On a historic day for the US, a former president appeared as a criminal defendant in a courtroom.

Donald Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court. He pleaded not guilty to each of them.

Breaking down the criminal case against Trump

We knew that Trump was indicted but not the specific charges against him, which were kept under seal…until yesterday. Here’s what we learned from the 16-page indictment:

The case is extremely complex. But at its core, Trump is accused of falsely labeling business records in order to get around campaign finance laws. And for the charges to rise from a misdemeanor to a felony, prosecutors have to show that the defendant falsified business records with the intent of committing or concealing a separate crime.

So, what was Trump trying to conceal? According to prosecutors, reimbursement for a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, sent to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for silence about her alleged affair with Trump. The payment occurred in the final days of his 2016 presidential bid, and Trump’s company falsely classified the transactions used to reimburse Cohen as legal expenses, prosecutors said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the architect of the case, has gotten heat from Republicans and (more quietly) some Democrats for bringing a case that possibly relies on an untested legal theory. In response, Bragg emphasized the importance of prosecuting the alleged business fraud due to New York’s status as a global center of commerce.

Next steps

Trump’s lightning-quick NYC trip concluded without taking in a Broadway show or a $0.99 pizza slice: He was back in Florida by the evening to give a speech at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he accused Democrats of using law enforcement to interfere with elections. Trump, portraying himself as a victim of a liberal “witch hunt,” has already used his arraignment as a fundraising opportunity for his presidential campaign by selling “not-guilty” T-shirts that feature a fake mug shot (no mug shot was taken today).

Looking ahead...Trump’s legal team will use various tactics to try to get this case thrown out before it even goes to trial. If it does go to trial, that’s months away at the earliest.—SK, NF

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court turns blue after pricey election. Liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated her conservative opponent in the most expensive judicial election in US history (more than $40 million was spent on the contest). Why so much attention? The state’s Supreme Court, now 4–3 in favor of progressives, will likely overturn Wisconsin’s abortion ban and strike down GOP-drawn legislative maps that Protasiewicz has called “rigged.” In the other big Midwestern election yesterday, Chicago residents chose Brandon Johnson as their next mayor.

Johnson & Johnson proposes monster $8.9 billion talc settlement. The healthcare giant offered $8.9 billion to settle lawsuits from tens of thousands of people who claim that its talc-based powders and other products gave them cancer. It’s a huge increase from the $2 billion J&J originally offered and would be one of the largest product liability settlements in history, according to the WSJ. To clinch the settlement, J&J needs support from more than 75% of the voting claimants—and it thinks it has it.

Finland officially joins NATO: The happiest country on Earth became the 31st nation to join the world’s largest security alliance, doubling NATO’s border with Russia. NATO was formed in 1949 to serve as a counterweight against the Soviet Union, and it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year that prompted Finland to link up with the organization. The arrival of Finland, which has played it neutral wrt Russia since World War II, highlights how much Vladimir Putin has isolated himself from Europe in the past year.

It was a busy Tuesday for New York white-collar crime lawyers. Federal prosecutors arrested and charged Charlie Javice, founder of the now-defunct college financial planning site Frank, with four counts of fraud yesterday. The SEC also filed civil charges against Javice, who in 2019 was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Refresher course: JPMorgan bought Frank for $175 million in 2021 to gain access to its huge email list. But a few months later, it sued Javice, claiming Frank’s client roster was bogus. JPMorgan said it realized the 4.25 million users the founder had touted were fudged when it tried to email 400,000 of them, and 70% of the emails bounced back (can confirm: that’s bad). The bank alleges that less than 10% of Frank’s user base was real. Javice has denied JPMorgan’s accusations.

In their case, prosecutors claim that Javice tried to convince an employee to pad the customer numbers, which were allegedly closer to 300,000. But when the employee raised legal concerns, Javice assured them, “We don’t want to end up in orange jumpsuits.”

Javice is hoping to make another “under 30” list…three of the four counts each carry up to 30 years in prison.—MM

Women’s soccer scored a landmark investment as interest in women’s sports seemingly reaches new heights every day. Private equity firm Sixth Street committed to spending $125 million on a new Bay Area franchise for the National Women’s Soccer League.

It’s the biggest institutional investment made in a pro women’s sports team, Sixth Street said. Just how big is it? The $53 million the firm is spending on a league expansion fee is nearly 10x the $5 million expansion fee paid for a Kansas City franchise in 2021.

Big picture: Investors see major opportunities in the growth of women’s sports. With more eyeballs comes more lucrative TV contracts—and there have been plenty of eyeballs.

• The LSU–Iowa NCAA tournament final drew an average of 9.9 million viewers on ESPN, smashing the record for the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history.
• More than 87,000 people packed into Wembley Stadium in London for the 2022 Women’s Euro final, breaking the attendance record for a women’s or men’s Euro final.
• More than 1.1 billion viewers around the world watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup. That number will almost certainly balloon for this summer’s tournament.

Looking ahead…Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman is (unsurprisingly) bullish on women’s soccer in the US. He predicts that the NWSL will reach parity “with every metric” with Major League Soccer in 10 years.—NF

Stat: It’s a tradition unlike any other—marveling at how inflation never seems to affect concession prices at the Masters. Ahead of the golf tournament on Thursday, photos went viral of the ultra-cheap menu featured at Augusta National’s food stands. An egg salad sandwich costs $1.50, a beer goes for $5, and buying all 25 items on the menu costs $66 in total.

Quote: “I developed games to escape. This was my own world I created.”

Klaus Teuber, who created the board game Catan, died at 70. He explained to the New Yorker in 2014 that his frustration with his job as a dental technician inspired him to dream up a new (well, old) world. Fueled by escapism, Teuber ended up developing the most beloved resource management game of all time.

Read: How “Blurred Lines,” which came out 10 years ago, predicted everything bad about the past decade in pop culture. (Pitchfork)

Now that we’ve rolled past the third anniversary of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s become clear that crowded offices are about as likely to make a comeback as Internet Explorer. In January 2023, six times more work was happening remotely than in January 2019, according to WFH Research, a data-collection project.

With more Americans working from their homes, downtown businesses that survived the 2020 lockdowns still haven’t fully bounced back.

Morning Brew reporter Sam Klebanov talked to small business owners in office-heavy New York City neighborhoods about what the WFH revolution has meant for them.

Here’s what they said.

Heart-thumping video: Watch a skier save a snowboarder who was buried in deep powder. Now they’re pals.

Hype is building around Barbie: Warner Bros. dropped the second teaser trailer for the upcoming film. Also, check out your Barbie selfie.

Siri, define “karma”: Turns out, Brooklyn isn’t more dangerous than Afghanistan.

They got rich quick: Here are the world’s youngest billionaires. And here’s the full list of billionaires.

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Word Search: Look at these cute PEZ dispensers.

Breath of fresh heir

For today’s trivia, let’s return to that youngest billionaires list.

Here’s the question: With a net worth of $37 billion, Mark Mateschitz has a fortune that’s 10x as big as the next-wealthiest young billionaires. The 30-year-old Austrian inherited his fortune from his megabillionaire father, Dietrich, who died last year. What company did Dietrich co-found?

John Deere, the company known for its tractors and agricultural machinery, is expanding into space. Find out why John Deere is going from soil to sky and how it will impact business here.

It’s hard to believe…but we make learning about business financials fun. The Brew’s Business Analytics Accelerator teaches you how businesses use finance and data to drive performance. Apply now.

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