Conservative-Targeting SPLC Indicted By Trump DoJ For Fraudulently Funding KKK & Other Extremist Groups The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted on federal fraud charges that accused it of illegally raising millions of dollars to pay informants in white supremacist and other extremist groups , acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. An Alabama grand jury returned an indictment on April 21 w...
Conservative-Targeting SPLC Indicted By Trump DoJ For Fraudulently Funding KKK & Other Extremist Groups The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted on federal fraud charges that accused it of illegally raising millions of dollars to pay informants in white supremacist and other extremist groups , acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. An Alabama grand jury returned an indictment on April 21 with 11 counts of wire fraud, making false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said SPLC used paid operatives within extremist circles to incite and intensify racial tensions , arguing the group fostered the very threats it claimed to fight . “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” Blanche said in a statement. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.” A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama brought 11 charges against the nonprofit, including six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of money laundering. The indictment covered the years from 2014 through 2023 and alleged that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) paid at least $3 million to at least eight informants affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan , United Klans of America, the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, the National Socialist Party of America, and the American Front. In a twist that no one saw coming, one of the SPLC’s paid informants was a member of the leadership group that planned the Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Virginia , in 2017 that resulted in one death, according to the DOJ. “As the indictment lays out, after SPLC paid members of these extremist groups, it cr...
Blackstone Inc. -owned data center operator AirTrunk Pte. is looking to raise at least A$500 million ($358 million) through asset-backed bonds, according to people familiar with the matter, in what may be one of Asia’s first in the sector. The Sydney-headquartered company is planning to launch the bond in the second half of the year to refinance existing bank loans, one of the people said, who ask...
Blackstone Inc. -owned data center operator AirTrunk Pte. is looking to raise at least A$500 million ($358 million) through asset-backed bonds, according to people familiar with the matter, in what may be one of Asia’s first in the sector. The Sydney-headquartered company is planning to launch the bond in the second half of the year to refinance existing bank loans, one of the people said, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The firm has held meetings locally and outside Australia to shore up investor interest, the people said, adding that it appointed Deutsche Bank to lead the transaction. Spokespeople for AirTrunk, Blackstone and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. AirTrunk’s plans come as credit investors continue to pour billions of dollars into artificial intelligence and the data centers required to power it. Asia Pacific is set to become the next global hub for the sector, with approximately $800 billion in investment expected across the region by 2030, according to a February 2026 report by Deloitte LLP. That rapid growth has fanned concerns of a credit-fueled AI and data center bubble as new companies and investors rush to take advantage of the demand for computing and data consumption. AirTrunk to Acquire Lumina CloudInfra to Expand in India AirTrunk Is Said to Pick Banks for Singapore REIT IPO Blackstone’s AirTrunk Funds Japan Growth With $1.2 Billion Loan AirTrunk has been on a fundraising and acquisition spree as it looks to expand in the region. On Monday, the data center operator announced it is acquiring Lumina CloudInfra to boost its presence in India. It is also planning a real estate investment trust listing in Singapore to raise as much as $1.5 billion. In March, the company secured a ¥191.6 billion ($1.2 billion) green loan — one of the largest financings in the AI infrastructure sector in Japan. Luke Stephens, the company’s treasurer, said last year that the firm was considering asset-backed bonds, among other options, to ...
Supatman/iStock via Getty Images By Jennifer Nash The Advance Retail Sales Report from the Census Bureau showed consumer spending was more robust than expected in March. Headline sales jumped 1.7%, a sharp acceleration from February's 0.7% rise and above the projected 1.4% growth. This represents the largest monthly increase since January 2023. The "Gas Price" Factor While the 1.7% headline jump s...
Supatman/iStock via Getty Images By Jennifer Nash The Advance Retail Sales Report from the Census Bureau showed consumer spending was more robust than expected in March. Headline sales jumped 1.7%, a sharp acceleration from February's 0.7% rise and above the projected 1.4% growth. This represents the largest monthly increase since January 2023. The "Gas Price" Factor While the 1.7% headline jump suggests a consumer boom, the data is heavily skewed by energy costs. Following the escalation of the war with Iran, gas prices surged 15.5% from the previous month, a record high. Because the retail report is not adjusted for price changes, a significant portion of this "growth" reflects the increased cost of filling a tank rather than increased consumer volume. Here is the introduction from today's report : Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food Services Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March 2026, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $752.1 billion, up 1.7 percent (±0.4 percent) from the previous month, and up 4.0 percent (±0.5 percent) from March 2025. Total sales for the January 2026 through March 2026 period were up 3.7 percent (±0.4 percent) from the same period a year ago. The January 2026 to February 2026 percent change was revised from up 0.6 percent (±0.4 percent) to up 0.7 percent (±0.2 percent). Retail trade sales were up 1.9 percent (±0.5 percent) from February 2026, and up 4.2 percent (±0.5 percent) from last year. Nonstore retailers were up 10.1 percent (±1.8 percent) from last year, while food services and drinking places were up 2.4 percent (±1.9 percent) from March 2025. The chart below is a log-scale snapshot of retail sales since the early 1990s. The three exponential regressions through the data help us to evaluate the long-term trend of this key economic indicator. The light purple line is a linear regression through the complete data series. The green li...
Earnings Call Insights: Calix (CALX) Q1 2026 Management View "It was another incredible execution quarter for the Calix team. Record revenue with strong demand continuing into 2026 with customers." (CEO, President & Director Michael Weening) "At the end of March, we completed the migration of all existing customers to the third generation of the Calix platform. Launching on Google Cloud, thereby e...
Earnings Call Insights: Calix (CALX) Q1 2026 Management View "It was another incredible execution quarter for the Calix team. Record revenue with strong demand continuing into 2026 with customers." (CEO, President & Director Michael Weening) "At the end of March, we completed the migration of all existing customers to the third generation of the Calix platform. Launching on Google Cloud, thereby enabling the expansion of our capabilities and the markets that we target." (CEO, President & Director Weening) "In the first quarter of 2026, Calix delivered yet another quarter of record revenue of $280 million, marking a sequential increase of 3%, driven by continued strong demand for our platform." (Chief Financial Officer Cory Sindelar) "Remaining performance obligations were $376 million, down 2% sequentially and up 11% year-over-year" and "Current RPOs in the first quarter were a record $157 million." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) "We also invested $171 million to buy back 3.3 million shares of our common stock at an average price of $51.34" and "the Board today authorized another $100 million to be added to this program." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) Outlook "Our revenue guidance for the second quarter of 2026 is between $287 and $293 million" and "For the year, we expect revenue to grow between 15% and 20%." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) "This reflects continued robust demand trends and a modest benefit from recapturing a portion of the higher memory costs via a memory surcharge." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) "Our gross margin guidance for the second quarter of 2026 is between 54.25% and 57.25%." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) "For the year, we expect our non-GAAP gross margin to decline between 50 and 150 basis points." (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar) Change from the prior quarter’s commentary on 2026 growth: in Q4 2025, management discussed 2026 growth "somewhere in that range of 10% to 15%" (Chief Financial Officer Sindelar); in Q1 20...