a heist, a pardon, the mafia

Bonjour,

On Wednesday I fell ill, but my favorite show was on. Deana and co held down the livestream with Tom from Dragonfly, Dini from the AI matchmaking app Sitch, Paris Martineau, who wrote the viral consumer report on lead in protein powder, and Priyanka, who clarified whether we’ll be part of the permanent underclass.

It’s a very good show, and I can say that because I wasn’t on it! Check it out:

ily,

Writer: Natasha 
Editor: Deana

Our main man loves Polygon.

What does Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, famed Paris museum the Louvre, and Hall of Famer and Portland head coach Chauncey Billups Hornets all have in common? Crime 😘

Crime, in it’s many forms and fashions took over the timeline this week. We’ll go in order of least compelling to most. Naturally, let’s start with crypto.

Yesterday, Trump pardoned CZ, the founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange. In 2023, he pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to set up proper anti-money-laundering practices at Binance. In 2024, he served four months in jail, and Binance paid the U.S. government a $4.3 billion fine.

The pardon was met with mixed reactions on crypto Twitter, with some saying his conviction was an unfortunate outcome of the Biden administration’s misinformed war on crypto. While others are saying, OKAY so $2 billy is the price of a pardon.

Hey, everything’s got a price! Anyway, moving on to the NBA.

A betting scandal involving the NBA and the mafia, is unfolding as I write this.

In total, there were 34 arrests and two major busts. The TLDR: Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested by the FBI in connection with an investigation into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.

Billups was indicted for allegedly participating in a poker scam involving the famed Italian crime families Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Genovese, where players were duped using high-end x-ray equipment, marked decks, and rigged shufflers.

Rozier allegedly threw a game in 2023 so someone could win a bet. IMO, he didn’t need to do all that. He could’ve just used Polymarket. There’s so much more to this story, but I’ll wait for you to watch the mini-series.

While, we are on the subject, I am here and I am asking.

Lastly, on Sunday, the Louvre had a good old-fashioned jewelry heist. In broad daylight, a gang disguised as construction workers stole eight Napoleonic-era jewels valued at over €88 million.

The sentiment on main was, so chic! so fun! so French! so cunt!

Along with lots of chatter about the detective (fake news) and the diversity hire.

All in, I think most of us were happy to feel transported to a long-forgotten time when good and bad felt mostly black and white. Others were just happy to have a Halloween costume.