Can ‘MAMUWT' Be to Musk What ‘TACO' Is to Trump?
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Las Vegas hotel slammed after guest stuck with outrageous bill for a bottle of water
It's not just slot machines that are fleecing people. A Las Vegas hotel is being lambasted mercilessly online after charging nearly $30 for a bottle of water from room minibars. The apparent H20 highway robberies came to light via photos and a fan submission shared by the travel blog A View From the Wing. The unidentified guest had reportedly been staying at the Aria Resort & Casino — one of over 30 MGM resorts — where room rates start at $280 per night. According to the post, an employee had been restocking and cleaning out their room's minibar, which the visitor noted had 'food crammed in the fridge from two guests ago.' The worker informed the visitor that water costs $26, but only told them after the guest had consumed a full bottle, the poster wrote. That constituted more than 10% of the person's total bill of $259, according to a screenshot of their invoice. To make matters worse, the same water reportedly costs just $7.45 at a Starbucks downstairs. While hotel minibars are known for their extortionate markups, some Aria guests noted that the other items in the fridge were not nearly as steep. , shared a photo of a hotel minibar menu showing a Coca-Cola Deluxe that cost $13.75, nearly half as much as the Fiji Water, which set guests back a whopping $24.75. 'Do you think it's fair to pay for the convenience, or this is price gouging?' the traveler spluttered in the caption. Commenters were similarly perplexed over the price tags, with one writing, 'Was just there. I was floored.' 'Vegas is dying so they have to charge a buttload to survive,' declared another, referencing declining tourist numbers at the gambling mecca. 'They depend on the drunk visitors that don't care about their prices at 2 a.m. when they get back to their room,' said a third. A View From the Wing contributor Gary Leff accused Aria of flouting the 'diamonds-water paradox' floated by 'The Wealth of Nations' author Adam Smith, who wrote that water is necessary but cheap, while diamonds are useless for survival but expensive due to their scarcity. 'Aria in Las Vegas proves there really was no paradox after all,' Leff quipped. 'Water in the desert is crucial to survival and incredibly expensive for guests staying there!' He declared that Sin City had 'clearly given up on any idea of hospitality.' 'I would think, though, that a $36.28 per night resort fee (inclusive of tax) might be high enough to offer a single bottle of water as one of its inclusions. I guess not!' Leff griped. 'This is the perfect example of the kind of out of sample cost that makes people feel cheated on a Las Vegas trip, leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouth. And that is dangerous heading into a Las Vegas downturn.'
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Police shut down Cluely's party, the ‘cheat at everything' startup
The latest San Francisco startup culture drama happened on Monday night. And it centered around 'the most legendary party that never happened,' Cluely founder and CEO Roy Lee tells TechCrunch. Cluely had hoped to throw an after-party for a Y Combinator event occurring on Monday and Tuesday called AI Startup School. The event drew crowds thanks to scheduled speakers like Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, and Elon Musk. Cluely is an AI startup born of controversy and rage-bait comedy marketing. True to form, Lee posted a satirical video on X advertising his after-party. It shows him camped out by the famed Y Combinator sign — the one all the YC founders take selfies with. (Cluely is not a YC startup.) The tweet advertised the party to his more than 100,000 followers and said to DM for an invite. Lee tells TechCrunch that he didn't actually send invites out to the hordes. 'We only invited friends and friends of friends,' he said. But it became the party, and people shared the details. When it was set to begin, so many people were standing outside the venue that the lines wrapped around blocks. 'It just blew up way out of proportion,' Lee says. What looked like 2,000 people showed up, he added. A party that big might have gotten out of control, but it didn't get the chance. The lines were blocking traffic, so the cops showed up and shut it down. 'Cluely's aura is just too strong!' Lee was heard shouting outside as the cops busted it up. 'It would have been the most legendary party in tech history. And I would argue that the reputation of this story might just make it the most legendary party that never happened,' Lee tells TechCrunch, simultaneously proud and bummed. Lee became known in San Francisco when he posted a viral tweet on X saying he was suspended by Columbia University after he and his co-founder developed an AI tool to cheat on job interviews for software engineers. They turned that tool into a startup that offers a hidden in-browser window that can't be viewed by an interviewer or proctor. The startup also went viral for its marketing that promised to help people 'cheat on everything.' In April, Cluely raised a $5.3 million seed round, and its marketing is now a little less in-your-face: 'Everything you need. Before you ask.' The party and its demise by law enforcement naturally became the subject of jokes, memes, and inventive rumors. Lee's explanation of the crowds outside is perhaps more dull than what some people imagined. After the cops showed, 'We did some cleanup, but the drinks are all there waiting for the next party,' he promises. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ex-Loretto hospital CFO hit with new charges alleging massive $290 million COVID testing fraud scheme
A former top executive of Loretto Hospital on Chicago's West Side has been charged in a massive $290 million fraud scheme that allegedly used stolen patient data to bill nearly a billion dollars worth of bogus COVID-19 tests for purportedly uninsured patients at the height of the pandemic. The 48-page indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday marked the latest — and largest — fraud scheme involving the small West Side safety-net hospital that became a lighting rod of controversy during the coronavirus pandemic for administering vaccinations to connected insiders and paying millions in contracts to companies with close ties to facility administrators. Anosh Ahmed, who was previously indicted in a related scheme to embezzle $15 million from Loretto itself, was charged in the new 24-count indictment with wire fraud, illegal kickbacks and other financial crimes. Also charged were Mohamed Sirajudeen, 53, an Ahmed associate who operated a clinic called Chicago Polyclinic LLC, as well as Mahmood Sami Khan, 36, and Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry, 34, both former employees of Anosh Inc., a Houston-area company Ahmed formed after leaving Loretto in 2021. Ahmed, 41, fled to Dubai before he was first charged last year and has not returned, court records show. Over the past year, he's been using a public relations firm to produce news releases calling himself a 'billionaire agripreneur' dedicated to philanthropic causes, including donating millions of pounds of food to the needy in Lebanon. His lawyer, Dan Webb, could not immediately be reached. Chaudhry and Khan were arrested in the Houston area Tuesday and were expected to appear in court there on Wednesday, court records show. Sirajudeen has arranged to surrender through his attorney. It was not clear if any of the three defendants had hired attorneys. According to the indictment, from April 2021 to June 2022, Ahmed and his co-conspirators used laboratories they opened in Illinois and Texas to submit false claims to the Health Resources and Services Administration for COVID testing of specimens 'purportedly collected from uninsured individuals, knowing that such testing had not occurred.' In all, the false claims sought reimbursement for nearly $895 million, of which more than $293 million was actually paid, the indictment stated. To further the scheme, after Ahmed left Loretto Hospital in April 2021, he had a hospital executive identified as Individual F to obtain a spreadsheet containing personal identifiers — including names, dates of birth, gender and addresses — collected from more than 150,000 Loretto patient visits between July 2014 and June 2020, the indictment alleged. Similar personal information was collected from patients who ordered COVID-19 antigen at-home test kits from an internet site run by Khan, as well as individuals who provided it 'for the purpose of receiving further information about COVID-19,' the indictment stated. The indictment alleged Ahmed used a variety of methods to try to conceal the scheme, including by having Individual F create a new email address with Loretto's domain name to 'create the false appearance that Ahmed was working on behalf of (Loretto)' and that the hospital was reporting test results to patients, the indictment alleged. Ahmed also created a number of false and backdated invoices to minimize his involvement with the various labs, communicated in encrypted messaging apps and ordered co-schemers to replace phones and destroy communications and other documents relating to the scheme, the indictment stated. The indictment sought forfeiture in more than $100 million in cash and securities in various accounts controlled by Ahmed, as well as seizure of four luxury properties in Texas, and vehicles including two Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini Huracan and a Mercedes Benz. The indictment is the latest in a federal investigation initiated after Loretto came under fire for improperly doling out COVID-19 vaccinations soon after the shots became available. In 2021, following reporting by Block Club Chicago and WBEZ, Loretto admitted it had improperly vaccinated workers at Trump Tower in downtown Chicago and had also improperly given shots to Cook County judges at a time when the vaccines were still scarce. Ahmed resigned from his position as chief financial officer in 2021 after the hospital's board voted to terminate him. Last year, Ahmed was charged in a separate embezzlement case along with former Loretto CEO George Miller; Heather Bergdahl, a friend of Ahmed's from Houston whom he hired in 2020 to serve as Loretto's chief transformation officer; and Sameer Suhail, 47, of Chicago, a doctor and medical supply company owner accused of serving as a front for millions of dollars in bogus payments by Loretto for invoices that were never fulfilled. Miller, who left the hospital amid the fallout in 2022, is cooperating and is expected to plead guilty. Suhail is also believed to be living in Dubai, where he traveled before his indictment. Bergdahl, meanwhile, was arrested after boarding a private jet in Houston that was bound for Dubai. She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. jmeisner@
