Three news to start your week: November 27
Head of Indonesia's anti-corruption agency named as a suspect in an extortion case
(BBC)
Police said there was enough evidence to link KPK chairman Firli Bahuri to corruption at the country's agriculture ministry. Last month, former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo was arrested for corruption.
Bahuri, an ex-police chief, denies corruption and has not been arrested. However, during the investigation, officers found foreign exchange transaction documents and US dollars worth 7.4 billion Indonesian Rupiah ($477,730). Jakarta police official Ade Safri Simanjuntak told reporters that "sufficient evidence" implicates Bahuri in corruption.
BNP Paribas Picks Up Hedge Fund Clients With HSBC Agreement
(Bloomberg)
BNP Paribas SA is assuming control of a portion of HSBC Holdings Plc's hedge fund business to expand its relationship with asset managers.
BNP's securities services unit has agreed to acquire HSBC's hedge fund administration division. The agreement permits BNP to take over the hedge fund administration needs of the 25 institutional clients impacted by HSBC's decision to close the business.
"While HSBC's securities services business has taken the decision to exit hedge fund administration services, the alternatives sector continues to be a focus of growth for us, including private assets fund administration and prime services, both of which have seen a strong performance over the course of the year," HSBC said in a separate emailed statement.
At Meta, Millions of Underage Users Were an 'Open Secret,' States Say
(New York Times)
A newly unsealed legal complaint against Meta brought by the attorneys general of 33 states claims that despite receiving more than 1.1 million reports of users under 13 using its Instagram platform since early 2019, Meta "disabled only a fraction" of those accounts.
Instead, in defiance of a federal children's privacy law, the social media behemoth "routinely continued to collect" children's personal information, like their locations and email addresses, without parental consent, according to the court filing. If the states can substantiate the claims, Meta may be subject to civil penalties totaling hundreds of millions or more.
"Within the company, Meta's actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users are under the age of 13 is an open secret that is routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed," the complaint said, "and zealously protected from disclosure to the public."
