Latest news with #WarDogs
CBC
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Eyes of Wakanda tackles colonial history in a way that kids can understand
Eyes of Wakanda is a new animated show set in the universe of Black Panther. The prequel follows a secret group of Wakandans called the War Dogs, who fight to retrieve stolen artifacts from different time periods. This mini-series is a mix of fictional and factual history, and it touches on some complex geopolitical themes. This leads some parents to wonder: is this mini-series appropriate for young audiences? Today on Commotion, culture critic El Jones visits Commotion guest host Ali Hassan to explain why she enjoyed Eyes of Wakanda, and how it can teach kids about cultural theft during the colonization of Africa. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 15:28):
Sky News AU
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Tom Cruise's rumoured new girlfriend Ana de Armas takes aim at his ex Nicole Kidman by liking post mocking Aussie film star's appearance
Tom Cruise's rumoured new girlfriend has taken aim at his ex-wife Nicole Kidman by liking a post mocking the Australian film star. Cuban-American actress Ana de Armas, 37, and 63-year-old Cruise are thought to be in a relationship after they were recently spotted together numerous times at different romantic locations across the globe. De Armas took to Instagram to heart Celeb Mess' post of Kidman, which showed her face up close with the caption: "When you keep it real". The photo was reposted on Reddit, where fans of Kidman, 58, took to the comments to lash out at the War Dogs actress for shading their idol. "Lol let's see what she looks like at almost 60," one person said of her. Another person said it fascinates them when "people in their 20s and 30s are rude about people aging." "Like, where do you think you're headed? And do you know what the alternative to aging is?" they said. A third person hit out at de Armas for dating a "senior Tom Cruise", adding, "but sure Ana, you're the winner here lmao." "Having a one-sided internet beef with your boyfriend's wife from 20 years ago, this openly is just absurd lol," another person said. One more Nicole fan championed the Aussie's decades-long acting career, which has endured throughout her youth and more recently. "Looks fade, talent doesn't. Nicole's had a 40-year career. Let's see where Ana's is in 10," the Reddit user said. "Nicole Kidman has more talent, beauty, and grace than she ever will have." The furore comes after de Armas and Cruise touched down in London together on Friday after being spotted enjoying a leisurely escape aboard a yacht docked off the Spanish island of Menorca in June. Both stars cut a casual figure as they disembarked a helicopter, with Cruise wearing a T-shirt and jeans while his rumoured beau donned leggings and a sweatshirt with her dogs Elvis and Sasha in tow. The two appear to have been getting cosy, spending the days leading up to Valentine's Day and the actress's birthday in April together. Cruise and de Armas ignited romance rumours in February, when they were spotted strolling together in London. The actress subsequently said it occurred as the two were engaged in business talks with filmmakers Christopher McQuarrie and Doug Liman. And they are set to star in Liman's upcoming film Deeper, which sees Cruise star as a disgraced astronaut on a perilous deep-sea mission. Nevertheless, they are yet to confirm anything more than a friendship. In June, Ana said she was "really happy and proud" to have Cruise championing her film, Ballerina, after he paid her a compliment. The Chruch of Scientology believer said the John Wick spin-off "kicked ass." 'There's an actress that has dramatic chops, someone who's comedic, very, very talented," he said in May, adding: "Just a great actress."
Miami Herald
26-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Diveroli Investment Group Launches with Mission to Uncover Deep Value Across Public and Private Markets
MIAMI, FL / ACCESS Newswire / June 26, 2025 / Diveroli Investment Group (DIG), a new strategic investment firm dedicated to unlocking value in overlooked opportunities within both the public and private markets, officially announced its launch today. The firm brings a research-intensive approach to public equities, private capital, and special situations - guided by a contrarian thesis that enduring returns are often buried where institutions refuse to look. DIG is led by a battle-tested team of investors, analysts, and operators, and is headquartered in Miami. The firm deploys capital across publicly traded equities, energy, private equity, and venture capital, applying a rigorous framework that combines deep diligence, operational engagement, and strategic investment. Serving as Strategic Advisor to DIG is Efraim Diveroli, a seasoned entrepreneur and investor with vast expertise in government contracting and logistics. Diveroli's unique background and experience help inform the firm's research process, particularly in uncovering undervalued companies with significant federal government contract pipelines. His insights are instrumental in identifying companies with real assets, recurring revenue, and the potential to generate free cash flow that is substantial and sustainable - even when flying under Wall Street's radar. Diveroli became widely known as the real-life inspiration for Jonah Hill's character in the movie War Dogs, a largely fictional Hollywood invention that Diveroli played no part in. The movie does get one thing right: before he was twenty years old, Mr. Diveroli founded AEY, Inc. and successfully executed more than 150 federal contracts for a combined value of nearly $1 billion (and did all of this before he was even old enough to drink). In 2022, Efraim opted into an exhaustive government review of his qualifications, following which the U.S. Army formally terminated his debarment and confirmed that he was fully qualified and fit to contract with the federal government once again. DIG has already taken positions in multiple high-impact opportunities, including 13D SEC filings in collaboration with outside investment partners. One recent example includes a U.S.-based charter aviation provider with long-term federal contracts and strong earnings and trajectory. DIG believes this company reflects the kind of overlooked growth story the firm was built to champion. "As a firm, we're not interested in consensus ideas or momentum trades," said Diveroli. "We specialize in strategic inflection points - undervalued companies with real potential and identifiable catalysts. Our goal is to identify them early, deploy capital, and offer strategic guidance to help them realize their full value." About Diveroli Investment Group Diveroli Investment Group is a family-run investment office that pursues value creation through opportunistic investments in public and private companies. The firm focuses on sectors where technological change, operational inflection points, or strategic underappreciation create significant upside potential. To learn more about Diveroli Investment Group's investment philosophy and current areas of focus, please visit: Investor & Media RelationsAvigail Diveroli, Communications DirectorDiveroli Investment GroupEmail: avigail@ SOURCE: Diveroli Investment Group
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How far would a wife go to keep $2M Ponzi scheme a secret?
West Virginia's Raleigh County is a largely rural region nestled in the coal mining country of the Appalachian Mountains, celebrated for its natural beauty and rugged snowy terrain. However, the picturesque landscapes concealed the dark secrets of one woman that threatened to upend a close-knit community. In February 2019, 38-year-old Michael Cochran died suddenly. Prosecutors said his wife Natalie Cochran poisoned him with insulin to conceal her over $2 million Ponzi scheme, which she operated from 2017 to 2019. Natalie was already serving an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2020 to federal wire fraud and money laundering when she was charged with murder in November 2021. She was found guilty of first-degree murder on Jan. 29, 2025, in Raleigh County Circuit Court, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. A new "20/20" episode, "Small Town, Big Con," airing Friday, Feb. 14, at 9 p.m. ET and streaming the next day on Hulu, examines the murder of Michael Cochran. Natalie's scheme began after the Cochrans registered a new company called Tactical Solutions Group (TSG) in 2017. They said it focused on bidding on contracts to sells weapons and other goods to the U.S. government. She quit her job as a pharmacist and fully committed herself to the family business. She was the majority owner, while Michael held the minority stake. Natalie approached friends and family to invest money in the company. She convinced some of them to make six-figure investments, drawn by the promise of generous profits on high-dollar government contracts. Natalie told friends the business model was inspired by the 2016 dark comedy movie "War Dogs," which stars Jonah Hill and Miles Teller as men who deal arms to the U.S. military despite lacking experience in the defense industry. "When she told me that we're going to make all of our employees watch 'War Dogs' as like, an onboarding video, I said, 'Well you do realize that the guys went to jail, right?'" Toni McCall, an investor, told "20/20." McCall didn't know at the time that her comment would foreshadow the future. By all outward appearances, Natalie and Michael's new business was thriving, with family and friends noticing that their lifestyle seemed to transform almost overnight. The Cochrans acquired real estate, eventually owning three homes, as well as several vehicles, including motorcycles and an antique car. The family went on vacations to Paris and Hawaii. On an application for a $100,000 loan from a local bank, Natalie and Michael reported their business assets exceeded $500 million. "We just thought it was wonderful," Donna Bolt, Michael's mother, told ABC News. "We just thought they were doing so good that we were so proud of them." Questions began to arise after an investigation was launched into funds missing from a middle school baseball league. That league raised $15,000 through a fundraiser and Natalie, as its treasurer, oversaw the bank accounts. Members of the league committee became suspicious when almost all the money disappeared from the account. Private investigator James Quesenberry was hired to track down the missing funds. "There were purchases to TJ Maxx, purchases to Olive Garden," Quesenberry said. "And then, when I started adding it up, I'm like, $32,000 in one night, you raise for two sports teams, and it all just disappears. I mean, there's no way to rectify that." According to Quesenberry, Natalie was the only person with access to the bank accounts. This raised concerns for some members of the league who were also investors in Natalie and Michael's government contracting business. When investors questioned her about returns they had been promised, they said Natalie offered a variety of excuses for the delayed payments, including a federal government shutdown and cancer treatments she claimed to be undergoing. The Cochran business wasn't what it appeared to be, and people were starting to catch on. When the secrets behind the scheme were uncovered, things became much worse than anyone could have ever imagined. Tactical Solutions Group turned out to be a major deception. There were no government contracts; there were never any contracts. There were never any bids. The company existed only on paper. It was a Ponzi scheme. No money was being generated. Early investors were paid with funds from new investors. The Cochran business model appeared to be based on defrauding friends and family, many of whom have known Natalie and Michael their entire lives. "It would hurt a lot less for this to have been someone that I didn't know that had scammed me out of money," McCall said. "It would hurt a lot less knowing that I was already wounded from my husband passing away and my kids the same." Investigators believed that Michael didn't know that Natalie was scamming people -- and that he asked her the same questions as investors who were trying to get their money back. They claimed that he believed they had government contracts and money due, and that the government was holding their money. On the morning of Feb. 6, 2019, the Cochrans planned to fly to Virginia for a meeting with representatives from Bank of America. The trip never happened. Natalie told friends that she was sick with the flu and texted a photo of Michael unconscious in the kitchen of the family's home. As friends came to the Cochran home to check on Michael, Natalie downplayed the severity of the situation and insisted that he just needed to sleep it off. They urged her to take him to a hospital, but she said that Michael didn't want to go to the hospital. After several hours, an unresponsive Michael was finally taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors determined that he was suffering from cerebral edema -- a swelling of the brain. His blood glucose level was 21, a dangerously low reading. Michael received treatment for five days but never regained consciousness. Michael died at a hospice in Beckley, West Virginia, on Feb. 11. The newly widowed Natalie continued to run the business. Four months after her husband's death, she arranged a deal to sell nearly half of Tactical Solutions Group for $4 million. However, on June 25, 2019, before the sale could proceed, police executed a search warrant on the Cochran residence. They had been tipped off about TSG after speaking with an investor who complained about not being able to recover his investment. "We had more than enough evidence and documentation to proceed with indictment," detective Tim Bledsoe said. Natalie faced 26 charges related to the fraud. She pleaded not guilty, but her investors feared they would never recover the hundreds of thousands of dollars they had put into the business. "Almost a quarter of a million dollars over the course of two-and-a-half years," Bolt, Michael's mother, said. "We loved her and we believed her. Everything she told us, we believed everything she said to us." After pleading guilty in 2020 to an unlawful monetary transaction and to wire fraud related to the Ponzi scheme, Natalie was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and ordered to pay back the $2.5 million she stole from investors. Natalie called the alleged financial crimes related to the little league bogus, and ultimately, authorities decided not to charge her with anything related to the little league. With the federal case against TSG settled, a state investigation into Michael's unexplained death began to heat up. Detectives originally thought Michael died from natural causes. However, after a search warrant in the fraud case led investigators to the Cochran home, they unexpectedly found a vial of insulin in the fridge. This led detectives to look into Michael's death deeper. A judge granted an order to exhume his remains for examination and testing. In November 2021, just six months into her prison term, Natalie was indicted for first-degree murder. At her trial, state prosecutors alleged that Natalie injected Michael with insulin, a diabetes medicine that can cause life-threatening complications if not used properly. Prosecutors argued and investigators testified that Natalie killed Michael to prevent her Ponzi scheme from being exposed at a bank meeting scheduled the day Michael fell ill. They asserted that Michael was not involved in the Ponzi scheme and that he believed their business to be legitimate. Natalie's defense attorneys argued that while she may have taken millions in the Ponzi scheme, she did not kill Michael, who they claimed was not in good health and took insulin as part of his body building efforts. Natalie's attorneys said that she plans to appeal her conviction. How far would a wife go to keep $2M Ponzi scheme a secret? originally appeared on
