Insider Finance - Business - Trump Org. on trial

Nicholas Carlson October 24, 2022

Hello, Insiders. Former President Donald Trump’s real-estate and golf-resort empire goes on trial today in Manhattan court. As Laura Italiano and Dave Levinthal report, this is a low-level corporate fraud case. (Don’t confuse it with the New York attorney general’s $250 million fraud lawsuit.) But it still comes with high stakes: If his company is convicted, Trump’s operation could be banned from doing business with the federal government. 

Read our report here – and be sure to keep up with our politics team’s ongoing coverage. (Follow @PoliticsInsider while you’re at it!) And with that, let’s get started on your Monday news.

The latest

• Rishi Sunak will likely become the next UK prime minister. If he wins, he’ll be the first person of color to hold the role. And ICYMI: Boris Johnson withdrew from the race.

• Indians are celebrating Diwali with dazzling, colorful lights. Take a look at the festivities here.

• US “Zoomtowns” are running out of water. It’s what happens when masses of remote workers move to a region suffering a once-in-1,200-years drought. Read the full story.

The big story

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for LoveShackFancy; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/Insider

There's something about LoveShackFancy that seems to inspire an all-consuming passion in its shoppers. 

Rebecca Hessel Cohen founded the brand in 2013, and since then it has cemented its place as a must-have for prep schoolers and Southern sorority sisters. Its legion of fans track new clothing drops and flock to store openings with Swiftie-levels of devotion.

But senior reporter Anna Silman writes that, as the company grew from trunk shows in the Hamptons to a bona fide fashion empire, Cohen’s blind spots became glaring. While LoveShackFancy has recently made efforts to respond to criticisms around diversity, its old-school appeal to "unabashed femininity" still feels like a relic from a time before conversations about race, gender, class, and body positivity.

So the question remains: Can Cohen have her three-tiered cake and eat it too?

Read our full story here. 

Top reads

Rachel Mendelson/Insider

• This "screenager" and her friends ditched their smartphones — and founded the Luddite Club. Brooklyn high schooler Lola Shub and her friends were sick of relentless social media, endless scrolling, snaps, and selfies. So they ditched their smartphones and started meeting up to spend some time away from the online world, she writes. Here’s what their teenage lives have been like since then.

• Mark Zuckerberg should make Facebook “Facebook” again, Insider’s Travis Clark writes. Over the past year, Zuckerberg has zeroed in on his passion project — the metaverse — but he should instead be prioritizing the company's core apps: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Read why Zuckerberg should “relegate the metaverse stuff to the garage.”

• The fate of the global economy may depend on what happens to one company. You’ve probably never heard of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, but it makes chips for everything from smartphones to cars. Experts warn that if China invades Taiwan, and TSMC goes offline, it could create an economic crisis that’d be even “bigger than 1929.”

• Meet the 15 people shaping the future of the office. From new indoor-air-quality monitoring systems and holographic meeting spaces to amenities that promote health and wellness, these entrepreneurs are creating workspaces that balance productivity, social interaction, and employee well-being. See the full list here.

• Expectation vs. reality: cruises. Insider reporters have spent nearly 25 days at sea since the world returned to cruising last year. These disappointing photos show what cruising is really like now.

Today’s sound bite

"During the pandemic, companies have asked so much more of their managers, and a lot of that [work] is falling to women." 

Insider's Rebecca Knight on why so many women are quitting their jobs right now.

Watch this

In November, Qatar will become the first country in the Middle East to host the World Cup. But preparing the tiny desert nation for the tournament came with an alarming human toll.

Today's team

Nicholas Carlson (@nichcarlson), Hallam Bullock (@hallam_bullock), Lisa Ryan (@lisarya), and Shona Ghosh (@shonaghosh).

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