Epstein Core Part of Insider Club

The Harvard Crimson wrote in 2003 regarding Jeffrey Epstein:

Lindsley Professor of Psychology Stephen M. Kosslyn, former Dean of the Faculty Henry A. Rosovsky and Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz are among Epstein’s bevy of eminent friends that includes princes, presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Epstein is also well acquainted with University President Lawrence H. Summers. The two serve together on the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, two elite international relations organizations.

Larry Summers informed one U.S. Senator in 2014:

I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders. 

Searching the Epstein files for private equity underwriters (PEU) I came across a 2015 e-mail from Anthony Scaramucci to Epstein regarding a club settlement.  

Yes, in the good company of PEU insiders.  

Searches of the just released Epstein files show:

Apollo Global - 8,259 results

Blackstone Group - 117 results

Carlyle Group - 168 results

KKR - 364 results

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

And the whole thing smells just rotten to the core, especially as victim's lawyers are:.  

contending widespread failures by the DOJ to redact names and identifying information of Epstein’s victims

Victims are not insiders and thus, not listened to.

Update 2-5-26:  Semafor reported the PEU connection regarding Paul Weiss (lawyer) and Jeffrey Epstein:

The downfall of the most powerful managing partner at one of the world’s most powerful law firms isn’t really a story about Jeffrey Epstein. Chummy emails with the wealthy sex offender were the proximate cause of Brad Karp losing his seat atop Paul Weiss, but the distal cause is a problem we’ve all got: overexposure to private equity. 

Even our sexual predators work for private equity now.

PEUReport noted Epstein's link to private equity legends as well as the difficulty of unwinding Epstein's PEU money and influence trail.  I wrote the following in July 2019:

"The other interesting element is PEU ties to serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.  

One Wall Street source with direct knowledge of Epstein’s business said one source of Epstein’s income was providing “tax advice and estate planning” to rich clients, like Apollo Global Management founder Leon Black, presumably because Epstein had experience with offshore funds after basing his office in the Virgin Islands. In 2015 Black made a $10 million donation to Epstein’s foundation. 

Esptein's case reveals the sordid underbelly of big money-politics.  Big PEU names have to be nervous about their Epstein ties, Leon Black, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton (whose presidency saw the rise of many private equity firms).. 

Unraveling stories takes time and patience and the Epstein case is monstrous.  The PEU boys can spin better than most.  For the last twelve years I've tried to unwind some of them." 

Trump II Sues Trump I's IRS/Treasury After Nixing Booz

Trump II sued Trump I's IRS and Treasury Department for damages from a contractor's leaking his tax returns.  Trump II is asking for $10 billion in damages.   

The Supreme Court ruled regarding Trump I:

Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts.

The Supremes later ruled that Trump's tax returns can be shared with the public.  That happened in 2022.  Trump I said at the time:

"The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it's going to lead to horrible things for so many people."

The Treasury Department nixed all of Booz Allen Hamilton's federal contracts recently.  The tax return leaker had access to the information as a Booz Allen employee.  PEU connection - Booz is a former Carlyle Group affiliate.  

What's going on here with the sitting President suing his former administration as a private citizen?  Deal ,makers get deal fees and that's hard to do as a public official.  There's also the "deity thing" regarding Trump's self-image.  

Deal fee or tithe?  Maybe a bit of both given his entitled status and free reign.  

Update:  Trump II's publicly funded "payments to self" plan include:

The Gods of Capital, also known as private equity underwriters (PEU) are known for their fractal fee/cash extraction from affiliates and their ability to mark to fantasy.  Trump II is doing likewise at the federal cash trough for his personal engorgement.  

Update 2-1-26:  Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche informed George Stephanopoulos this morning that the Justice Department is working on the President's priorities.  

They closed the interview discussing citizen Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the government he "runs" and the $230 million Trump can award himself at the stroke of a pen.  Blanche acted like a Trump Truth Social post was not the method the President uses to convey his priorities.  Typical for Trump II who gets to have it all ways...

Red Team former Governor Chris Christie said there are no independent people at the top of Trump's "Just Us" Department to handle his two requests for large chunks of federal cash.

TechGods Have Plans for Greenland

Responsible Statecraft reported on Trump's nonstop push for Greenland:

...the forces that may be actually driving the minerals agenda: tech billionaires like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, who see Greenland not just as a source of rare earths, but as a laboratory for their libertarian economic and social experiments. These tech-billionaires envision unregulated “freedom cities” in Greenland, free from democratic oversight, environmental laws, and labor protections.

Financelot posted on X:

The city is envisioned as a low-regulation, techno-libertarian hub backed by figures like Peter Thiel (via Praxis), Marc Andreessen, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman. 

This project is an AI-driven data center project with aims to capture rare earth mining in Greenland. While exact details on land purchases for the city itself remain undisclosed in public sources, the initiatives are concentrated in southern Greenland, where the island's primary rare earth mineral deposits are located. 

This obsession with annexation reduces everything to a resource grab.

It seems lots of rich and powerful people in the U.S. want to grab Greenland by the Ice Patch.  How are they able to divert our attention from their ceaseless disgusting and disturbing predation?

It's the utopia angle, only there's no "you" in their utopia.

Libertarian TechGods have attached themselves to the federal teat like no other in terms of rapidity and scope.  Their wealth expands exponentially with each and every new valuation of their vast holdings.  

The new greed-based order will meet the old in Davos, Switzerland next week.  The theme is "A Spirit of Dialogue."  Trump II, the digital Caligula, is on tap to speak.  I wouldn't call what Trump does "dialogue."  It's more like derision, manipulation, the unbridled joy of hearing himself speak, mixed in with a little sociopathy and a number of spontaneous "savage whims."

Blackrock's Larry Fink will interview Palantir's Alex Karp, a major TechGod of Spying.  Karp is known for his hyperbolic, one way communications.  Not a good fit for a program centered on dialogue.  Karp has long felt comfortable with super wealthy global tamperers given his history protecting the annual Bilderberg Meeting and serving on its Steering Committee.

White House AI/Crypto Czar David Sacks will converse with Salesforce's Marc Benioff.  Sacks believes the U.S. is "being eaten alive" by little people fraudulently gaming the system.  That includes elections.  Sacks is part of the California billionaire exodus after a local labor union requested a one time 5% billionaire tax be placed on the ballot.

Also speaking at Davos 2026 is Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.  He is on a panel addressing the topic:  Can We Afford Longevity?"  

That's very different from Elon's future "AI/robot world of abundance" where saving for retirement is "irrelevant."  Is that because regular people have to work until they die?  TechGods are pushing the 96 hour work week, 16 hours a day, six days a week.

Davos 2026 is centered around five themes (in blue text below).  My comments are in red.

Trump II, the Great Contester, will speak on topic #1.  He's fresh off a meeting with the Danes over Greenland.

What chaps my backside is the Trojan Horse nature of it all.  The great democracy grabs Greenland only to make large portions of it ungoverned by the people, turned into a corporate controlled paradise where TechGods can trash the environment and set up abusive workplaces.  

That's not a "freedom for the people" city, not in the least.  It has a Beijing, Tony Blair's and Jared Kushner's Gaza "economic freedom" feel.  Go along to get along.  Nothing enlightening about that.  

I can smell the insider enrichment from here.  It's like being told you are getting a horse and all you see and smell are road apples.  

In Don We Strut

America's 250th anniversary celebrates everyone, including Trump II's creeps and financial criminals.  A new Trump $1 coin could be issued in support of that event.  I took the liberty of editing the mockup and adding a few of his ardent followers.

Trump's Proud Boys creeps returned to the Ellipse yesterday for the five year anniversary of Jan. 6th.  His various creep supporters who enacted violence that day are regrouping and aiming for retribution.  These are dark people with racist, violent agendas.  

Trump's pardoned financial criminals include fraudsters, tax evaders, witness tamperers and those who made or took illegal campaign donations.  Michael Milken is a private equity underwriter (PEU) founding father.  

"Milken is the junk-bond king who personified the 1980s buy-and-destroy era"

Milken's leveraged buyout organizations (LBO) became private equity (PE) in an effort to soften its image, but their "buy and destroy" tactics continued.  

George Santos promoted himself as a digital PEU in his run for Congress.  He ended up as fake as the coin pictured above.  

Americans voted for a businessman as President to fix their personal financial problems.  Trump II isn't interested in that.  He chose to adapt PEU's "buy and destroy" into "usurp, appendage and drain."  Trump wants to run everything and that comes with a management fee, direct or indirect.

"Corporate America has realized that President Trump likes to make major decisions that can effect Corporate America."--Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein on Bloomberg 1-7-26

For a Trump target it goes like this:  

Trump II decides your industry is making too much money and he wants a cut.  He picks a company within the industry and bores in.  A Trump goon tells the CEO "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."  A whole of government attack plan is revealed to the target.  CEOs may initially resist but they are the pretty lady in the dressing room.  Trump will have his way.  

The key is how much Trump II can extort from his victims while setting up obscene ongoing profit streams for his family and friends.

Trump's goal is to have a $200 billion net worth by the end of his second Presidency.  That comes on someone else's back be it in the U.S. or elsewhere.  Trump II, the digital Caligula, has empire on his mind and so far Congress and the Supremes have been lickspittle in holding up the pillars of democracy.

Trump II's entourage includes rich financial parasites, professional politicians, and his "all image, all the time" team.  Those closest to him are generally a group of sick, spineless, and acquiescers, all hoping for their share of drippings from their boss' obscene table.  A few are as twisted and mendacious as Trump II.

I don't know how the media covers it with the incessant lying, the rude insulting, his inability to admit error (which is learning), his creepiness towards women and his unceasing need for attention and adulation.

America's 250th birthday will be celebrated by Americans.  It's getting harder to believe Trump II is one worth celebrating given his widespread and significant destruction of U.S. Executive Branch norms, practices and legal obligations.

Update 1-9-26:  Trump II does not want or need international law.

The rules are his to make.  In reality they are all savage whims.  It's what he wants in that present moment.

Update 1-10-26:  The White House is "reviewing protocols" after Trump released unemployment data a day early.  Trump's release was described by economists as “unprecedented” and potentially in violation of long-standing federal policy." 

Office of Management and Budget policy bars executive branch officials from commenting on or releasing market-moving economic statistics prior to their official publication, and also prohibits public statements until at least 30 minutes after release. 

“No serious country does this.”

Trump showed the world long ago that he makes the rules and does not have to follow them.

The Guardian ran a story on Trump's international lurching based on personal whim and advised by close friends and family.  It quoted John Bolton:

“Trump has no philosophy, no national security grand strategy,” he said. “He doesn’t even do policy the way normal people understand that word. It’s all transactional, it’s all about Donald Trump, and that’s the prism through which he sees everything, including domestic policy, not just foreign policy. He listens to all these other people, but at the end of the day, it’s what’s in it for Donald Trump.”

And for that our democracy, our republic suffers.

Update 1-12-26:  Trump hit back on Exxon and threatened to keep the company out of Venezuela.   Eric Trump is marketing $10 billion in Saudi Arabian Trump branded real estate.

SkyBox Coming to San Angelo

San Angelo City Council Member Patrick Keely will hold a Data Center Development Community Meeting on Monday, December 29, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Downtown Library in the Brooks & Bates Room.  The subject is the proposed Skybox Data Center on Highway 67 just north of city limits.  Council approved the sale of 350 acres of city owned land to Skybox in March 2025.  

Issues are noise pollution, water use, appropriate zoning, need for city services while residing outside city limits, traffic safety and electrical power use for the proposed 1.5 million square foot development distributed across six buildings (each of which is four stories high).

A flyer for this public meeting states the item will be voted on at Council's next meeting on January 13, 2026.  

Mayor Tom Thompson has been circumspect in his communications regarding the proposed data center, calling local information inaccurate without providing any meaningful information on the project or parameters Council plans to use to balance citizen needs with data center desires.  

The City has chosen thus far to prioritize Skybox's need for privacy regarding proprietary information and trade secret claims over sharing information with the public (based on the City's response to my 12-8-25 public information request).  

Developers are usually not the end user of any project.  West Texas has been through a number of boom and bust cycles.  When projects go underwater, the owner hands the keys over to the bankers (the entity that provided the financing).  The Carlyle Group, a financial juggernaut, already compared data centers to shale.  

Enough communities have been through the data center development process for San Angelo's City Council to use an open, up front process where citizens' needs are clearly prioritized.  A Chamber of Commerce video and an interview with the Mayor discounting social media information do not meet that standard.

Council may rise to the occasion on January 13, 2026 but citizens should be prepared to nudge them if they don't.   

Note:  This was also posted on StateoftheDivision, my local oriented blog, the evening of 12-28-25.

Update:  Baxtel.com states:

Skybox Datacenters is a joint venture between Rugen Street Capital and Bandera Ventures.

Concho Observer reported on an expert's assessment of Skybox's plans.   It's hard to believe anyone can assess the situation given what little information has been released to date.  The expert is from a think tank whose board is loaded with people from vested TechGod interests, Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Patreon, & Paladin Capital.  The positive "lack of abatement ask" is simply due to the project's location being outside city limits.

ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on the community meeting.  It indicates Skybox is yet to purchase the land for any data center development.  

Update 12-30-25:  Concho Valley Homepage reported on the meeting.  Concho Observer also ran a piece on the meeting.

Admirals & Generals Disappear from Sunday AM News Shows

It used to be fun identifying the private equity ties to retired Generals and Admirals that appeared on the Sunday morning news shows.  General David Petraeus (KKR) and Admiral James Stavridis (Carlyle) were two of the more popular guests.  

At least three factors have contributed to their disappearance.  First, Trump's dumbing down of the Pentagon means smarter, more experienced military leaders are a direct threat to the President's mendacious, venal and banal military undertakings.  

Second, private equity underwriters (PEU) know not to endanger any economic expansion talk pushed by Trump II's underlings.  If a pump wave is coming, that could be a PEU dump opportunity.

Third, Trump's lawsuit happy stance with network news means they have to spend time actually stating his nonsense positions and book his goons.  

The Sunday morning news shows used to be a window into "politicians Red & Blue love PEU (and their new TechGod/CryptBro brethren)." No more.  We just hear from politicians Red & Blue.  I get enough of that during the week.  

Trump II continues lowering the bar on nearly everything.

Update 12-26-25:  Carlyle's James Stavridis wrote a column on Hegseth's upcoming changes to the military's "constitution.

Update 1-8-26:  Carlyle's James Stavridis was on CNN Saturday morning answering questions about Trump II's snatch and grab of Venezuelan President Maduro.  Stavridis corrected Trump's "large operation" to a precision military intervention but otherwise was effusive in his praise over its execution.

PEUs Love 'em Some Middle East Monarchy

Private equity underwriters (PEUs) are excited about investing in the Middle East.  Fresh off consuming U.S politics and destroying America's middle class, it makes sense for PEUs to target Middle East monarchies, where neither a middle class nor democracy exists.  

WaPo quoted one billionaire in the story imaged above.  That person said:

"I worry about America and the way of life we have."

The Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein, the visionary who subsumed Washington politicians with "patriotic philanthropy" and Congressional "lectures", was in the United Arab Emirates, which he knows very well.  Carlyle was part owned by a UAE sovereign wealth fund (Mubadala) beginning in 2007.  

As Carlyle Group co-founder (and Semafor investor) David Rubenstein put it: “I’ve seen the future of capitalism, and its name is Abu Dhabi.”

Rubenstein has seen the future of capitalism and it has nothing to do with freedom.  He has been going there for decades.

Capitalism requires a strong and clear rule of law.  Abu Dhabi justice may be questionable for those used to Western justice.

In the United Arab Emirates: 

•  Depositions are taken without a lawyer present. 
• There is no bond system. 
• There is no trial by jury.

Punishments are divided into two categories, Sharia-based and Chastisement. 

Doctrinal punishments are based on Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia). For example, qisas is equal punishment (an eye for an eye, for example) and diyya is compensatory payment for the death of a victim (known as “blood money”). Diyya is not exclusively used for punishment (or victim’s relief) in a criminal setting. Diyya is often applied in motor vehicle accident and other cases where death has resulted from the actions of another person found negligent. Diyya is federally limited at AED200,000.

Chastisement penalties include:

• death (capital punishment) 
• life imprisonment (15 years +) 
• temporary imprisonment (3 to 15 years)
• confinement (1 to 3 years) 
• detention (1 month to 1 year) flagellation (up to 200 lashes) fines

This sounds very Trumpian, with its "an eye for an eye" and significant "compensatory payments."  Trump II employs both strategies with disturbing frequency.  

As for PEU billionaires taking over politics, that is a familiar theme at PEUReport.  The addition of impatient imitators, TechGods and CryptoBros, has been a blessing given their "in your face" arrogance and poor interpersonal skills.  

It makes things easier to see, especially as the PEU boys work quietly behind the scenes and generally display more subtlety than their TechGod/CryptoBro counterparts.

Middle East monarchs love PEU, just like American politicians.  

Warner Brothers: Affinity and Beyond!

Trump II's son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners joined Paramount-Skydance in their latest bid for Warner Brothers.  Affinity is a private equity underwriter (PEU) headed by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and it's chock full of Middle East money (from various sovereign wealth funds).

Trump II noted problems with the Netflix purchase, a deal accepted by Warner Brothers board of directors.

It's not clear which deal will advance but the amount of foreign money could trigger a CFIUS review.  Should that happen, former Affinity Partners Head of  Global Research Kevin Hassett could be in the room as  the head of the National Economic Council.

It's also not known if a review would take place before Hassett leaves to take over as Fed Chair.  There are a lot of moving parts.  

Oddly, one of those involves another PEU, former Carlyle Group co-CEO Glenn Youngkin.  As his Virginia Governorship grows to a close, Youngkin is under consideration for replacing Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Director.  That role also comes with a CFIUS spot.  

Former PEUs could be approving a PEU aided Paramount deal for Warner Brothers.  That's the kind of conflict of interest they like.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Carlyle Files with SEC to Increase Co-Investment Internally

The Carlyle Group asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for relief to allow regulated funds and affiliated entities to engage in co-investment transactions.  It listed fifteen regulated funds seeking relief.  

They cover private equity, private credit and a mix of the two. as well as fixed income securities, senior debt tranches of CLOs, loan accumulation facilities (“LAFs”), securities issued by other securitization vehicles, such as collateralized bond obligations, or “CBOs and a smattering of other products offered by the 450 Carlyle funds listed under Schedule A of the filing.

Carlyle has existing advisors:

It also has TCG Capital Markets LLC, a broker dealer which "underwrites, syndicates, places and arranges securities of corporate issuers, among other related activities. TCG Capital Markets may participate in Co-Investment Transactions on a principal basis."

Carlyle also has TCG Senior Funding LLC which "was formed to originate, underwrite, structure and place loans. TCG Senior Funding is advised by CGCIM pursuant to an investment management agreement. TCG Senior Funding may participate in Co-Investment Transactions on a principal basis."

Private equity underwriters (PEU) charge deal fees in addition to annual management fees.  They can pull cash from affiliates via special dividends/distributions.  They've long been able to be on both sides of a deal.  

Trump II is knocking down SEC rules and pardoning convicted fraudsters, bribers and bribe recipients.  

The greed and leverage boys have targeted 401(k)'s in their sales plans, hoping to get retirement savers to put money into PEU funds of various sorts.  

I view Carlyle's SEC request as repackaging their inventory.  First, sell to self, i.e. move stale investments from one Carlyle fund to another.  Charge fees.  Repackage.  Partner with financial advisors.  Sell to retiree.  More fees.  

If anything goes bad, there won't be staff at the SEC to investigate.  Legal authorities have been dis-incentivized to charge people with fraud or bribery given Trump II hands out pardons like free raffle tickets at a State Fair.

It's clear skies ahead for the PEU boys, regulatory wise.  The trouble starts when the big money boys no longer trust each other to make good on their debts.  It's not clear when that might happen but when it does, watch out.  Nothing moves, no matter how pretty the packaging.

OpenAI Invests in Thrive Holdings a Year After Investing in Thrive AI Health

This story is about three Thrives, Thrive Capital, Thrive Holdings and Thrive Health AI.  

Years ago Thrive Capital invested in OpenAI.  Yesterday, OpenAI announced it invested in Thrive Holdings, a division of Thrive Capital that intends to leverage AI in two areas that employ many U.S. citizens, accounting and IT.

Joshua Kushner founded Thrive Capital, a private equity underwriter (PEU), over fifteen years ago.  His brother Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners reportedly invested in Thrive Capital.  Josh's PEU has been an early equity holder in many companies started by people recognized today as TechGods.  

OpenAI is Thrive Capital's top investment according to TRACXN.  And now OpenAI has an equity stake in Thrive Holdings.

Reuters reported:

Thrive Holdings is a vehicle created by Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital to focus on buying traditional businesses in an AI-roll up play. Founded this year, the firm has raised over $1 billion to acquire service providers across the country, such as accounting and IT firms, aiming to overhaul their operations using AI to boost efficiency. 

The collaboration will focus on AI application in professional services, particularly through reinforcement learning. This research technique uses feedback from domain experts to continuously train and improve the AI models for highly specialized functions. 

Thrive Holdings will own the intellectual property and products created through the joint effort. OpenAI, in addition to its equity, gains insights from seeing its models tested and refined in real-world enterprise environments

Most people do not have a personal accountant or their own IT department but citizens might recall damage done by PEU rollups in hospital emergency rooms, specialty medical practices, dental offices, HVAC service companies, veterinary offices, and hospices.  

Many are trying to use AI in their work and finding the output less than satisfactory as it (workslop) requires much rework.  85% accuracy is a poor standard, made worse by hallucination (something made up out of nowhere by AI).  

Anuj Mehndiratta, partner at Thrive Capital who oversees Thrive Holdings, said the deal was necessary after it ran into "research problems much sooner" while deploying AI models. The firm found that "off-the-shelf" solutions were insufficient for complex, domain-specific tasks in its portfolio companies.

AI was insufficient for performing quality accounting or IT work.  Once again, accountants and IT professionals have to train their replacement.  It's no longer the foreign H-1B worker that will do their job for much less.  It's Thrive Holdings-OpenAI collaboration, now asking professional staff in rollup companies to train their AI replacement.

OpenAI's Sam Altman might have just the tonic for stressed out accountants and IT professionals, Thrive AI Health.  

Thrive Holdings rollup workers can leave their stressful office and enjoy hyper-personalized AI health coaching, courtesy of Thrive AI Health, brought to you by OpenAI Startup Fund (sounds like a PEU) and Arianna Huffington.  

Your AI health coach (OpenAI) can help reduce the stress from having to train that problematic AI (also OpenAI) in accounting or computer coding.  Got it.  No real people involved, except those accepting the fees/profits.

Just what society needs more of from TechGod products.  We already have reduction of appropriate boundaries, addiction, erosion of interpersonal skills and self esteem, loneliness, decline in cognitive function, exposure to the worst of humanity manipulating tech for harmful and even criminal pursuits.

Accounting and IT are professions with knowledge bases that are broader than one company.  They require analytical skills and judgement.  Thrive Holdings and Open AI are coming for independent accounting and IT firms.  Are you ready to be rolled up and rolled out the door after training your replacement?  

That's what happens when PEUs and TechGods get together.  Your employer becomes their sandbox in which to play.  And you become the grain of sand.  

Update:  My wise friend sent me these quotes (from the Making Hay substack):

“Let us accept truth, even when it surprises us and alters our views.” -George Sand 

French romantic novelist (actual name Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, but her pen name clearly ties in more closely with today’s topic)

“Capitalism was the only system in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade, the only system that stood for man’s right to his own mind, to his work, to his life, to his happiness, to himself.” -Ayn Rand

(birth name: Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; married name: Alice O’Connor; pen name rhymes with “Sand”)

The Substack article regarded an oilfield frac sand company, thus the references to Sand and Rand.   In the small world camp I recently did a piece on Carlyle's comparing AI to the shale boom.  In it I mentioned the risk to life driving in the direction of the oil field from 18 wheelers hauling frac sand and oilfield chemicals.  The weight tore up roads which then needed repairs.  Add young men texting while operating a super heavy big rig to the mix and things were dangerous.  On a regular basis people were killed in road accidents.  People said it smelled like money to them.

Update 12-3-25:  PEUs rolled up doctor practices in an area such that they could control clinical volumes through incentives and manipulate physician compensation in an area/region.  The bounty went to the PEU not the doctor or provider and patients suffered.  Elected officials did little to nothing.  

AI is worse in that it is an outright thief, appropriating individual knowledge as well as that of a whole profession, and giving no credit much less fair long term pay or equity for those making/creating the AI professional model.  The bounty will go to OpenAI and Thrive Holdings, TechGods & PEUs.

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

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.

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....

Trump Dines with Wall Street & PEU Legends

ZeroHedge reported on a White House dinner with Wall Street executives to be held this evening.  The guest list includes private equity underwriters (PEU):

Invited guests include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman (former CFO for The Carlyle Group), Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, and Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon. 

Bankers and investors back Trump’s pro-growth agenda but remain uneasy about his tariffs, trade volatility, and pressure on the Federal Reserve.

Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell also worked for The Carlyle Group before moving on to another PEU.  Trump nominated Powell for the job in his first term as President.

Possible Fed Chair nominee to replace Powell is Kevin Hassett.  Kevin also has a private equity background having worked for Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner's PEU.  Kushner is Trump II's son in law.

Hassett received a $192,040 salary for his work with Affinity Partners.  Simultaneously, Kevin worked for the Milken Institute as Managing Director with a salary of $234,312.  

Founder Michael Milken branded leveraged buyout organizations (LBO), which is the former name for what is now called private equity.  Trump pardoned Milken, absolving the convicted Junk Bond King of his crimes.

Hassett received a salary from six other organizations, according to his financial disclosure form.  Between the eight employers Hassett received $763,045 last year.

This is how the insider money funnel works.  Big sums are thrown at the politically connected by multiple employers, each not expecting full time work production.  

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

The current Fed Chair is and the next one may be PEU as well

Update 11-13-25:  When asked about the dinner Trump II's SBA Chief told CNBC "The government is there to support them."  

That's billionaire PEU Legends and Wall Street CEOs.  She avoided the fact that PEUs exported jobs by the tens of thousands under both Red (W. Bush) and Blue (Obama) administrations.  It was clear to some by July 2011.

That was around the time child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein wrote accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell about Trump being "the dog that hadn't barked." (April 2011).  It seems the government is there to support them too.  

Maxwell enjoys extra perks in her country club federal prison as Trump II scrambles to prevent the full release of the government's Epstein files..

I imagine the public is not interested in steering more resources to policy making billionaires of the PEU or TechGod variety and voters are not keen on protecting pedophiles or their accomplices/enablers.  

White House dinner invitee JP Morgan paid $365 million to date in Epstein related settlements for its role in financing Epstein's sexual crimes against children.  PEU Apollo founder Leon Black provided $170 million to Epstein.  This is the weave Trump II wants to hide.

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.

PEUs Not Out of Trump II Mix

The Carlyle Group's Vantive funneled money to Trump II's planned $200 million ballroom that ballooned to $300 million.  Vantive is the former kidney care division of Baxter International.  Carlyle bought it in January and renamed it Vantive.

Cerberus, another politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) like Carlyle, got a boost from Trump II's deal tour across Asia.  A Lone Star Funds affiliate, Vigor Marine, also got named in Trump's deal a-la-poolza.  Lone Star bought Vigor from Carlyle and another PEU owner.

Another venture named by Trump II, ReElement Technology, is part of American Resources Corporation.  American Resource's CEO/Board Chair and President/Director founded a "fundamentally-orientated private equity style investment fund, T Squared Partners" in 2007.

Business Insider Africe recently ran a story on Mr. Jensen.  It included:

So how did T Squared Partners do with the private equity style investment fund?  They ran Fund 1 into the ground.  Major investor Hull Capital sued alongside other investors in 2014 for damages.  A portion of the civil suit stated:

During operation of the Fund, Defendants breached the Fund’s Operating Agreement in several critical ways causing substantial losses to the Fund, including by: investing fund assets in at least three fraudulent investments; failing to perform even minimally competent due diligence as to those investments; refusing to provide Plaintiffs access to a complete set of books and records of the Fund; charging excessive annual management fees; reimbursing themselves for out-of-pocket expenses in excess over the reimbursement amount permitted under the LLC Agreement, including start up fees and personal tax benefits achieved by moving operation of the Fund to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands; and failing to manage the business and affairs of the Fund, including maintenance of the books and records of the Fund, in an honest and competent manner.

The Court allowed some of the causes of action to go forward in 2019.  

The Plaintiffs rely on certain deposition testimony by Mr. Jensen that purportedly concedes that he and Mr. Sauve "may have" spent more than 1000 hours per year working for entities other than Fund 1 (Jensen Dep., pp. 344-48), and the fact that Mr. Jensen admitted that he, Mr. Sauve and the Managing Member had established or acquired at least nine companies other than Fund 1, and that he and Mr. Sauve occupied high-level roles at each of those nine companies.

T Squared Partners marketed itself as full time devoted to the fund.  It also cited due diligence.  

...the Managing Member permitted Fund 1 to pay what may be "excessive fees" of $6,000/month to Greg Jensen, Mark Jensen's brother, as a consultant. Greg Jensen served as Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination, investment monitoring, and portfolio maintenance" (Feder Aff., Ex. 6, Jensen EBT, p. 110). However, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen admitted that prior to being hired by Fund 1, he had no professional investment or finance-related experience whatsoever, and that prior to his hiring, he had never conducted due diligence on a prospective portfolio investment (id., pp. 87-89, 103-105). Greg Jensen could not name a single individual in Fund 1's purported network of 13 due diligence professionals in China - notwithstanding that he was Fund 1's "head of due diligence coordination" (id., pp. 115-118). Put another way, the Plaintiffs contend that Greg Jensen was hired as a favor to Mr. Jensen and not because he was competent to perform his duties and the payments to him were, therefore, improper and excessive. This also cannot be resolved at this stage of the proceeding.

This echoes recent abject due diligence failures amongst private credit offerings.  

CEO Mark Jensen, President Tom Suave and Chief Financial Officer Kirk Taylor took over American Resources Corporation in 2017.  

They are also executives and board members for Royalty Management Holding Company and its predecessor.  Their 2025 proxy statement showed Related Party transactions:

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Transactions with Related Persons, Promoters and Certain Control Persons. 

Land Resources & Royalties LLC, Wabash Wings LLC, and Wabash Enterprises LLC The Company currently, and may at times in the future, leases property from Land Resources & Royalties LLC (“LRR”) and has entered into various other agreements with LRR and/or its parent company, Wabash Enterprises LLC, an entity managed by Thomas Sauve and which Kirk Taylor is part beneficial owner. The Company has in the past, and may in the future, leased use of an aircraft owned by Wabash Wings LLC, another wholly owned subsidiary of Wabash Enterprises LLC and an entity managed by Thomas Sauve. Furthermore, on October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, Wabash Enterprises LLC and LRR became an owner of Class A Common Stock of the Company and several leases and agreements exist between LRR and the Company, for which LRR receives income. 

Land Betterment Corporation The Company currently, and may at times in the future, has agreements with Land Betterment Corporation, an entity in which Kirk Taylor is a director, President and Chief Financial Officer and Thomas Sauve who was a director and Chief Development Officer. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had entered into a contractor services agreement with Land Betterment Corporation for environmental services personnel. The contract called for cost plus 12.5% margin. 

American Resources Corporation The Company may at times enter into agreements with American Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries, an entity in which Thomas Sauve is a director and President, and Kirk Taylor is the Chief Financial Officer. 

First Frontier Capital LLC The Company may at times enter into agreements with First Frontier Capital LLC, an entity managed and beneficially owned by Thomas Sauve, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company. On February 1, 2022, First Frontier Capital LLC invested $10,000 cash into the Company in the form of the Round A Convertible Note and 385 warrants issued under Warrant “A-7.” On October 31, 2023, as part of the Business Combination, the notes and warrants held by First Frontier Capital LLC were converted into Class A Common Stock of the Company.

Royalty Management Holding Company's major shareholders are an interlocking group of LLCs controlled by Jensen, Suave and Taylor.  

The SPAC that turned into Royalty Management showed the interlocks in a SEC filing:

PEUs remain at the political table.  It's the insider money funnel and only a select few participate.  

The lug nuts are loosening from all directions, inside (fraud, conflicts of interest), outside (little to no due diligence, regulatory evaporation) and all actively encouraged by Trump II.  

"Loosen the nuts" has arrived simultaneously with "Let the Nuts Loose."  Anything goes under Trump II, the digital Caligula.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  They will be saved.  The rest of us are clearly on our own.

Update 12-4-25:  Don Jr.'s 1789 Capital bought Vulcan Elements in August and already parlayed that into a $670 million cash injection courtesy of the Pentagon and Commerce Department.  ReElement Technologies is in the cash injection mix with Vulcan.