S. government says would enhance their military, intelligence, surveillance and cyber capabilities. The order identified China, Hong Kong and Macau as countries of concern.

Newly named Washington Post editor decides not to take job after backlash, will stay in Britain

NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post says that Robert Winnett, who had been named to take over the organization's core newsroom functions later this year, will not take the job after all. The newspaper has been in turmoil since publisher and CEO Will Lewis announced a reorganization plan that led the executive editor, Sally Buzbee, to quit rather than accept a demotion. Since then, there have been several published stories questioning ethical choices made by Lewis and Winnett when they worked together in British media. Lewis announced Winnett's decision in a memo to staff and said a search for a new editor will begin immediately.

Car dealerships are being disrupted by a multi-day outage after cyberattacks on software supplier

NEW YORK (AP) — Car dealerships across North America have faced a major disruption this week. CDK Global, a company that provides software for thousands of auto dealers in the U.S. and Canada, was hit by back-to-back cyberattacks on Wednesday. That led to an outage that was continuing to impact many operations by Friday. For prospective car buyers, that may mean facing delays at affected dealerships — or seeing their orders written up by hand — with no immediate end in sight.