Trump Pardons Another PEU

Trump II's "Just Us" Department continues to release convicted fraudsters based on the instructions of their big boss.  In this case Trump pardoned at least one private equity underwriter (PEU) who'd defrauded more than 10,000 investors.

 

DOJ documents included:

For more than six years, more than 17,000 investors (collectively, the “Investors” or “Limited Partners”) in the managed private funds (or, as defined herein, the “Partnerships”) of GPB Capital Holdings, LLC (“GPB Capital”), have been waiting to receive returns of any kind on their investments. 

Distributions and returns of capital were abruptly halted in 2018 amidst numerous investigations of GPB Capital and its former Chief Executive Officer, David Gentile (“Gentile”), and several of his associates. 

The investigations led to criminal charges and convictions of Gentile, Jeffry Schneider (“Schneider”), and Jeffrey Lash (“Lash”), the commencement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) of the instant enforcement action (the “Action”), and multiple other enforcement actions by state agencies.

The bad behavior occurred during Trump I.  It included:

Gentile and the other individual defendants diverted monies from Portfolio Companies to themselves through shell companies; Gentile collected millions of dollars in stipends and fees for work for which he was already otherwise being paid; Investors’ money was improperly used to enrich Gentile and his family; Gentile had a Portfolio Company purchase him a Ferrari for personal use; and Gentile received tens of millions of dollars in undisclosed acquisition fees.

David Gentile spent twelve days in prison for his crimes.

Trump II wants seniors to invest their 401(k) funds in private equity, private credit, crypto and alternatives.  Here's how GPB Capital Holdings marketed the firm:

Our company is a global asset management firm. We are a private equity firm specializing in acquisition of middle market companies. We are focused on developing institutional quality, income generating solutions for investors. 

Who wouldn't bite on that?  Even auditors got fooled and had to pay restitution.

Is Trump II making a target rich environment for his freshly pardoned friends?  One could deduce that very thing.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Update 12-1-25:  As for who Trump II serves, please consider the following:

More than 1,000 people submitted statements attesting to their losses, according to prosecutors, who characterized the victims as "hardworking, everyday people," including small business owners, farmers, veterans, teachers and nurses. 

"I lost my whole life savings," one wrote, adding, "I am living from check to check."

My wise friend wrote:

By pardoning Gentile, the Trump administration made it a moot point to go after people skimming off others assets for personal gain and enrichment. 

If you're a prosecutor even if you prove wrongdoing what's the point?  Instead of raising the bar on white collar crime we will remove the bar.

Therefore party on and no need to fear. Hopefully, lack of trust grinds the market to a halt.

Update 12-3-25:   Bloomberg reported on a prior Trump pardon of Eli Weinstein.  Weinstein went back to committing fraud while never attempting to make restitution to prior victims.

Trump pardoned Blue Rep. Henry Cuellar before his scheduled trial in April 2026.  That follows his pardoning of a Tennessee state legislator and his chief of staff for fraud.  

Carlyle Compares AI Race to Shale Boom: Aaarrgghhh!

World Oil reported:

The eye-popping amounts Big Tech is shelling out on artificial intelligence resembles shale’s golden age of spending before a price crash wiped out $2.6 trillion in equity, Carlyle Group Inc.’s Jeff Currie says.

Energy and technology are two of the most important pillars of the economy, leaving other key sectors including finance and health care “useless” without the other two, the veteran commodity market forecaster wrote in a research note Tuesday. 

“The shale boom was arguably the most notorious ‘growth at all costs’ capex cycle in the modern era, where energy industry-wide capex reached 110-120% of cash flow at its peak,” Currie said. “So for technology spending to reach energy industry levels should raise a lot of questions.” 

Much of the investment from tech companies is going toward chips and data centers to build up computing resources to support AI development. AI compute can be measured in dollars per hour, much like oil is traded in dollars per barrel, Currie wrote. 

Confidence in future AI computing prices stabilizing around the $1- to $2-per-hour range “echoes the same confidence that the US shale producers had in $100/bbl oil that drove their spending far above cash flow,” he wrote.

U.S. oil producers were able to only keep drilling debt on their balance sheets during the early days of the shale boom, while entering into long-term contracts with special-purpose vehicles that would take on the burden for additional capex to build pipelines. That finance structure is reminiscent of the AI boom today, he said.

“Big Tech AI appears to be using the exact same playbook that the energy industry used as these arrangements clearly rhyme with today’s AI datacenter SPV arrangements,” Currie said. “We cannot forget about the land grab, or the ‘race for positioning’ as the oil patch called it, which mirrors the AI ‘land rush.’”

Our part of West Texas lived through the shale boom and subsequent bust.  Current drilling is more reminiscent of the bust phase despite Trump II's call for "drill baby drill."  Lots of oilfield equipment sits parked and "man camps" are one third full.

We are in the AI subsidy phase as local governments plan to provide cheap electricity and water to already provided inexpensive land outside San Angelo city limits.  

City government and the Chamber of Commerce are facilitating "data center site development tied to renewable energy access."

Our Interim Economic Development Executive Director is also an Assistant City Manager and plans to retire soon.  It's not clear his future plans but Michael Dane is in a key position to monetize his public service experience in the private sector should he keep "facilitating."  

City Manger Daniel Valenzuela also plans to retire in October 2026.  That would mean the top two people who negotiated any AI data center deal will not be around to see how it worked out.  

We lived through the Shale Boom when local hotel rooms went for NYC rates, restaurants and roads were packed and driving in the direction of the oil field was a life threatening experience (as big truck drivers texted amid road work).  

Skybox Data Centers needs access to lots of water and electricity and so far the city has been mum on any economic development proposals, although they are surely underway.  The City sold Skybox the land which sits outside city limits.  There has been no talk of annexation to date.  

Citizens have funded water infrastructure via high water bills and special capital charges.  It would be tragic for Skybox or its future tenant/renter/user to pay only marginal water costs, even worse if heavily discounted.  

The Hickory Aquifer Project has the ability to pump 10.8 MGD to San Angelo and has the equipment in place to treat a total of 8 MGD.

Ricky Perry's Fermi Amarillo AI project, known as Project Matador, plans to use 2.5 million gallons a day but will expand to 10 MGD.  

Should Skybox's project have a similar arc, their data center would occupy nearly 100% of the Hickory Water production.  What percent of the costs, operating, capital and infrastructure, might they actually pay?  

The Carlyle Group kicked off PEUReport in 2007 with their ability to sell 50 airport operations to Dubai Aerospace just months after the Dubai Ports World uproar.  The politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) located in Washington, D.C. to tap government wallets and directly influence laws and regulations.  Their founders became "policy making billionaires."

Carlyle's current political challenge is getting U.S. government approval to sell Crown Bioscience, a San Diego based clinical research organization (CRO) to affiliate Adiconn, a Chinese lab/CRO.  I believe they can thread that needle.

Texas Governor Rick Perry gave Carlyle $35 million to add 3,000 jobs at Vought Aircraft Industries in Dallas.  By the end of the incentive period Vought had cut 35, that was $1 million per job lost.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Note:  I have been amazed by the intersection of my three blogs, PEUReport - harms done by private equity, StateoftheDivision -local San Angelo issues and ArisFreedomSwitch - politics in general.  I could cross post most pieces on a daily basis.  That's how intertwined things have become.

Update 11-30-25:  One Virginia state legislator won his election because of his promise to fight datacenters.

SWFs & PEUs: Lots of News

Private Equity Insights reported:

China Investment Corp. is close to completing the sale of about $1bn in US private equity stakes, marking one of the largest sovereign-wealth disposals in the secondary market this year, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. 

Paris-based Ardian is said to be among the final bidders for the portfolio, which includes positions in funds managed by Carlyle, Hellman & Friedman, and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe. 

CIC relaunched the process after pausing an earlier attempt to sell similar stakes in vehicles run by Carlyle, KKR, and TPG.

The sovereign fund’s sale comes amid a broader wave of secondary activity. Singapore’s GIC has been exploring a $1bn disposal of private equity fund stakes in Blackstone, Apollo, and TDR Capital.

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) are essentially a government sponsored private equity underwriter (PEU). Both have been in the news lately.  The Ukraine-Russian peace plan arose from Russia's SWF according to Red Team Rep. Mike McCaul.  

Saudi SWFs were front and center during the Crown Prince's recent visit to the White House.  PEUs with Saudi money have a lead role in Middle East Peace (Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners)..

Apparently, there is nothing a greed and leverage boy cannot do.  Actually, there is.  They can't seem to return funds to investors such that they don't need to dump their stakes in the secondary market.  CIC committed $350 million to Carlyle funds in 2013.  CIC made additional Carlyle investments in 2016 & 2017.

If PEUs fail at the most basic part of their job (returning money to investors), why would we expect them to be good at diplomacy or youth sports team management, much less healthcare or the kajillion other things government leaders are charging them with?  

Riddle me that....

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

DOGE Has Been Integrated, Genesis Kicks Off

Former Andreessen Horowitz Managing Director Scott Kupor, now the head of the Office of Personnel Management indicated DOGE is no more.  Kupor said DOGE "doesn't exist" and is no longer a "centralized entity."  Translation: 

 DOGE succeeded in overseeing the secret infiltration of TechGod AI into and across government functions.  

DOGE was staffed by TechGods and private equity underwriters (PEU).  Many remain and they are scattered through various departments.  DOGE used the PEU playbook to establish an AI beachhead.  

Now it's time to mine and monetize, which brings us to Trump II's latest Techexecutive Order, the Genesis Mission.  

It is:

"a dedicated, coordinated national effort to unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century. 

The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection of such datasets, developed over decades of Federal investments — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs."

It's the federal dataset giveaway.  TechGods hate paying for intellectual property and to date they've mostly stolen it.  

Heading up the effort is Michael Kratsios, White House Chief Science & Technology Officer.  Kratsios is a protégé of live forever TechGod Peter Thiel.

AI pinheads want everything for free or at a steep discount.  So far it's power, water, land, intellectual property, federal loan backing, escape from state regulation, access to Uncle Sam's wallet, regulatory protections, tax avoidance...

Genesis will prioritize the following areas in their addressing the "challenging problems of our century":

It seems we can add government sponsored R&D to their list of free to low cost needs, a list that likely never ends.  Who pays while TechGods benefit?

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/Cryptobro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

We have government of the PEU/TechGod/Crytobro, by the PEU/TechGod/Cryptobro and for the PEU/TechGod/Cryptobro.

Update 11-26-25:  Two recent stores on endangered species and air pollution show those areas not to be Trump II priorities.

Apparently Uncle Sam has not subsidized businesses enough for the likes of the PEU/TechGod class.

As for what TechGods plan to do with the AI they've already installed, Homeland Security will soon have access to Medicaid data:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Federal Register notice yesterday officially authorizing the sharing of Medicaid applicant data with the Department of Homeland Security beginning today. The notice rescinds previous “interagency integrity” firewalls.

Blasting away interagency firewalls is such a TechGod thing to do.  

Trump is also not interested in protecting your retirement account.  Bloomberg Law reported:

Labor Department to end defense of 401(k) investment-advice regulation. The Employee Benefits Security Administration no longer wants to defend the Biden administration’s fiduciary rule regarding one time rollover advice.

Insurance companies challenged the rule.  PEUs have made significant forays into insurance firms, such that they can steer those capital pools toward their private equity and private credit offerings.

Add another non-priority to the "won't make it" on the list of the "most challenging problems of this century."  It's not species loss, air pollution, maintaining firewalls between federal data sets or preventing retirement account abuse.    

Update 12-1-25:  Musk tried to explain why DOGE accomplished so little using baby pandas.  It was bizarre and nonsensical.

DOUGEBAG did insert AI deep inside federal databases at significant profit for Musk, David Sacks and his fellow "All Pinhead" podcast hosts, as well as other TechGods.

DOUGEBAG - Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased Against Government

Ukraine Spoils Being Carved Up by Investors

Red Team Rep. Mike McCaul told This Week with George Stephanopolous yesterday on the topic of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal:

The inception of this agreement seems to have come from a Witkoff discussion with the Russian Dmitriev, who heads up the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Steve Witcoff is the investor playing dipolmat from the U.S. side.  He has The Witcoff Group and co-founded World Liberty Financial with Trump II.

The National Wealth Fund of Russia is essentially a state owned private equity underwriter (PEU).  

Ukraine is a take over target, people, land, resources, etc...

The people behind the peace deal are investors carving up Ukrainian prizes (the spoils of war).  

The American worker experienced this as private equity took over company after company, traumatized workers and customers, loaded firms down with debt, siphoned fees and special dividends and enjoyed tax advantages all along the way.  

It helps to have influential friend in high places.

That's how PEUs became "policy making billionaires," paving the way for the first TechGod trillionaire.

Trump II pushed the PEU playbook on federal workers via DOGE, which he just officially ended.  It's still there just buried within several different government departments.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/Cryptobro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Note:  This was published yesterday on Ari'sFreedomSwitch, my political blog.  Increasingly, any number of stories, local, national, international, sports, civil rights, business, political, etc. have a PEU odor.  It's off just below the surface if one scratches.  

Update 11-26-25:  General Kellogg told Fox News that Jared Kushner is involved in the Russia-Ukraine peace deal.  Jared's Affinity Partners is a PEU that invests Saudi SWF money, at least $2 billion of it.

Bloomberg reported that Steve Witcoff advised Russia on how to sell the peace deal to Trump II.

Russia's SWF Chief Dmitriev told Axios he spent three days in Miami from Oct. 24-27.

Russia's TASS reported on the meeting before it happened.

Update 11-28-25:  Another story on the Russian SWF germination of the current peace piece deal.

Carlyle's Chinese Affiliate to Takeover Crown Bioscience

Reflective of the current economic boom cited by Trump II, JSR LifeSciences is taking a 50% haircut on a company it bought in 2017 for $400 million.  It will sell Crown Bioscience to a Chinese clinical research organization owned by The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).   The total price is $204 million spread over a two year period.

JSR Life Sciences LLC ("JSR Life Sciences"), a global leader in life sciences materials and services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to transfer Crown Bioscience Inc. ("Crown Bioscience") to Adicon Holdings Limited ("Adicon"), a premier independent clinical laboratory provider in China and a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group. The transaction, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in 2026.

I think they call that an implosion which can also make a kaboom sound.  Crown Biosciences global headquarters is in San Diego, California.  

Acquirer Adicon's website says this about the company:

Adicon has three major service platforms: a research and development center, clinical drug testing, and testing services. The testing services platform includes clinical laboratories, pathology laboratories, reproductive genetics laboratories, gene laboratories, and mass spectrometry laboratories, holding over 200 patents and providing over 4,000 testing items.

Carlyle invested in Adicon in 2018,  Have they written down half the value of their clinical company like JSR did with Crown? 

The greater question is whether Trump II will allow a U.S. headquartered clinical research company to be taken over by a Chinese firm, even one owned by a D.C. based PEU.

Glenn Youngkin was co-CEO of Carlyle in 2018 when they invested in Adicon.  Carlyle's press release stated in October 2018:

As one of the first and most active international private equity investors in China, Carlyle has adopted a local approach towards investments in China for two decades. Carlyle has invested more than US$8 billion of equity in nearly 100 private equity transactions across China through its US dollar and RMB investment vehicles as of June 30, 2018.

Youngkin ran away from his record of exporting U.S. jobs to China as a candidate for Virginia Governor in 2021.  His general un-likability has not worsened from his China moves while a Carlyle top dog (they've remained hidden).

Carlyle had the magic touch in the past in regard to getting controversial deals approved.  Flashback to 2007 when the U.S. had an uproar over Dubai Ports World buying six port operations.  Months later Carlyle sold  Landmark Aviation and Standard Aero with fifty U.S. airport operations to Dubai Aerospace.  That's what happens when you are close with the President.

I'll wager they can do it again.  Remember politicians Red & Blue love PEU....

Another TechGod 401(k) Dangle: 4X Leverage

Noted investor Jim Chanos sniffed out another one.  

Welcome to "the first and only 401(k) platform that allows participants to finance assets and access alternative investments."  

It's called Basic Capital and it's brought to you by TechGods.

In the small print at the bottom of Basic Capital's website it says "Basic Capital is not a bank" and that funds will be advised by Basic Capital Advisors, LLC.

A New York state regulatory filing shows the firm had one employee as of January 2025.  A brochure filing for the same period indicated:

Mr. Al-Asaad is the President, CEO and Chief Compliance Officer for Basic Capital Advisors LLC

One filing also covered three entities: Basic Capital Advisors, StormSafe, Inc. and StormSafe Asset Management.

Basic Capital's website has a FAQ section which contained the information below (as of 11-22-25):

Good news 401(k) holders, Basic Capital will not go after your non-401(k) assets, like your house or your car, should your account value be less than the amount owed..  

Financing long term assets with short term money becomes extremely problematic when the big money boys no longer trust each other to make good on their debts.  Think Fall 2008.

Also, look at the pittance of a gain they are implying is yours, a couple hundred basis points.  Basic Capital takes the lion's share of any gains in a market simply holding its own.  Your 401(k) needs to earn over 7% in perpetuity and the SOFR needs to be stable at 6.5%  for the borrowed money to work on your behalf.

Basic Capital talks about "underlying bond investments" as a floor and "you are earning more than you owe."  

There too much imprecision and sales language for me to understand what is really being offered.  Fintechs have a way of doing that.

If the market is gangbusters and interest rates go down levered 401(k) investing could be a boon.  That's the promise from Trump II's economic team, but their boss lies and forces people below him to lie.

Leverage is a knife that cuts both ways.  When markets are going up it cuts thin slices of roast beef for you to enjoy.  When markets take a beating, leverage can lop off a limb or worse, especially in the alternative asset area.

Avoid leveraged lending in your 401(k) plan unless you are OK with the possibility that the very moment you need your retirement money, it might not be there.  Do not fall for the Basic Capital sales pitch.  You can go underwater in a 401(k) loan just as you can in a mortgage or an auto loan.  

Invest as much as you can comfortably based on your income in your 401(k) and avoid alternatives (private equity, private credit) as well as crypto.  

When fintech Synapse failed, TechGods who'd marketed it as a FDIC bank, walked away from its stinking corpse.  That's the level of commitment TechGods have to their affiliate's customers.  

They have a hurdle rate to hit and if Basic Capital does not make, TechGods can turn off the lights on your retirement party.  Do not give them that power.  

Update:  Blackstone Group added a division focused on defined contribution benefit plans.  PlanSponsor reported: 

... the unit will focus on strategic partnerships, a lineup of perpetual products, investor education and scale strategies across private equity, real estate, private credit and private infrastructure. 

Heather Von Zuben was previously Blackstone Credit & Insurance’s global head of perpetual capital solutions. She joined Blackstone in 2022 after 15 years at Goldman Sachs, where her leadership roles included global head of wealth management alternatives. 

Tom Nides joined Blackstone in 2024 after serving as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2021 through 2023. He also held various roles at Morgan Stanley, including chief operating officer and vice chairman. 

Paul Quinlan was most recently global chief financial officer of Blackstone Real Estate. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2010, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.'

Blackstone is a private equity underwriter (PEU) headed by Stephen Schwarzman, who recently attended the Black-Tie White House dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Basic Capital will determine if Blackstone's new 401(k) offerings qualify for leverage finance.  

Federal Government is Watching You Drive

Drivers be aware that the U.S. government has a mass surveillance program running 24/7/365 on American roads.  The AP reported:  

Customs & Border Patrol has in the past had access to data from at least three private sector vendors: Rekor (now Altumint), Vigilant Solutions (bought by Motorola) and Flock Safety.

Flashback to 2013 when courts heard legal challenges regarding the NSA scooping us massive information on phone records.  A judge stated:

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval. Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Indeed, I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison… would be aghast.”

Some people consider their car an extension of their house, while an increasing number have to live in their car.

It should be no surprise that the three private sector vendors (cited by the AP) in the mass road surveillance operation are private equity underwriter (PEU owned) or have PEU backgrounds.

Rekor sold its automated traffic safety enforcement division to Alumint, an affiliate of Capital Meridian Partners in December 2022.  Capital Meridian is a D.C. based PEU that specializes in tapping government budgets.  

Corsa Ventures and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital sold Vigilant Solutions to Motorola.  

Flock Safety recently held its "Series F" capital raise and TechGods once again poured into the round.

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund joined Al Gore's Kleiner Perkins in hopes for huge profits from spying on citizens.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Together they are facilitating the decimation of U.S. citizens' constitutional rights, the social media harm of children and the deterioration of human intelligence and real relationships via garbage AI.  

You too can have your rights violated by the same TechGods dangling an assortment of addictive digital ventures intended to sell ads or separate you from your hard earned money.  Repeat the TechGod mantra after me, Code is law....Code is law....Code is law....

By the 10th recitation the Bill of Rights is gone, the 27th cancels all Constitutional Amendments...

This is what the government of the PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro, by the PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro and for the PEU/TechGod/Cryptobro has determined.  They have all the power, money and rights.

Update:  Time reported on a lawsuit against Meta (Facebook).  The lawsuit states:

".... Meta was aware that millions of adult strangers were contacting minors on its sites; that its products exacerbated mental health issues in teens; and that content related to eating disorders, suicide, and child sexual abuse was frequently detected, yet rarely removed. According to the brief, the company failed to disclose these harms to the public or to Congress, and refused to implement safety fixes that could have protected young users."

The Guardian ran a story on AI workers telling their family and friends to stay away from AI. 

"...after becoming aware of the way chatbots and image generators function and just how wrong their output can be, they have begun urging their friends and family not to use generative AI at all – or at least trying to educate their loved ones on using it cautiously. These trainers work on a range of AI models – Google’s Gemini, Elon Musk’s Grok, other popular models, and several smaller or lesser-known bots."

The article noted one rater:

"has forbidden her 10-year-old daughter from using chatbots. “She has to learn critical thinking skills first or she won’t be able to tell if the output is any good.”

AI's emphasis on speed over accuracy and quality is a random walk from the confines of earth (with water, food and oxygen) into the void of space.  You'll be somewhere without the tools and resources needed for life.

“We joke that [chatbots] would be great if we could get them to stop lying.”

Made in the image of their TechGod masters...

Update 11-24-25:  Rekor plans to create a new division that detects deepfake AI videos.  The company will use its background in verifying traffice video to develop their new product.

Update 11-26-25:  Naked Capitalism did a story on Flock surveillance camera vulnerabilities.  It appears there are many.

Bessent Usurps PEU Firm e-VAC Magnetics

Two days after Trump II threatened to fire Treasury Chief Scott Bessent for not bullying Fed Chair Jay Powell sufficiently, Bessent waved a small magnet on television.  He bragged about the Trump economy and the number of potential jobs at a Sumter, South Carolina rare earth magnet factory.

Trump II threatened Bessent, a gay man, at the U.S. Saudi Investment Conference where he offered his usual drivel that a year ago "our country was dead", "the economy was dead."  

What happened a year ago under the Biden administration?  That Sumter, South Carolina magnet plant received the "2024 Energy Transition Deal of the Year" from IJ Global.

Ara Partners, a global private equity firm dedicated to decarbonizing the industrial economy, announced that e-VAC Magnetics, LLC (“eVAC”) has been awarded IJ Global’s 2024 Energy Transition Deal of the Year (North America). The award recognizes eVac’s $335 million non-recourse financing for their first-of-its-kind U.S. permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Sumter County, South Carolina.

Investopedia states:

Non-recourse finance involves a loan where repayment comes only from the project's earnings. Such loans are generally secured by collateral. 

Non-recourse loans are commonly used to finance commercial real estate and projects with long lead times. Unlike conventional loans, the repayment depends on the success of the project being funded.

Scott Bessent bragged about a Biden era sweetheart deal for a PEU affiliate that include giant federal grants and tax credits.

This landmark transaction, undertaken by Ara Partners and its portfolio company Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG (“VAC”), strengthens the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles, aerospace and defense, renewable energy, and other critical industries. 

The project has also received strong federal and state support, including a Defense Production Act Title III grant from the Department of Defense and a $111.9 million Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/Cryptobro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one as in the case of Scott Bessent (Key Square Group).

Trump II will usurp anything and anyone.  Bessent is a quick study given he snatched a 2024 PEU sweetheart deal of the year and dragged it into Trump's Rule of 47.  

Threatening to fire the gay guy in front a group of homophobic Saudis?  That's piece of cake for Trump.  

At some point Bessent will tire of eating Trump's verbal defecation and get his soul back.  Until then, I trust our Treasury Secretary will continue to enjoy Trump's special buffet of discounts, derision, backhanded compliments, abuse, insults, snubs, barbs, slurs and punchlines.

PEU Pallet Rollup Implodes

Bloomberg reported creditors are taking over yet another company.  Five years ago private equity underwriters (PEU) bought 48Forty, a maker of shipping pallets.  Audax Private Equity was first in 2020 and Summit Partners entered in 2022.

48Forty bought out other pallet makers, at least twelve in a series of rollups.

Audax monetized their 48Forty stake in 2024.  

Audax just bankrupted Renovo, a rollup of regional home renovation companies.  Another affiliate implosion would have hurt.

Does this portend anything for other PEU rollups, HVAC companies, veterinarian offices, dental practices, hospices....?

Private equity birthed private credit as a means to leverage their greed and leverage.  It looks like they may begin eating each other, once again.

The backdoor takeover returns, where equity holders hand the keys over to debt holders.  They don't show up with a tow truck anymore, just lawyers with paperwork.  

That's two more areas for rollups, law firms and travel breakdown response.  I think you might be getting the picture.  

Note:  An HVAC company helped me yesterday.  At the end of the call the service tech said they'd just instituted a 2.5% charge for the use of a credit/debit card.  He did not seem excited to be sharing this information.  I told him I would call his office and find out how I can pay and avoid the fee.  

I called and learned that I could physically bring a check into their office.  They could not take my checking account number and process a payment.  They did not offer Zelle, Venmo, PayPal or CashApp.  I could not use Bitcoin, which is good as I have none.  

I told them let's make this even more old school.  You mail me the bill and I mail you a check.  When the PEU boys want to charge a fee, they charge a fee.  Avoiding their millage is extremely difficult, irritating and time consuming.

Black-Tie Guest List Chock Full of TechGods, CryptoBros & PEUs

Information about who was invited to the White House black-tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dribbled out slowly and haphazardly.  Business Insider got the guest list but revealed only about a dozen executives.  Later, a more complete list got posted on X.  It did not show the affiliations of Trump II's guests, so I took the liberty of doing so:

One can see the usual clumping of TechGods, Cryptobros and private equity underwriters (PEU).  The once appalled Western business community has made peace with the future Saudi king.  

It happened the way Trump usually makes peace.  He picks a side and then steamrolls the opposition into submission.  Historically, this has generally been a framework for making future war.  

The public can see the same shunning of victims that left the Jeffrey Epstein victims on the outside for decades.  Will the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi ever get her day, when "Just Us" insiders shifts to actual justice for that heinous murder?  

Even the menu had violent overtones: "Squash" soup, "Rack" of lamb....

Shamed & Shameless Insiders: PEU Window

The banquet of consequences may actually be arriving for powerful political insiders who captained government functions for their personal power, prestige, protection and profit over the last several decades.  

Insider Larry Summers declared his "deep shame" after email communications with Jeffrey Epstein were made public.  Summers has a long history of getting access, key government appointments, plum jobs with universities, hedge funds and private equity underwriters (PEU).  Those are the very groups Epstein slithered with and around.  This group provided him funding, connections and protection.

The public has a split screen given major events underway today, the looming House vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files and Trump's high ceremonial welcome for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Three Representatives, two Red and one Blue, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capital with Jeffrey Epstein survivors and family representatives.

How did we allow this to happen?  Larry Summers told us years ago with his coaching on how to become an insider, how to rub shoulders with powerful people such that one day, you too could become one of them.  Stay silent, go along, accept insider rewards,  recognize the rules really don't apply, turn away from anything untoward....but never ever say anything ill about fellow insiders, even to the authorities (which insiders control as the ultimate fail safe).

The other side of this split screen is Trump II's ceremonial excess for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man who U.S. intelligence authorities believe ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Trump bull-horned the very message of Epstein survivors, "powerful people are untouchable."  Survivors are trying hard to get that changed but they are yet to win.  Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée is yet to receive justice.   She stands alone in her pursuit.  The Crown Prince has the most powerful man in the world at his beckon call.

Ghislaine Maxwell has proven her insider worth and value to Trump II and is rewarded with a cushy prison environment and special privileges.  Seven years from now will she receive a ceremonial welcome at Mar-a-Lago?

The White House has been called the People's House.  

Today it honors the man who ordered the murder of a U.S. journalist in the most evil and heinous way.  It used his Saudi nationality and love for his fiancée to lure Khashoggi into a trap.

The public has the opportunity to see the gross excesses of wealth and privilege that funded Epstein's criminal enterprise.  PEU profits garnered Epstein over $170 million from Apollo founder Leon Black.  Every White House from Bill Clinton to today catered to the PEU class.  Most cabinets, Red and Blue, were chock full of PEUs.

Those excesses exist today, albeit at grossly higher amounts.  PEU legends have been joined by TechGods and Cryptobros in mining Uncle Sam's wallet and steering government policy in a billionaire friendly direction.  How many of these insiders have a predilection for underaged girls?  Who is their supplier?  These are important questions for girls of today.  

One way to protect them is have Epstein's abusers named, shamed and detained.  Is the United States up to it?  

We damned well better be....

Update:  Trump castigated a Bloomberg journalist with a "Quiet Piggy" over an Epstein question on Air Force One.  He followed that with attacking an ABC News reporter in the Oval Office after a question regarding the brutal Saudi execution of Jamal Khashoggi.

"You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen."

Trump saved the Crown Prince's backside yet again.  Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward chronicled the first save.

Semafor indicated the Crown Prince is receiving Epstein level protection pre-November 18, 2025:

House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle plan to attend a reception with him on Wednesday, when Trump and the crown prince will also attend an investment conference. 

And even most Democrats focused more on potential conflicts of interest than on the crown prince’s human rights track record, which provoked bipartisan worries a few years ago.

Memories are short.

And their manhood (as in Johnson - the Speaker) is even shorter.  Politicians Red & Blue...

Jesse wrote:

There are levels of lawlessness being tolerated because it benefits a rich and powerful few, the public and the health of the economy be damned. 

And this is why the Congress and White House continue to twist themselves into knots to cover up and hide the sexual, political, and financial corruption of the Epstein scandal.

And how, over time, we have come to tolerate war crimes including genocide, and extra-judicial murder. We are truly exceptional.

Both the House and the Senate passed the bill requiring the release of the Epstein files.  It now heads to Trump II's desk. 

Update 11-19-25:  Epstein "wingman" Larry Summers resigned from the OpenAI board of directors.

Crown Prince Dinner Guest List: MISSING

"The most open and transparent administration in the history of our country" is yet to reveal who has been invited to the Black-Tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tomorrow evening at the White House.

Will the public ever be informed of the PEU Legends, TechGods/CryptoBros, Wall Street Titans, corporate chiefs and subservient politicians of both political stripes that get to dine with the future Saudi King?  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

And their princely sons shall be far richer than their kingly fathers.  Everybody else, not so much...

Update 11-19-25:  Business Insider got the guest list for the dinner.  They highlighted a number of TechGods, CryptoBros and Red Team oriented billionaires.  

The guest list, shared by the White House, included members of the Saudi government and royal family, as well as almost 50 US business executives. Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo also attended.

Notable guest included Elon Musk (X, xAI, SpaceX, Telsa, Boring, Neuralink), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Tim Cook (Apple), Marc Benioff (Salsforce), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), David Sacks (VC & Trump AI Czar), Bill Ackman (Pershing Square), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood), David Ellison (Paramount/Skydance), Lisa Su (AMD), Greg Brockman (OpenAI).  That's 11 out of nearly 50.  Not very comprehensive reporting.

The guest list remains unavailable on the White House website.  Pictures indicate a blurry figure might be Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman.  (That has been confirmed, see below)

X has a guest list:  

Add Jeremy Allaire (Circle), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), Brendan Bechtel (Bechtel), Marc Beckman (DMA United), Albert Bourla (Pfizer), Stefan Brodie (Bro-Tech), Charles Cascarilla (Paxos), Derek Chang (Liberty Media), Larry Culp (GE), Michael Dell (MSD Capital/Revolution), William Clay Ford Jr. (Ford), Mary Barra (GM), Jane Fraser (Citi), Charles Hallab (Barrington Global founder), Josh Harris (Apollo co-founder), Alex Karp (Palantir), Vimal Kapur (Honeywell), Arvind Krishna (IBM), Kris Marszalek (Crypto.com), Dave McCormick (Senator & former CEO Bridgewater Associates), Bill McDermott (ServiceNow), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron Technology), Amin Nasser (Saudi Aramco), Phebe Novakovic (General Dynamics), Scott O'Neil (LIV Golf), Meredith O'Rourke (Trump Fundraiser including Ballroom), Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Ross Perot Jr. (The Perot Group), Chuck Robbins (Cisco Systems), John F.W. Rogers (Goldman Sachs), Charles Schwab (Schwab), Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone),  Jeffrey Sprecher (Intercontinental Exchange), Scott Strazik (GE Vernova), James Taiclet (Lockheed Martin), Jim Umpleby (Caterpillar), Kathy Warden (Northrop Grumman), Mike Wirth (Chevron), Chris Wright (Energy Secretary, former CEO Liberty Energy), Steve Wynn (Wynn Resorts), Eric Yaun (Zoom) and Lee Zeldin (EPA).

The bad news is the Acting Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics Jamieson Greer and his wife were at the Black Tie affair lauding a serial violator of human rights and destroyer of U.S. ethics standards.  Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has at least $2 billion in Saudi PIF funds in his PEU Affinity Partners.  The Trump boys have deals in Saudi Arabia and all around the Middle East.

I've heard Trump say the $1 trillion figure before regarding MBS.  That may have been on November 5th in Miami or at the end of his May 2025 deal making visit.    

Trump-Crown Prince to Headline Investment Forum

For the fourth time in 2025 Trump II will spend quality time working on behalf of the Saudi monarchy. 

From Riyadh to Washington, the partnership that powers progress. Where innovation meets ambition, and every handshake tells a story of shared prosperity.

Trump II is throwing a Black-Tie dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tomorrow night.  Invitees include those doing the handshaking at U.S.-Saudi investment events, legendary private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods/CryptoBros, Wall Street titans, corporate chiefs and politicians.  They've all made big bank while regular folk garner a smaller and smaller portion of the economic pie.  

On the agenda for Wednesday morning:

DIGITAL BLUEPRINT FOR TOMORROW’S AI WORLD

Rest assured, you are in the blueprint and they have big plans.  

If this does not sit right or you aren't feeling the shared prosperity, you may wish to have your voice heard.  Do so at your own risk as neither Trump or the Crown Prince are interested in feedback, only kowtowing and excessive compliments regarding their manhood, looks and accoutrements of power/wealth.

Both men will eventually exit the political scene.  They arrived by beating and both will leave as beaten men.  They will go down throwing haymakers.

Credit Investors Should Watch Blue Owl

In 2017 Blue Owl Capital launched its first credit fund for retail investors, Blue Owl Capital Corporation II.  It intends to merge this fund with Blue Owl Capital Corporation (OBDC), a larger publicly-traded business development company (BDC) focused on private credit.

FT noted that some Fund II investors could lose in the share exchange.

If the mooted deal were to be approved by shareholders and completed at current prices, Blue Owl Capital Corporation II shareholders would see the value of their investments fall by about 20 per cent.

Blue Owl's merger presentation showed a 98% overlap between Fund II and OBDC.  

How does that turn into a 20% loss of share value?  Essentially, the investing public does not believe in Fund II's marks, given the number of recent private credit implosions.  

Blue Owl's CFO talked to FT about the merger.  He conceded Fund II investors could take a haircut under the deal structure.  The CFO called other options, like a public offering or a wind down, unappealing.  I don't believe making your long term investors angry is a winning strategy either.

FT shared the reality that Fund II investors may never get to tender their shares for early redemption, a right they had prior to the merger announcement and had been increasingly utilizing.

Blue Owl executives don't want to let their Fund II investors go at the price they have valued the assets (redemption cancellation).  It remains to be seen what happens with OBDC's share price between now and the closing date.  

Fund II investors should expect a hard sell, likely very different than the hard sell that got them into OBDC II.  

Retirees weighing what to do with your 401(k), please don't put it into private equity, private credit or anything crypto, straight up currency or a company with a digital treasury strategy.  Also, avoid AI at all costs, investment or use.  Blue Owl just did a big financing for Meta's AI.  

Eight years after launching investment grade private credit for retail investors in OBDC II, Blue Owl has set up a possible 20% haircut.  Eight years from now what might the Blue Owl-Meta joint venture debt ($27 billion) look like?  

Update 11-19-25:  Blue Owl called off the proposed combination.

Another Formal Party for Elite Potentates

Trump II will host a Black-Tie dinner at the White House for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.  News reports indicate the guest list includes "business executives, lawmakers and governors."

The Crown Prince will host a U.S.-Saudi investment conference during his visit.  Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is headed by the Crown Prince.  It has been busy lately.  

Trump II's son-in-law Jared Kushner manages over $2 billion in Saudi money via Affinity Partners, a private equity underwriter (PEU).

At prior Saudi-U.S. investment meetings PEUs, Wall Street Giants and TechGods have been front and center.  Executives are invited to the upcoming White House dinner but the list of invitees is yet to be posted on the White House website.

Less than two weeks ago Trump II spoke at the American Business Forum in Miami.  The Saudi PIF was the presenting partner for the event.  

PIF has a Future Investment Institute (FII) and Trump spoke at the FII Priority meeting held from February 19-21, 2025 in Miami.

On May 13. 2025  Trump II might as well as have kissed the toes of the Crown Prince the way he slathered over the man at the U.S.-Saudi investment conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Trump II brought back "trillions" in deals.  Remember, deal makers get deal fees.

Time will reveal if the guest list is made public.  It is still the People's House, although Trump II is determined to make it the PEUples'.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  They will gather Tuesday evening to celebrate murderous tyrants.  

Update:  The Sunday morning news shows interviewed two former PEUs, now in government roles under Trump II.  Affinity Partners' Kevin Hassett was on ABC's This Week and Flex Capital's Dan Driscoll was on CBS' Face the Nation.  Hassett worked for Jared Kushner and PEU founding father Michael Milken, while Driscoll had a number of major TechGods as limited partners at Flex.  I'm sure most watchers had no idea they were being PEU'd.  

Update 11-25-25:  Kevin Hassett is at the front of the pack of five under consideration for the next Fed Chair.  Noted stock trader and former Dallas Fed Chair Richard Fisher highlighted Hassett's frontrunner status.

Update 11-30-25:  Trump II pardoned a PEU fraudster, David Gentile of GPB Capital.  Gentile defrauded more than 10.000 investors with is Ponzi scheme.

Update 12-3-25:   Bloomberg reported on a prior Trump pardon of Eli Weinstein.  Weinstein went back to committing fraud while never attempting to make restitution to prior victims.

Update 12-6-25:  Jesse wrote:

The failure of the current government in the States is becoming more evident. They can barely say anything that is not untrue anymore. 

The economy is slumping, but they are trying their best to hide it, and keep promoting the thought that 'next year' everything will be better. I doubt that it will. 

These are reivers and predators, not builders. Destroyers, rather than producers. They are in it wholly for themselves. And it shows if one has eyes to see. 

It's a shame really. But I imagine we will go through some painful times, and then bounce back once again. 

Foolishness will have its way, and will not be deterred from its own destruction.