Latest news with #AlexJohnson
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Police defied court order, failed to probe Dutch model's death, lawyer claims
Dutch model Ivana Smit was last seen with Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz on Dec 7, 2017 at their apartment, before she died. (Instagram pic) KUALA LUMPUR : The High Court here was told today that the police had failed to conduct a thorough probe into the death of Dutch model Ivana Smit eight years ago, despite a court order directing an investigation. Lawyer SN Nair, appearing for the family, said another High Court judge had in 2019 ruled that Smit's death had been caused by 'persons known or unknown' and directed the police to take further steps in the matter. Despite that, Nair said the subsequent investigation was done 'half-heartedly', pointing out that the police had not sought the extradition of the two main suspects, Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz. Smit was last seen with the American-Kazakh couple at their apartment on Dec 7, 2017, before she died. 'The investigating officer even conceded that (an Interpol) blue notice issued was not effective in tracking down Alex and Luna,' said Nair. Smit's family is suing the police and government for breach of statutory duties and negligence in her death probe. Nair said the issuance of the blue notice cannot be considered sufficient action in the probe into Smit's death. He said the police ought to have secured the extradition of Johnson and Almaz, taken further witness statements, and re-examined the available forensic evidence. 'This case is a sobering reminder of what happens when those charged with protecting justice are themselves negligent,' Nair added. In reply, senior federal counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb, appearing for the government and police force, told the court that investigations into Smit's death are still ongoing. She insisted that the police had not breached their statutory function but had performed their investigative duties properly. 'The police were entitled to probe this case as a sudden death in 2017, based on the findings of the pathologist (Dr Nurliza Abdullah),' said Ezdiani. She also told the court that Smit's family was not entitled to seek damages over a purported breach of statutory duties and negligence. Trial judge Justice Roz Mawar then asked Nair to quantify the damages the family was seeking—in the event the court ruled in their favour. Nair said previous decisions indicated that RM500,000 would be an adequate sum, but left the matter for the court to determine. Ezdiana said the government will file additional submissions to address the quantum of damages issue. The court then fixed July 15 for decision. Dutch ambassador Jacques Werner was present at the hearing today.
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Georgia GOP's attempt to block Brad Raffensperger from running as a Republican may go nowhere
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's Republican Party says Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should not be able to run under the party's banner anymore, but the party's chairman says the attempt to kick out the state's chief election official is going nowhere. Delegates voted overwhelmingly at the state GOP convention on Saturday in Dalton to adopt a series of resolutions, including one declaring the party shall not 'take any action to allow Brad Raffensperger to qualify as a Republican' for future elections. The resolution shows the deep hostility many Republican activists have toward Raffensperger following his refusal to help Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Alex Johnson chairs the Georgia Republican Assembly, a group that tries to influence the party. He said Raffensperger has been 'generally ignoring and disrespecting' the party, including attempts to change the election system, and that Republicans should be allowed to divorce Raffensperger. 'He doesn't listen to anything that the Republican party has asked him to do,' Johnson said Monday. 'He is hostile and has been hostile towards our presidential nominee and now a person who is president.' But party Chairman Josh McKoon told reporters after the convention ended that while the resolution 'presents the sense of the convention on what should happen,' state law requires the party to allow Raffensperger to run as a Republican. 'I don't really see a way for the Georgia Republican Party to decline someone the opportunity to qualify,' McKoon said. Spokespeople for Raffensperger did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. The two-term secretary of state has said he's considering running for governor or U.S. Senate in 2026. Georgia has no party registration and its primary elections allow anyone to vote in the party nominating contest of their choice. That means it can be hard to tell who is truly a Republican or a Democrat. Some Republicans favor a system of voter registration by party and primaries that allow only party members to vote. They also say party officials should decide which candidates should be allowed to run as Republicans. The Georgia Republican Party's executive committee voted in January to expel former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan after Duncan endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president. The committee voted to ban Duncan from party events and said it would not qualify Duncan to run as a Republican in the future. But the party in 2023 rejected an attempt to ban ideological traitors from primary ballots. Last year, judges blocked attempts by a county party in northwest Georgia to act as gatekeepers for local candidates. In a ruling regarding Catoosa County, the state Supreme Court did not get to the heart of the dispute over whether parities can create rules for qualifying candidates in primary elections beyond those found in Georgia law. Those who push that point of view claim being forced to qualify everyone who signs up violates their freedom of association under the U.S. Constitution. 'You can't force a Baptist church to ordain a Buddhist or a Muslim to be a Baptist minister,' said Nathaniel Darnell, president of the Georgia Republican Assembly. 'By the same token, you can't force somebody who is counteracting the Republican principles and objectives to be Republican.' A federal judge rejected that argument, but some Catoosa County Republicans have appealed the case. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet ruled. Republicans in Chattooga and Pickens counties passed similar rules. Those who want to act as gatekeepers generally are seeking to move the party to the right. The state convention on Saturday, for example, called for repealing both the state income tax and local property taxes. Those who hold a different view say primary election voters should decide who's a true Republican. U.S. District Judge Billy Ray, a former chair of the Gwinnett County Republican Party, wrote that a party's associational rights are not 'absolute' and voters should decide primaries when he rejected the Catoosa County case now on appeal. 'Trying to limit who can run in a primary seems inconsistent with the purpose of a primary to start with,' Ray wrote in a footnote. 'Perhaps the Catoosa Republican Party doesn't believe that the citizens of Catoosa County can for themselves intelligently decide which candidates best embody the principles of the Republican Party.'
Forbes
30-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Is It Chime's Turn To Shine? The $1.67B Question For 8.6M Users
A person is holding a mobile phone with the Chime logo on its screen. (Photo by Nikos ... More Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images) After spending over $1 billion on customer acquisition in just a few years (a good chunk of it funding Meta and Google's massive profits) Chime has finally achieved the scale it craved to file for an IPO. With 8.6 million monthly active users and $1.67 billion in revenue, the neobank has built something impressive. Now comes the harder question: what next? Chime's S-1 filing, submitted ahead of its highly anticipated IPO, has raised a lot of eyebrows in the fintech industry. The company has proven it can acquire customers in great numbers (over 50% now come from referrals and organic channels, following the classic playbook pioneered by PayPal), retain their loyalty (67% maintain primary account relationships), and generate substantial revenue. But having spent billions to reach this point, the pressure is now squarely on execution. At the heart of Chime's business model lies a fundamental vulnerability: 72% of its revenue still comes from interchange fees collected when customers swipe their debit and credit cards. While this percentage has dropped from 80% in 2022-2023, the company remains essentially a payments business wrapped in banking clothes. Fintech analyst Alex Johnson points out that this dependence on interchange economics creates a sword of Damocles scenario. The Durbin Amendment, which caps interchange fees for large banks but exempts smaller ones like Chime's partners, created the regulatory arbitrage that enabled the neobank's model. But policy isn't set in stone. Any regulatory shift that eliminates or reduces this exemption could hammer Chime's core economics overnight. Traditional banks have spent decades diversifying their revenue streams across lending, wealth management, and fee-based services. Chime, despite its scale, remains vulnerable to the regulatory winds that created its business model in the first place. Which brings us to the elephant in the room: consumer lending. With 8.6 million monthly active users who trust Chime enough to route their paychecks through the platform, the neobank sits on one of fintech's most valuable assets—engaged customers with predictable income streams. The numbers tell a story of massive untapped potential. Credit Builder, Chime's secured credit card, generated $358.4 million in revenue in 2024. MyPay, the earned wage access product launched in July 2024, contributed $121 million. Add in the voluntary tips customers leave for SpotMe overdraft protection (yes, people actually tip their bank in 2025), and you have the foundation of a lending business. But here's where things get interesting, and frustrating for investors looking for growth. MyPay, despite the user base and need, has relatively low adoption. The economics remain challenging: in Q1 2025, MyPay generated $64.3 million in revenue but incurred $57.3 million in credit losses. They're essentially paying customers to borrow money. That being said, fresh starts are always tough for consumer credit businesses and as cohorts mature numbers will look much better. The newest addition, Instant Loans (allowing customers to borrow up to $500 at a fixed rate of $5 per $100 borrowed) launched only in March 2025, too recent to provide meaningful data in the S-1. But it represents Chime's attempt to move beyond overdrafts and wage advances into traditional unsecured lending. To understand the scale of the opportunity Chime is leaving on the table, consider Zilch, a UK-based buy-now-pay-later company operating in a similar demographic. Zilch serves roughly 4 million 'registered customers', a far less stringent metric than Chime's monthly active users, yet generates approximately $200 million annually from consumer credit products. The comparison is particularly striking because although the UK consumer credit market is far less competitive than the American one, the US market is vastly larger. Zilch's success with flat-fee credit products suggests there's a massive opportunity for transparent, fee-based lending in the US market. Chime appears perfectly positioned to introduce a similar model, and Instant Loans seems to approximate it. The company already has customer trust, engagement, and most crucially, primary account relationships that provide rich transaction data for underwriting decisions. Every quarter of modest credit growth represents millions in foregone revenue. Perhaps nothing captures Chime's success in reframing banking relationships quite like SpotMe's voluntary tip feature. In an industry built on penalty fees and gotcha charges, Chime has convinced customers to voluntarily tip their bank for overdraft protection. This generates millions in revenue and says everything about how broken traditional banking relationships have become. It's both hilarious and profound: only in 2025 would people feel generous enough to tip their bank, and only a company like Chime could make fee-free overdrafts feel like a service worth rewarding. Who knows, Chime might even get into advertising. This brings us to the central question facing Chime's IPO: are they being appropriately conservative with credit expansion, or do they simply lack the lending DNA to capitalize on their position? The MyPay economics suggest either cautious underwriting or fundamental challenges in the earned wage access model. Credit Builder works because it's a secured product, but unsecured lending is an entirely different beast. Traditional banks have decades of experience and sophisticated risk models; Chime is still learning. Yet the opportunity cost is enormous. With over 8 million engaged users, many living paycheck to paycheck, the demand for transparent, fairly-priced credit products is clearly there. Whether Chime can build the risk management capabilities to serve this demand profitably will largely determine whether it becomes a payments company with banking features or a true financial services platform. As Chime prepares for public markets, it faces the cold reality that scale alone doesn't guarantee success. The company's private valuation peaked at $25 billion in 2021; current expectations suggest a public debut closer to $8-10 billion. Public investors value recurring revenue and diversified business models differently than private markets chasing growth. The revenue mix shift from 80% interchange to 72% shows Chime understands the need to diversify. Platform revenue grew 92% year-over-year in Q1 2025, driven primarily by MyPay. But this growth came with margin compression that public investors will scrutinize carefully. Chime has achieved what many fintechs dream of: massive scale, engaged users, and a clear path to profitability. The company has proven it can acquire customers efficiently and maintain their loyalty. But having spent billions to reach this point, the pressure is now on execution. The interchange revenue that built Chime's foundation faces regulatory uncertainty. The credit opportunity that could secure its future remains largely untapped, with new products like Instant Loans still in early stages and MyPay showing modest adoption despite the massive user base. Whether it's truly Chime's turn to shine may depend less on what they've built so far and more on whether they can transform 8.6 million engaged users into a diversified revenue machine. The opportunity is enormous; the clock is ticking. Every quarter of conservative credit growth is millions in foregone revenue, and public market investors won't be as patient as private ones. The neobank has successfully executed phase one of the fintech playbook, customer acquisition at scale. Phase two, building a sustainable, diversified financial services business, will determine whether Chime becomes the challenger bank that finally cracked the code or just another cautionary tale about the limits of disruption in financial services.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Children denied access to life-changing drug due to paperwork, say families
The families of children with a severe genetic muscle-wasting condition claim NHS failings are preventing them from accessing a drug that slows its progression. Clinical teams lack the 'capacity to process the paperwork' associated with administering givinostat, campaigners said. The drug was made available to eligible patients through a type of compassionate use scheme known as an Early Access Programme (EAP) last year. Parents described the situation as 'unfathomable' and called for immediate action. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common and severe form of muscular dystrophy. It causes muscle degeneration and weakness due to a mutation in the gene that produces dystrophin, a protein that protects muscle fibres from breaking down. The condition usually only affects boys, with patients unable to walk by the age of 12 and usually only surviving into their 20s and 30s. There are about 2,500 people in the UK living with DMD at any one time, with about 100 new diagnoses each year. Givinostat, also known as the brand name Duvyzat, is a first-of-its-kind treatment that belongs to a family of drugs known as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. These treatments reduce inflammation and fibrosis in muscle tissues while promoting muscle regeneration and slowing down the progression of DMD. An EAP opened for givinostat at the end of 2024, meaning its manufacturer has made it available free of charge to the health service until regulators make a decision about its cost effectiveness and availability for routine access through the NHS. Patients over the age of six with a confirmed diagnosis of DMD are eligible. They should also be able to stand for less than 10 seconds, and should have been on a stable corticosteroid for at least six months prior to start the treatment. Participation in the EAP is decided at an individual NHS trust level. However, the charity Duchenne UK, which was founded by two mothers whose sons have DMD, claims no NHS trusts currently offer givinostat. It alleges families have been told trusts do not have the resources to process the paperwork needed to administer the drug, or conduct blood tests for monitoring. The charity's co-founder Alex Johnson, whose 17-year-old son Jack was diagnosed with DMD in 2011, said: 'When it was announced in November that givinostat was going to be available at no cost to patients or the NHS, families like ours were understandably excited. 'This is the first time there has been a treatment that can slow down the progression of the condition, so it is a huge moment for us. 'To later find out that the life-changing treatment – which is being given to the NHS for free – cannot reach the people who so desperately need it, all because clinical teams don't have the capacity to process the paperwork, is unfathomable.' Co-founder Emily Reuben, whose son Eli, 17, also has DMD, added: 'Pressures on the healthcare system are currently failing our children. 'We can't afford to sit back and accept that, because every second counts when it comes to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. 'That is why we're calling for support to make sure that more time is not lost.' In January, the charity's co-founders and other families met with MPs, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting, to highlight the issue. Ms Reuben said: 'We're really pleased that Wes Streeting and his colleagues spent so much time chatting to us and our boys and hope to work together to ensure that NHS trusts can overcome these challenges to help us to give our boys a fighting chance.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We are committed to supporting access to specialist care, treatment and drugs for those with rare diseases. 'It is for individual trusts to decide whether to take part in an Early Access Programme which provides access to givinostat.' NHS spending watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is currently appraising givinostat to determine if it should be rolled out on the health service. A decision is expected later this year. The drug was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in December. An NHS spokesperson said: 'We know how important access to new treatments is for patients and their families living with progressive conditions like Duchenne muscular dystrophy. 'So while Nice determine whether givinostat should be made routinely available and funded on the NHS, a number of trusts across the country are in the process of making preparations to offer the treatment via a company-led Early Access Programme, in which trusts themselves must cover substantial costs to administer the treatment.'
