Good Morning. A health care fraudster allegedly turned stolen taxpayer money into a $600,000 Ferrari and an $865,000 necklace. We break down the full $6.5B takedown.
Plus, a global tech selloff, Oracle sheds 21,000 jobs, and the one-hour system that runs your money for you (forwarded this email? Join 523k readers).
TOP STORY TODAY
DOJ’s $6.5B Takedown
Yesterday, the Justice Department charged 455 defendants over $6.5 billion in alleged health care fraud, the second largest such takedown on record. Ninety were doctors or licensed medical professionals.
The alleged schemes spanned wound care, hospice, adult day care, and opioid distribution. Medicaid fraud set department records, with 295 defendants and more than $518 million in false claims. Cases reached 56 federal districts.
One Arizona executive allegedly spent fraud proceeds on a $600,000 Ferrari, an $865,000 Bulgari necklace, a Hawaii home, and a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines. Authorities seized over $182 million in assets.
US Nuclear Bet
The Energy Department on Tuesday unveiled $17.5 billion in low-interest loans for utilities to finance new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, a federal bet on reviving the long-stalled American nuclear power industry.
The push is fueled by surging power demand from AI data centers, which consumed up to 5% of U.S. electricity in 2024 and could nearly triple by 2028. The money targets 10 reactors across five projects.
The track record is rocky. Georgia's Vogtle plant, the only finished U.S. AP1000s, ballooned from a $14 billion estimate to over $30 billion and opened years late. China already has 11 more under construction. Is nuclear too costly / slow?
Ditching Ray-Ban
Meta and EssilorLuxottica launched Meta Glasses, a new AI eyewear line starting at $299, notably dropping the Ray-Ban branding used on past models. The glasses are available now in 26 styles.
The price undercuts Meta's $379 Ray-Ban line and $499 Oakley version. One frame, the $399 Meta Glasses by Kylie, was designed with Kylie Jenner and can answer in her voice. Prescription lenses are supported (pricing strategy).
Meta already controls roughly 80% of the AI glasses market. The push comes as it plans up to $145 billion in 2026 capital spending, with Apple, Google, and Samsung all preparing rival glasses.
TOGETHER WITH FRIDA
What Experienced Parents Buy That First-Timers Miss
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The one hour that makes you rich
Ramit Sethi, the I Will Teach You to Be Rich guy, spends less than an hour a month on his money. Not because he is disciplined. Because fifteen years ago he spent one weekend automating the whole thing, and it has run itself ever since.
The idea is simple: move money to the right places before you can spend it. His paycheck splits automatically:
a slice to the 401k before it ever hits checking
a slice to savings on the 5th
a slice to a Roth
bills on autopay and the credit card cleared in full every month so the interest never touches him
You never budget, because the budget is the plumbing. The money is already gone to the right place before you wake up. What is left in checking is yours to spend, guilt-free.
Most people manage money with willpower and lose. Automate it once and willpower never enters the equation.
Attention reset we're breaking down
A Wall Street Journal columnist locked away her phone, laptop, and watch for five silent days at a meditation retreat (read her story here). The hardest part was not the silence. It was that her brain, cut off from input, did not know what to do.
The reveal: she mostly reached for her phone out of boredom, not need. Five days in, she had missed nothing that mattered.
You do not need a retreat. Robert Wright, author of Why Buddhism Is True, makes the science case that a few minutes of daily practice trains you to notice the urge to check your phone before you obey it. Attention is the asset.
Robert Wright on why your brain craves the phone: the evolutionary case for why the urge to check Twitter is a feeling you can watch instead of obey
Free recorded talks from the retreat's teachers: the Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg lectures the columnist called her week's highlight, all free
TRENDING
5 Stories
▲ Tech stocks tumble worldwide as investors flee AI and chipmaker bets over profitability fears
▲ Oracle cuts 21,000 jobs, a 13% workforce reduction, as it doubles down on AI
▲ Mamdani allies sweep New York City Democratic House primaries, toppling two establishment-backed incumbents Tuesday
▲ Europe heatwave triggers red alerts across Britain, France, Italy, and Spain this week
▲ Tesla disputes crash claim, saying driver pressed the accelerator manually before and after fatal impact
TOGETHER WITH T-MOBILE
Free Samsung Galaxy A17 5G
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*Terms & Conditions apply. Not available if with Metro in the last 180 days. If using >35GB/mo. May notice reduced speeds.
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Natural caffeine, zero sugar energy drink [Partner*]
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