Latest news with #ChrisMcCann
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Tragic last moments of the twisted banking executive who plunged to his death after he was arrested for underage sex
Chris McCann's descent into disgrace was so swift and complete, he could see no escape from his sudden shame and jumped to his death while visiting a national park in Queensland. Two weeks ago, the 50-year-old was an anonymous Commonwealth Bank executive living quietly with his wife and two sons at Curl Curl on Sydney's northern beaches. McCann's world imploded when he was arrested at Sydney Airport and faced Central Local Court on July 9 charged with procuring a child for sex at a Brisbane hotel. Queensland Police had been investigating McCann for two months and successfully sought his extradition, which saw his alleged crime make national headlines. He was granted bail at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday to live with a friend in the Gold Coast hinterland, but just two days later McCann was dead. McCann's body was found on Wednesday afternoon at Springbrook, a popular spot for bushwalkers to hike through lush rainforest and take photographs from scenic lookouts. Tourists who were in the vicinity when McCann leapt to his death witnessed police cars and an ambulance speed past them as they made their way back to their holiday homes. McCann had been the Commonwealth Bank's head of health and social infrastructure for its major client group in Sydney for the past 11 months. Chris McCann's descent into disgrace was so swift and complete, he seemed to see no way back to his former life and jumped to his death in a national park McCann's body was found on Wednesday afternoon in Springbrook National Park (above), a popular spot for bushwalkers to hike through lush rainforest and visit scenic lookouts Before that, he had worked for ANZ and Westpac during a career in corporate finance spanning more than 20 years. A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank declined to comment on McCann 'given the tragic circumstances of this week', but it was revealed in court on Monday he had been sacked since his arrest. McCann appeared in Brisbane Arrest Court on Monday charged with one count of using the internet to procure children aged under 16 on a previous trip to the city. Police alleged McCann used 18-year-old Brisbane sex worker Shauntelle Elizabeth Went to procure two girls aged 14 and 15 while he was in Brisbane on May 15. Magistrate Louise Shepherd said McCann was accused of asking Went if she had any 'younger' friends she worked with and the pair agreed on a price for the two girls to meet him at the Sofitel Hotel. At the hotel, Went allegedly waited in the lobby while the girls went up to McCann's room. McCann had not let the girls inside and instead contacted the hotel's front desk to ask them to leave. The court heard McCann had no criminal history and would abide by any bail conditions. A prosecutor opposed bail, citing fears McCann could offend if on bail and the risk to the welfare of the community if he was at his liberty. Police alleged McCann used 18-year-old Brisbane sex worker Shauntelle Elizabeth Went (above) to procure two girls aged 14 and 15 while he was in Brisbane on May 15. Until two weeks ago McCann (above) was an anonymous 50-year-old Commonwealth Bank executive living on Sydney 's northern beaches at Curl Curl with his wife and two children 'He lives in NSW,' the prosecutor said. 'He is a flight risk. He has financial capacity from his previous employment.' Magistrate Louise Shepherd said the allegation against McCann was 'terribly serious'. 'You travelled interstate frequently,' Ms Shepherd told McCann. 'You formed some kind of connection with [Went]. On May 14, police intercepted messages between you and her. 'The allegation is you... queried her about whether she had younger friends that she worked with.' Ms Shepherd also noted McCann would not necessarily serve any time in custody if convicted and granted him bail on strict conditions. McCann had to live with a university lecturer friend near Mudgeeraba, about 20km north-east of Springbrook and not have contact with children except his own sons. He was not to travel interstate, had to comply with an evening curfew and abide by restrictions on his use of electronic devices. Magistrate Louise Shepherd noted on Monday that McCann (above) would not necessarily serve any time in custody if convicted and granted him bail on strict conditions Throughout the proceedings, McCann looked down or straight ahead. The court heard Went did not actually have sex with clients but made her money by producing adult content on OnlyFans. Went, who is also charged with using the internet to procure a child under 16, was granted bail on conditions including that she have no contact with McCann. McCann and Went's cases were adjourned until August 4 at the same court. Following the discovery of McCann's body on Wednesday, police said they were not treating his death as suspicious. 'A report will be prepared for the Coroner following the non-suspicious death of a man at Springbrook yesterday,' a Queensland Police spokeswoman said. If you or someone you know needs confidential support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.
Irish Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Insurance algorithms firm claims breach of intellectal property rights
A Dublin registered company involved in providing data analytics for insurance brokers has claimed in the Commercial Court that two firms are breaching its intellectual property in relation to product algorithms used in selling insurance to customers. XS Direct Holdings Ltd, part of a larger XS Direct Group, is suing Mulsanne Insurance Co Ltd, registered in Gibraltar, and Ormiston Holdco Ltd, registered in Jersey, seeking a declaration that an intellectual property assignment agreement of September 2023 is validand enforceable. It is also seeking damages. A co-plaintiff with XS is Dublin registered Beach Point Capital (BPC) Ireland Lending DAC and BPC Ireland Lending II DAC which are senior lenders to the XS Group and hold certain security over the assets ofXS Direct Holdings and certain related companies including XS DirectInsurance Brokers Ltd. BPC Lending II appointed receivers over XS Direct Insurance Brokers in February 2022 and holds a fixed charge over certain valuable intellectual property rights with the XS Group. READ MORE XS Direct Group founder and CEO, Chris McCann, says the most valuable aspect of its product is algorithms which are based on data and claimsmade during the period following the initial writing of the XS Directcore product. It represents 12 years of accumulating the necessary data and its revision which informs the underwriting and pricing models. Its attractiveness was that it facilitated the sharing of risk withinsureds via high levels of excess which results in lower premiums forcustomers who don't have, for example, no claims bonuses and who might be otherwise outside the standard market for other insurers. The case was admitted to the Commercial Court on Monday by Mr Justice Michael Twomey on the application of Hugh O'Keeffe SC, for XS and on consent from John O'Donnell SC, for the defendants. Mr O'Keeffe said the claim for damages was in excess of £3.5 million (€4 million) and there is very considerable complexity to the case. Counsel also said there had been efforts to have the disputearbitrated but it was ultimately agreed this would not lead to aresolution. In an affidavit, Mr McCann of XS, said the firm's core product has been particularly successful in the UK since it was launched there in 2009. In 2022, Mulsanne Insurance, the first defendant, was interested inentering into an intellectual property licensing agreement of the product when XS Direct Insurance ceased trading that year, he said. A heads of terms agreement was entered into between a newlyincorporated XS company, XSV IP Ltd, and Mulsanne Insurance which thenbecame an underwriting entity using the XS algorithms, he said. While Mulsanne honoured its first payment obligation of more than £98,000, no further payments were received by XSVI IP, he said. In March 2024, Ormiston Holdco, the second defendant, said it was no longer supporting Mulsanne's delivery of all sections of the XSproduct and proposed walking away from the deal, he said. Mr Justice Twomey approved directions for the progress of the casethrough the Commercial Court. He added that while he had heard whathappened in relation to mediation efforts, there could still be someother independent form of resolution to the dispute.
Malaysian Reserve
15-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Openlayer Raises $14.5 Million Series A to Help Enterprises Scale AI with Confidence
As enterprises rush to deploy AI, Openlayer helps ensure these systems are evaluated andaccountable before and after launch. SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Openlayer, a unified platform for evaluation and governance of AI systems at the enterprise level, announced a $14.5 million Series A round, led by Race Capital with participation from NXTP, KPN Ventures, Mindset, Y Combinator, Quiet Capital, and Telefonica. The company will focus the new investment to expand enterprise-grade product capabilities and scale go-to-market efforts across key industries and global markets. 'The rate of AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, with teams integrating AI into more mission-critical aspects of their business,' said Gabriel Bayomi, CEO and cofounder of Openlayer. 'When enterprises deploy AI, there's no room for error, especially in customer-facing applications. A single failure can erode trust, disrupt lives, or lead to legal and reputational fallout. That's why robust evaluation, observability, and governance aren't optional – they're foundational to responsible AI deployment.' In the current AI climate, companies need the tooling and processes to build and deploy applications reliably. Explosive growth is an incredible opportunity, but moving too fast without proper governance can have serious consequences to a business and the end users of these applications. Openlayer gives enterprises a unified platform to take their AI applications from prototype to production, delivering speed while also ensuring accuracy by spotting and guarding against any weakness. 'Openlayer's development velocity has been among the fastest in our portfolio – growing nearly 5x in 2024 and on pace to match that this year,' said Chris McCann, Managing Partner at Race Capital. 'Their platform is becoming essential for enterprises that need to move fast without compromising reliability in their AI infrastructure.' Founded by Gabriel Bayomi, Rishab Ramanathan, and Vikas Nair, Openlayer provides a unified platform that supports AI teams across the entire development lifecycle—from early experimentation to production deployment. Designed for both traditional machine learning and emerging GenAI systems, Openlayer enables teams to address everything from data-quality issues to complex model evaluation and governance, all within a single workflow. 'Openlayer has a world-class engineering team that ships new integrations and features every week,' said Dror Avrilingi, Head of QE, Data & AI Studios at Amdocs. 'On top of that, the platform is built for collaboration, and even non-technical stakeholders can easily participate in helping ensure products are delivering on their intended promise.' Openlayer is the only native unified platform for ML and LLM evaluation, offering true multimodal testing, real-time monitoring, and automated governance that fits seamlessly into enterprise workflows. For more information, visit About OpenlayerBuilt for enterprise teams deploying everything from traditional ML to Generative AI, Openlayer helps organizations test, monitor, and govern their AI systems with confidence. Founded by Gabriel Bayomi, Vikas Nair, and Rishab Ramanathan, Openlayer is trusted by enterprise companies to operationalize safe, reliable, and responsible AI. For more information, please visit
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Openlayer Raises $14.5 Million Series A to Help Enterprises Scale AI with Confidence
As enterprises rush to deploy AI, Openlayer helps ensure these systems are evaluated andaccountable before and after launch. SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Openlayer, a unified platform for evaluation and governance of AI systems at the enterprise level, announced a $14.5 million Series A round, led by Race Capital with participation from NXTP, KPN Ventures, Mindset, Y Combinator, Quiet Capital, and Telefonica. The company will focus the new investment to expand enterprise-grade product capabilities and scale go-to-market efforts across key industries and global markets. "The rate of AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, with teams integrating AI into more mission-critical aspects of their business," said Gabriel Bayomi, CEO and cofounder of Openlayer. "When enterprises deploy AI, there's no room for error, especially in customer-facing applications. A single failure can erode trust, disrupt lives, or lead to legal and reputational fallout. That's why robust evaluation, observability, and governance aren't optional – they're foundational to responsible AI deployment." In the current AI climate, companies need the tooling and processes to build and deploy applications reliably. Explosive growth is an incredible opportunity, but moving too fast without proper governance can have serious consequences to a business and the end users of these applications. Openlayer gives enterprises a unified platform to take their AI applications from prototype to production, delivering speed while also ensuring accuracy by spotting and guarding against any weakness. "Openlayer's development velocity has been among the fastest in our portfolio – growing nearly 5x in 2024 and on pace to match that this year," said Chris McCann, Managing Partner at Race Capital. "Their platform is becoming essential for enterprises that need to move fast without compromising reliability in their AI infrastructure." Founded by Gabriel Bayomi, Rishab Ramanathan, and Vikas Nair, Openlayer provides a unified platform that supports AI teams across the entire development lifecycle—from early experimentation to production deployment. Designed for both traditional machine learning and emerging GenAI systems, Openlayer enables teams to address everything from data-quality issues to complex model evaluation and governance, all within a single workflow. "Openlayer has a world-class engineering team that ships new integrations and features every week," said Dror Avrilingi, Head of QE, Data & AI Studios at Amdocs. "On top of that, the platform is built for collaboration, and even non-technical stakeholders can easily participate in helping ensure products are delivering on their intended promise." Openlayer is the only native unified platform for ML and LLM evaluation, offering true multimodal testing, real-time monitoring, and automated governance that fits seamlessly into enterprise workflows. For more information, visit About OpenlayerBuilt for enterprise teams deploying everything from traditional ML to Generative AI, Openlayer helps organizations test, monitor, and govern their AI systems with confidence. Founded by Gabriel Bayomi, Vikas Nair, and Rishab Ramanathan, Openlayer is trusted by enterprise companies to operationalize safe, reliable, and responsible AI. For more information, please visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Openlayer Sign in to access your portfolio
Axios
05-02-2025
- Automotive
- Axios
See inside: Wolfspeed nears completion of its $5B Chatham County factory
Wolfspeed, the Durham semiconductor maker, hopes to take full occupancy of its under-construction factory in Chatham County in March and begin production in June, the company told Axios. Why it matters: Wolfspeed's $5 billion Siler City plant, which will make silicon carbide crystals used in electric vehicles, is part of a wave of large expansions that North Carolina landed in the past four years. Along with Toyota in Randolph County and Fujifilm Diosynth in Holly Springs, Wolfspeed's facility is one of the few that is nearing completion. State and local governments have pledged more than $700 million in incentives for the project, some of which has already been used to prepare the site and others that will only be awarded if the company reaches hiring targets set by the state. Driving the news: Wolfspeed gave Axios a tour of its under-construction facility on Wednesday, where hundreds of construction workers were still putting the finishing touches on the 2.2-million-square-foot factory. The facility will produce 200-millimeter silicon carbide crystals, a larger and more efficient structure than it currently produces. The large property, about 60 miles west of Raleigh, has enough room to handle an expansion of the existing site by another 2 million square feet, said Chris McCann, the vice president of global project management at Wolfspeed. Zoom in: The site could ultimately employ around 1,800 workers in the coming years, and during peak construction around 3,800 people were on the site, according to McCann. Some testing of its crystal production is already underway at the facility — but once the site is completed the factory will be able to produce silicon carbide crystals and ultimately refine them into wafers. So far, Wolfspeed has hired more than 200 workers at its Siler City facility, a company spokesperson told Axios State of play: Wolfspeed, founded on technology built at N.C. State University, has undergone some turbulent times in recent months. Last year, the company trimmed its headcount by 20%, closed one of its existing factories in Durham, shelved plans for a factory in Germany and fired its CEO after the company stock price suffered large declines. The company has not yet named a full-time successor as CEO and analysts say the company remains an attractive acquisition target. At the same time, the company remains in negotiations with the incoming Trump Administration to finalize a $750 million CHIPS Act grant for boosting semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., according to a company spokesperson. The funding will support the Siler City plant's expansion. Trump has criticized the CHIPS Act in the past, leading some to worry its future could be in doubt, Fox Business reported. Trump's incoming Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, however, has referred to the CHIPS Act as an "excellent down payment," Bloomberg News reported.
