There is a long history of celebrities promoting various products and investments that did not turn out well for the individuals who acted on their advice. (Joe Mont, TheStreet). 50 Cent using Twitter to “pump” up the share price of a business he partially owned is one notable example. (Id.; Mike Masnick, TechDirt). FTX, a large crypto exchange which many celebrities publicly endorsed, collapsed in November 2022 in no small part due to fraud by its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. (Tietrich Knauth & Tom Hals, Reuters; Nathan Reiff, Investopedia). This public endorsement by various celebrities appears to be another example of celebrities scamming their fans...
Read MoreRussia’s ongoing invasion in Ukraine has not only led to harsh sanctions from nations, such as the U.S., but has also caused many companies to reevaluate their relationship with Russia. (BBC News; The NY Times). As of March 8, 2022, McDonald’s—whose opening in Moscow two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized a new era in business relations with Russia—closed all 850 Russian locations. (Radio Free Europe; PBS News). Powerful Russian individuals are also not immune from these reactions since the U.S. imposed sanctions on several “oligarchs” who have close personal ties to Putin. (Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick, & Daphne Psaledakis, Reuters)…
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