SCOTUS just killed Trump's Tariffs
Roberts leads the charge with ACB and Gorsuch
Hello Capitalists,
Here is everything you should be watching today:
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Supreme Court smashes Trump tariffs with 6-3 rebuke
The Supreme Court delivered a stunning 6-3 rebuke to President Trump on Friday, ruling that he exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly every country under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, striking down a core pillar of his economic agenda and potentially easing consumer costs amid trade turmoil.
Majority Rejects Authority: Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion holding IEEPA lacks explicit tariff power, limiting presidential emergency claims on trade.
Dissenters Stand Firm: Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh dissented, supporting broader executive flexibility in national security and economic threats.
Tariff Scope Targeted: Decision voids reciprocal duties on Mexico, Canada, China, and global partners, which generated billions in revenue last year.
Economic Fallout Looms: Ruling may trigger refunds to importers, unwind deals, and force policy shifts as stocks rebound from initial market jitters.
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Silicon Valley trio accused of Iran data leak
Three Silicon Valley engineers—including two sisters and one husband—were indicted and arrested Thursday for allegedly stealing hundreds of sensitive Google trade secrets on processor security and cryptography, then transferring them to unauthorized locations including Iran, federal prosecutors announced in a case raising major national security alarms.
Family Conspiracy Uncovered: The defendants—Samaneh Ghandali (ex-Google), her sister Soroor Ghandali, and husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi—allegedly collaborated to exfiltrate files via third-party platforms and personal devices.
Post-Detection Evasion Tactics: After Google revoked Samaneh’s access in August 2023 over suspicious activity, the group continued accessing stolen data and resorted to photographing confidential screens.
Dramatic Pre-Travel Act: On the night before traveling to Iran in December 2023, Samaneh allegedly snapped 24 photos of Khosravi’s work computer displaying sensitive processor trade secrets from his employer.
Severe Charges Looms: Each faces up to 10 years per trade secret theft count and 20 years for obstruction of justice, amid DOJ vows to protect U.S. tech from benefiting adversarial nations.
Eric Trump mocks Bitcoin dip, has advice for critics
Eric Trump dismissed Bitcoin’s sharp recent slump on Thursday, telling investors lacking the grit to endure crypto volatility to switch to safe 4.5% bonds, while touting the industry’s long-term dominance from Palm Beach amid Bitcoin dipping below $67,000.
Volatility dismissal: Markets aren’t rational, Eric Trump noted, highlighting bitcoin’s rise from under $500 over the past decade despite current five-week decline.
Tokenization vision: He predicts blockchain will revolutionize global finance by tokenizing debt, commodities, art, film rights, and even restaurant ownership.
Real estate push: Trump family venture World Liberty Financial partners to tokenize assets from a Maldives resort project, targeting wealthy investors via crypto securities.
Stablecoin success: WLF’s USD1 stablecoin, launched in 2025, ranks as the world’s fifth-largest with $5 billion market value, bolstering the family crypto empire.
Nvidia & OpenAI scrap massive $100 Billion deal
Nvidia and OpenAI have abandoned their unfinished $100 billion strategic investment pact, originally aimed at fueling massive AI infrastructure like the Stargate project, opting instead for a scaled-back $30 billion equity deal amid internal concerns and shifting priorities in the high-stakes AI race.
Deal Collapse Details: The $100 billion non-binding commitment from September 2025 never finalized into a definitive agreement, stalling over Nvidia’s internal hesitations and broader transaction doubts.
Shift To Smaller Stake: Nvidia is nearing finalization on a straightforward $30 billion equity investment in OpenAI, part of a larger funding round potentially exceeding $100 billion overall.
Infrastructure Impact: The pullback affects ambitious plans for gigawatt-scale data centers tied to Nvidia hardware, signaling greater capital discipline in AI buildouts despite ongoing Stargate efforts with Microsoft and others.
Broader Tensions Emerge: Reports highlight OpenAI exploring chip alternatives due to dissatisfaction with some Nvidia offerings, exposing potential rifts between the AI leaders despite continued collaboration.
Blue Owl halting redemptions, shakes faith in Private Credit
Blue Owl Capital restricted quarterly withdrawals from its Blue Owl Capital Corp II fund after heavy redemption requests, selling $1.4 billion in loans near par value to return capital instead, sparking a 10% share drop and fresh worries across the $3 trillion private credit sector.
Redemption Shift Announced: Blue Owl permanently ends quarterly redemptions for OBDC II, replacing them with periodic distributions from loan repayments, asset sales, and other sources.
Major Asset Sale Executed: Firm sold $1.4 billion in direct-lending investments across three funds at 99.7% of par value to deliver promised liquidity and counter valuation skepticism.
Capital Return Target Set: Executives aim to return about half of investors’ capital by year-end through ongoing repayments, earnings, and potential further asset sales.
Market Ripples Spread: Move triggered concerns over private credit risks, with Blue Owl shares hitting a 2.5-year low and declines hitting peers like Ares, Apollo, and Blackstone.
Blue Owl unloads $1.4B loans to pension giants
Blue Owl Capital sold it’s $1.4 billion portfolio of private loans at 99.7% of par value to major North American pension funds including Calpers, OMERS, BCI, and its own insurer Kuvare.
Strong buyer demand: Co-founder Craig Packer noted bidders would have purchased multiple times more, calling the near-par sale an extremely strong market validation.
Fund-specific allocation: The $1.4 billion was spread across three vehicles, with $600 million from the retail-focused Blue Owl Capital Corp II to facilitate investor payouts.
Broader implications: Barclays analysts warn frequent similar deals could entangle private credit and insurance sectors more deeply, complicating risk tracking in non-bank lending.
The Capitalist’s Exclusive deep dive into Carvana, private credit and the sub-prime auto loans:
Hochul kills robotaxi dream in blow to Waymo
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has abandoned her proposal to allow commercial driverless robotaxi services outside New York City following fierce pushback from labor unions, rideshare drivers, and transit workers. The decision delivers a setback to Alphabet’s Waymo, which is testing autonomous vehicles with safety drivers in Manhattan and Brooklyn and eyes eventual full driverless rides in the state.
Statewide expansion halted: Hochul withdrew the plan for robotaxi pilots in upstate areas like Buffalo and Rochester after insufficient legislative and stakeholder support.
NYC testing unaffected: Waymo’s ongoing permit for human-supervised autonomous vehicle tests in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn remains active through March.
Waymo voices disappointment: The company expressed commitment to collaborate with lawmakers on future New York deployment, prioritizing safety and transparency.
Aggressive national growth: Waymo plans 2026 commercial driverless launches in Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, Washington D.C., and London amid rapid U.S. expansion.
No they didn’t kill the tariffs they said he had to use a different law to use tariffs. It doesn’t affect the president’s use of tariffs.
Another Trump Win in the End, this will only make his tariff power greater!