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The White House moves to cancel thousands of immigrants’ Social Security numbers using a ‘death master file,’ NYT reports

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The Trump administration is reportedly escalating its tactics to revoke the temporary legal status of immigrants allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration. The latest effort includes adding migrants who are here lawfully to Social Security Administration’s “death master file,” effectively blacklisting them from the U.S. financial system, the New York Times reports.

Sources including family members, funeral homes, financial institutions, and more report deaths in the U.S. to Social Security, which the agency records in the so-called death master file database. Once there, outside financial and medical agencies as well as other governmental agencies are notified, and banking and financial institutions scour the list themselves to prevent identity theft.

The Trump administration hopes that adding migrants to this list—which will cut them off from most financial services—will make them more likely to “self-deport,” the Times reports. These Social Security numbers were legally obtained under a program created by President Joe Biden, which gave some migrants temporary legal status in the U.S. that allowed them to work.

“The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits,” the Times reports.

More than 6,000 people were added earlier this week. The Trump administration says the migrants who have been added are convicted criminals and “suspected terrorists,” the Times reports, although the list included minors. But current and former SSA employees told the Times they are concerned that erroneous data could mean others are improperly placed on the list, including Americans citizens.

The Social Security Administration and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Being added to the master file has ripple effects throughout someone’s entire life: Their medical insurance benefits or Medicare coverage can be halted, credit cards can be cancelled, and pensions can be lost. They can lose access to their bank accounts and even their homes, as well as government benefits from agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and so on.

This is not the first time Social Security’s death master file has become politicized by the Trump administration. Earlier this year, advisor Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency made claims that SSA is paying tens of thousands of people who are over 100 years old, using that as proof that the agency needs an overhaul. SSA denies these inaccuracies.

Also this week, the Trump administration made moves to share long off-limits IRS data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and deport undocumented immigrants. Several top officials at the IRS resigned as a result, including the acting commissioner. Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Crypto investment startup Glider raises $4 million in round led by Andreessen Horowitz 

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The founders of crypto startup Glider want to help people invest in crypto more easily without having to deal with brokers or centralized exchanges. 

To do so, Glider seeks to let users automate crypto trading, swaps, and other activities involved in decentralized finance in a personalized way, co-founder Brian Huang told Fortune. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, refers to a sector of the crypto industry that uses blockchains and digital contracts to offer financial services without intermediaries like banks. 

“Glider does everything behind the scenes or runs in the background, but you have full control of your assets and you still get the underlying utility of all those assets,” Huang said.

On Wednesday, the one-year-old company said it has raised $4 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional participation by Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Ventures, and GSR. The company did not disclose its valuation in the funding round. 

Glider also announced its participation in the Andreessen Horowitz Crypto Startup Accelerator in San Francisco this spring. 

The New-York based company plans to use artificial intelligence to help users tweak their crypto investments to their desired specifications. This can involve cherry-picking a few coins to hold in an ETF-like structure or holding trending tokens on a particular chain, Huang said. Using AI in combination with DeFi, Glider plans to let users control their crypto assets without constantly having to make trades themselves. 

“Everyone should be able to tune their portfolio exactly how they want it, automate it and do exactly what you would like to do within your own risk profile and tolerance,” Glider co-founder John Johnson told Fortune

Glider is still testing its technology, which it plans to launch in the coming months. The company plans to make money by charging users a management fee based on a percentage of the customer’s assets under management. 

There are already many companies, including Bitwise and Grayscale, that help customers manage their crypto investments. However, Huang says Glider is different because, unlike traditional asset managers, it will not take custody of users’ assets. 

“It’s a lot like these traditional finance advisors, but we do it completely non-custodial,” Huang said, meaning that Glider will use blockchain technology to let users maintain control of their investments at all times. 

The money raised in this funding round will be used to hire more employees and develop the company’s marketing strategy, Huang said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Burglars tunnel through concrete wall into LA jewelry store and steal $10 million in watches, pendants and gold chains

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Burglars tunneled through a concrete wall to gain access to a Los Angeles jewelry store, making off with at least $10 million worth of watches, pendants, gold chains and other merchandise, police said.

The heist happened around 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Love Jewels on Broadway in the heart of downtown’s jewelry district, according to Officer David Cuellar with the LA Police Department.

Investigators were reviewing security camera footage that shows the suspects entering the store from a large hole they drilled from the property next door, he said.

“They tunneled through multiple levels of concrete into the target location,” Cuellar said Tuesday.

An unknown number of suspects fled through the same hole and drove off in a late model Chevy truck, he said. The heist wasn’t discovered until store employees arrived for work Monday morning.

Initial estimates are that $10 million worth of merchandise was stolen, Cuellar said, adding that the number could change. The owner told The Associated Press the loss was around $20 million, and that they did not have insurance. No alarms went off and the feed to their in-store security cameras were cut.

At the store on Tuesday, workers covered up the hole in the wall with a metal plate, repaired other damage and cleaned up overturned display cases and discarded boxes. Two large safes were broken into, containing all the merchandise they had in the store.

Customers and friends stopped by to offer sympathy, with some even asking to purchase items.

Love Jewels’ website advertises items like a 14 karat yellow gold rope chain for $1,200, heart-shaped gold earrings for $200 and a gold cross pendant for $550. Videos on the store’s social media shows glass cases filled with rings, watches and necklaces.

Detectives examined the scene for fingerprints and DNA, police said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim demand investigation into DOGE cuts at CFPB in latest effort to defend agency

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