Essential The Locker Room's Random Thoughts

[Giselle]

Is @Critical Distance still on here?

 

[VegetasHairline]

 

[J Money]

 

[Unbothered]

I needed something sweet to hold me over the weekend so I tried these new Hostess Kazbars for the first time today...my local dollar general had these chocolate caramel 8 mini bar boxes 2/$7 they also had the triple chocolate but I didn't buy them but will do so next week.

Honestly, they're just ok. I kinda expected more after they were hyped up as candy bar inspirations. I'm not mad tho, you get 8 in the box and one cake is pretty satisfying.

I'd say these are among the best Hostess snacks.

The caramel is nice. The chocolate as well as the cream are good but the crunchy sweet pieces, which you get plenty of in each bite give it that candy bar illusion and makes these cakes special.

 

[Rhapscallion Démone]

Anytime you feel danger or fear
Then instantlyyyyy
I will Appear

 

[Amo Husserl]

​

 

[MajesticLion]

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

US set to unveil long-awaited crackdown on real estate money laundering

The U.S. Treasury Department will soon propose a rule that would effectively end anonymous luxury-home purchases, closing a loophole that the agency says allows corrupt oligarchs, terrorists and other criminals to hide ill-gotten gains.

www.reuters.com

US set to unveil long-awaited crackdown on real estate money laundering​

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department will soon propose a rule that would effectively end anonymous luxury-home purchases, closing a loophole that the agency says allows corrupt oligarchs, terrorists and other criminals to hide ill-gotten gains.

The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

FinCEN is slated to propose the rule sometime this month, according to its regulatory agenda, though the timeline could slip, said two people briefed on the developments. Anti-corruption advocates and lawmakers have been pushing for the rule, which will replace the current patchwork reporting system.

Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in March, adding that as much as $2.3 billion was laundered through U.S. real estate between 2015 and 2020.

"That's why FinCEN is taking this important step to put something officially on the books that would root out money laundering through the sector once and for all," said Erica Hanichak, government affairs director of advocacy group the FACT Coalition.

Some advocates say FinCEN, which declined to comment on the timing of the proposal, has moved too slowly. Officials first said in 2021 that they planned to implement the rule.

FinCEN has been struggling to complete a related rule that would unmask shell company owners. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has pressed FinCEN to tighten up that proposal, according to an April public letter. That debate has slowed down FinCEN's work on the real estate reporting rule, one of the sources said.

The American Land Title Association, which represents title insurers, says it welcomes the new rule but that FinCEN should delay it until the shell company rule is completed.

The proposed rule will be open to public and industry feedback.
PATCHWORK

While banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry.

Instead, FinCEN has operated real estate purchase disclosure rules, known as geographic targeting orders (GTOs), in just a handful of cities including New York, Miami and Los Angeles. The new rule is expected to effectively expand GTOs nationwide.

FinCEN implemented GTOs in 2016 after the New York Times revealed that nearly half of luxury real estate was bought by anonymous shell companies.

But the orders are easy to skirt by simply buying property outside the targeted areas, said Jodi Vittori, an expert on illicit finance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Transparency advocates pushing for a nationwide rule point to the example of Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese businessman who, according to prosecutors, used an anonymous shell company to channel illicit profit from a fraud scheme into the $26 million purchase of a 50,000-square-foot New Jersey mansion in December 2021.

Had Guo brought property across the Hudson River in Manhattan, it would have been subject to a GTO and likely flagged immediately to law enforcement.

Guo, a onetime business partner of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. His lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.


...

 

[ABlackMan]

What’s your favorite compliment to receive? For me I love it when a woman tells me my voice is nice or lovely

 

[The M.I.C.]

Chef's Warehouse had their earnings call last week. The post COVID pop for dining seem by hs over and seasonality for restaurants is back. They say the heat and Canada smoke hit restaurant attendance. Margins also down a lot due to meat prices still going up. Hope your biz stays well.

This summer was worse than last year, which in itself was bad. The order cutbacks by customers is sharp and hard..all of my markets in NC and about half in SC have seen double digit declines YOY.

I called this way back in 2020 and made adjustments to get ready for this but if inflation hits back and it will, it's going to be extremely challenging balancing the all around financial pressures.. Already starting to hear chirping amongst my drivers again about their wages right now, median salary for them is 45k and the partial collapse in sales means these dudes have 3, 4 hour routes. EOY reviews are going to be fun.

 

[blalienz]

I'm spiritually dead


Have to resurrect

 

[Lord Beasley]

Arguing with antivaxxers is like trying to convince someone that the sky isn't actually blue

 

[Big Boda]

Its my personal belief that the american music industry is designed the way it is now to purposely prevent another Michael Jackson type megastar from emerging from black american society. that type of greatness still exists but is suppressed.

 

[The M.I.C.]

Is @Critical Distance still on here?

Haven't seen him active in years.

 

[Amo Husserl]

Labels planting rappers with writer's workshops for metrics...

 

[Timbs]

Think Rick Ross been ghostwriting for NJ