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Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Aon faces lawsuit over alleged role in Vesttoo collapse
A civil lawsuit has been filed against insurance broker Aon, accusing the company of contributing to the downfall of the once billion-dollar-valued Israeli insurance start-up Vesttoo. Vesttoo ran a marketplace connecting insurers with investors for trading insurance-linked securities. Vesttoo filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after it was revealed that insurance policies sold on its platform were supported by allegedly fraudulent letters of credit. The suit, which was unsealed in Delaware bankruptcy court, alleges that Aon 'ignored red flags' and encouraged business partnerships despite internal doubts regarding Vesttoo's operations. The complaint, brought forward by trustee Lawrence Hirsh, who is tasked with recovering funds for Vesttoo's creditors, suggests that Aon's actions were instrumental in the start-up's collapse. The lawsuit centres on Aon's Collateral Protection Insurance (CPI) product, which was designed to insure lenders against losses if a borrower's asset liquidation failed to cover debts. According to the lawsuit, the product's success hinged on securing reinsurance, for which Aon allegedly depended heavily on Vesttoo's ability to attract capital market investors. The complaint also implicates other entities including China Construction Bank Corp. (CCB), whose former employee is accused of collaborating with Vesttoo insiders to generate fraudulent letters of credit. Aon's subsidiary, White Rock Insurance, had previously secured a temporary restraining order against Vesttoo and reported suspicions of fraudulent letters of credit to Bermuda's financial regulator in 2023. In response to the lawsuit, Aon has emphasised Vesttoo's own admission of executive-level fraud in an investigative report and has stated that the company's executives, along with other co-conspirators, deliberately sought to deceive Aon and other affected parties. Aon has responded to the allegations, describing the lawsuit as "a perverse attempt by Vesttoo's bankruptcy estate to shift responsibility for Vesttoo's deliberate fraud to Aon, one of the fraud's biggest victims. 'Vesttoo has already acknowledged in its own investigative report that executives of the company, along with other co-conspirators, were responsible for the fraud and intentionally sought to mislead Aon and other impacted parties. We will vigorously defend Aon against these meritless claims," reported the Financial Times. Representatives for CCB, which is also involved in a separate civil lawsuit filed by White Rock, have yet to comment on the current allegations. Court documents from CCB have previously described the implicated former employee as a "low-level" staff member in Hong Kong lacking the authority to issue the letters of credit in question. "Aon faces lawsuit over alleged role in Vesttoo collapse " was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Fox News
8 minutes ago
- Fox News
Three Utah police officers injured in shooting
Fox News contributor Ted Williams joins 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the latest on the shooting in Tremonton, Utah, that injured three Utah police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance.
New York Times
8 minutes ago
- New York Times
Stalking has become an unsettling part of sports landscape: Key takeaways from our investigation
Cases of high-profile sports figures being stalked have piled up in the last year, as harrowing details fill court filings and interviews. Paige Bueckers. Caitlin Clark. Aaron Donald. Emma Raducanu. The growing problem — fueled, in part, by the increasing popularity of women's sports and the easy access fixated strangers have to celebrities through social media — is not confined to a particular age, sport or league. Advertisement Stalking has become an unsettling part of the sports landscape. Matches are interrupted. Athletes acknowledge that fixated strangers are impacting their mental health. Leagues and colleges are directing more money and resources toward security. On social media, athletes share stories, ask for advice and commiserate. But there are currently no scientific studies around the stalking of athletes, and no law enforcement agency is publicly tracking such cases. Last week, The Athletic published a series of stories taking a deep look at the stalking of sports figures and the deep toll it exacts on victims. Here are five takeaways from the series. Experts say social media has dramatically increased the number of threats and stalking incidents involving athletes, particularly women. Many athletes have turned to Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms to chronicle their careers and lives, in part to promote themselves and their sport. Still, this type of engagement can lead fixated strangers to believe they're connected to celebrities in a way they're not. Take the case of UCLA women's basketball player Kiki Rice, who was stalked by a 19-year-old man whose fixation began after he saw an advertisement of her on social media in 2023. He felt something 'magnetic' between them, he would later tell police. He ultimately traveled from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, rented a U-Haul van to live in, and frequently loitered outside UCLA practice facilities in hopes of seeing Rice. He even attended one of her basketball games, where she saw him in the second row, standing up, wearing a suit, and staring intently at her. 'I do not have any relationship with him, and his incessant efforts to track me down and confront me cause me to worry for my safety and are deeply disturbing,' Rice stated in her request for a restraining order in January 2024. 'I have no protection when I am off campus or at away games.' The five-year restraining order was granted in October. And although women are stalked at much higher rates than men, the issue impacts all athletes. Earlier this year, Aaron Donald, the retired Rams defensive lineman and future Pro Football Hall of Famer, secured a five-year restraining order against a woman he accused of stalking him and his family since 2020. Though he had never met the woman, he alleged she bombarded him with messages – including one that he interpreted as threatening the life of his young son – and attempted to send balloons and packages to his children. Advertisement 'I am fearful for my safety and the safety of my wife and children, and the safety of my brother,' Donald wrote in a court filing. We found 52 stalking cases involving sports figures since 2020. But this number comes with a significant and sobering caveat: It's almost certainly a vast undercount of the actual number of cases. That's in keeping with considerable underreporting of stalking cases in the general population. Less than a third of stalking victims involved law enforcement, according to a report to Congress by the attorney general in 2022. The reasons for this reluctance are numerous: 'A belief that the police cannot or will not do anything, fear that they will not be believed, being afraid of the perpetrator, not wanting law enforcement or courts involved in the matter, thinking that the perpetrator's actions are not serious enough to warrant reporting to police, and not having proof of stalking.' Stalking is a particularly challenging issue for law enforcement to address, as it's a pattern-based rather than incident-based issue. Sports figures and other celebrities can be hesitant to report stalking for a host of reasons, which include not recognizing the behavior as stalking (or dismissing it as the nothing more than the conduct of an unusually dedicated fan), concern about harming their public image by making the situation public or fear that pushing back will escalate the perpetrator's behavior. Unless a sports figure has publicly discussed being stalked or pursued legal action to stop it, the ordeal will likely remain secret. While some individual athletes may have the resources to hire private security, many athletes rely on the security protocols established by their league or university. Women's college basketball has had to quickly adapt as the sport's popularity has increased the risk to its players. The University of Iowa, Caitlin Clark's alma mater, bolstered security for women's basketball home games from 2022 to 2024 as Clark rose to become the most popular women's player in history. During Clark's sophomore season, security expenditures for women's basketball home games reached $153,780. During Clark's final season, it was $466,169, according to public records. Advertisement A variety of leagues, including the WTA, WNBA and NCAA, have hired an outside firm to track social media interactions directed at coaches, referees and players in an attempt to identify legitimate threats and report them to law enforcement. And the LPGA, which contracts with a specialized security firm with former U.S. Secret Service agents, recently added a red button to its player portal, a digital hub for all tournament details, which, if pushed, deploys security to the player's location. Tennis has always inspired a level of devotion to its stars, and no other sport has as many female icons. Many fans define themselves by being for one player and against their rival. The growth of social media and the expectation that players should be accessible to their fans have only intensified this parasocial relationship. Most tennis fans remember the 1993 stabbing of Monica Seles by a man obsessed with her opponent, Steffi Graf. That infamous moment stands out in tennis history, but it is also part of a pattern. This February, at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Emma Raducanu broke down in tears mid-match after spotting a man who had given her a letter and asked for a photo the previous day. Iga Świątek and Yulia Putintseva also dealt with stalking threats this year. People involved in the sport and stalking experts say that tennis has particular conditions and characteristics that make its players targets. Players' match and practice schedules are posted online, courtside seats let fans get extremely close, and athletes walk from place to place largely in public view. The gist of the con goes like this: Social media user is a fan of a specific golfer; scam account impersonating that athlete reaches out and quickly moves the conversation to another platform like Telegram or WhatsApp to evade social media moderation tools; scammer offers a desirable object or experience — a private dinner, VIP access to a tournament, an investment opportunity — for a fee; untraceable payments are made via cryptocurrency or gift cards. Then, once the spigot of cash is turned off, the scammer disappears. While this particular scam is not limited to golf, player agents, security experts and golfers say it has taken off within the LPGA in the last five years. Charley Hull, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie West, Morgan Pressel and Nelly Korda all have publicly posted warnings about the scams to their followers. But it's not just happening in digital spaces. On a handful of occasions, the victims of the scams have continued to blame the golfer for their financial losses even after being confronted with the truth, and some simply refuse to believe they have not been interacting with the real athlete, tipping into fixated behavior that concerns golfers and security officials. Advertisement One man traveled from Asia to a tournament in the United States, believing he was married to one of the players. A 68-year-old man from California attended several tournaments to see South Korean golfer In Gee Chun after being duped out of $50,000. Last May, a man drove four hours to Liberty National Golf Club for the Mizuho Americas Open to meet 22-year-old American golfer Rose Zhang, whom he was convinced he had been speaking to for over a year. And in January, a man showed up at the home of golf influencer Hailey Ostrom after losing $50,000 to an account impersonating her. 'There's really two victims. You have the person that's been scammed, but really, the athlete is a victim, too, since they get blamed for it,' said Scott Stewart, who works for a security firm used by the LPGA. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Simon Bruty / Allsport / Getty Images, iStock) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
