When the mysterious Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners agreed to buy Everton last fall, it was seen as a lifeline for the English football club, which was struggling financially and on the pitch. But ever since, there has been nothing but chaos for both the team and the firm.

Recap: As 777 began the process of buying Everton, journalists started digging into the company…and found what appears to be a few hampers’ worth of dirty laundry. A parade of lawsuits and government investigations followed, with the biggest, most serious lawsuit yet filed last week:

• London-based asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners alleges that $350 million 777 used as collateral for loans was either 1) not actually its money or 2) already pledged as collateral to others.
• Leadenhall accused 777’s co-owners, Steve Pasko and Josh Wander, and its biggest financial backer, ACAP, of “operating a giant shell game at best, and an outright Ponzi scheme at worst.”

ACAP called the lawsuit baseless, while 777 declined to comment on it to the New York Times.

Repercussions for soccer and…insurance

Everton fans may want to kiss their new stadium goodbye for now. The Premier League hasn’t approved the sale, and Everton has called in restructuring and insolvency advisors while looking for alternative financing, according to The Guardian.

And there’s nary a part of the world with a soccer team unaffected by 777’s possible issues. The firm owns at least part of teams in Italy, Brazil, Germany, Australia, and Belgium, where yesterday soccer club Standard de Liege called for a seizure of 777’s assets, saying it had missed the deadline to pay players’ salaries.

The even bigger picture: 777’s biggest money-making machine is its reinsurance unit, 777 Re, and that unit has been accused of investing customer funds in risky deals. Execs at private equity firms that have huge investments in life insurance and annuities companies are worried that increased scrutiny of 777’s business practices could ripple through the industry, which is already under close watch by regulators.—CC

You’ve heard of the notorious street artist Banksy. But did you know his artworks have appreciated 96% of the time when returning to auction (’06–’23)?

That’s just one artist, but the overall contemporary art market has also appreciated 11.5% annually (’95–’23), according to the MW All Art Index.

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Israel rejects cease-fire plan okayed by Hamas as Rafah operation begins. After ordering Palestinians to evacuate from parts of Rafah, a southern Gaza city to which 1 million people have fled during the Israel–Hamas war, Israel began airstrikes there. The beginning of the offensive in Rafah, which Israel has been planning despite opposition from the US, came as Hamas announced that it agreed to a cease-fire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar. However, the version of the deal Hamas embraced was not one Israel had signed on to, and Israel’s war cabinet rejected it, saying it was “far from” meeting its demands. However, Israel also sent negotiators to the mediators to continue working toward a cease-fire agreement.

The SEC is preparing to sue over Robinhood’s crypto business. Robinhood said yesterday that it’s been notified that the SEC plans to bring an enforcement action against its crypto unit for alleged securities violations. But the online brokerage said it’s not sweating: “We firmly believe that the assets listed on our platform are not securities and we look forward to engaging with the SEC to make clear just how weak any case against Robinhood Crypto would be on both the facts and the law,” Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance, and corporate affairs officer, wrote in a blog post. Such a notice doesn’t always mean a suit will follow, but crypto companies and the agency have been sparring for years over whether crypto tokens count as securities.

The ex-CEO of Starbucks tried out LinkedIn thought leadership. After Starbucks revealed declining same-store sales and other troubles in its most recent earnings, the coffee chain’s former CEO Howard Schultz offered his advice in a post on the business networking platform. Schultz, who no longer has a formal role at the company, expressed confidence that business in China will pick back up and suggested that Starbucks focus on its US locations. “The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data, but in the stores,” he wrote.

The Sims is now the only place where many Americans think they’ll be able to own a home. According to a recent New York Federal Reserve survey, a record-low 40% of renters believe they’ll ever transition from resenting their landlord to bickering with an HOA.

Why do so many renters think they’ll never be able to buy? Blame jaw-dropping mortgage rates and listing prices.

• Almost three-fourths of renters feel that getting a mortgage is difficult, compared with 51% amid near-zero interest rates in 2021.
• Americans expect mortgage rates to keep climbing and home prices to go up 5.1% in the next 12 months, almost double the annual rise they expected in 2023.

Sedentary sentiment

In worrying news for U-Haul, Americans are also making less plans to move than ever. Only 13% expect to move in the next year, and 25% think they’ll move in the next three years.

Some homeowners are reluctant to move for fear of having to take out a new mortgage at a higher rate, reducing the number of homes on the market. Last year, almost 6 out of 10 homeowners had a mortgage rate lower than 4%, per Redfin.

It’s not a new trend: Americans have been moving less over the past few decades.—SK

Buckeyes mean business. Did you know Ohio has the seventh-largest US economy? And that it ranks No. 5 among the top states for doing business? Companies are partnering with JobsOhio to access business-growing resources, such as top talent and funding. See for yourself what Ohio has to offer.

Equinox is taking the idea of trying not to die at the gym to a whole new level.

The luxury fitness company has partnered with lab-test startup Function Health to launch a program focused on improving overall health and increasing longevity that will cost $40,000 a year, per CNBC.

“Optimize By Equinox” is an extensive initiative targeted at people with strong opinions on a wealth tax trying to defy the aging process. Here’s what you get for a price tag similar to a year’s rent on a studio apartment in Brooklyn:

• Function Health will test for 100 biomarkers—think everything internal, from heart, liver, and kidney labs to a check on cancer markers.
• Equinox will run its own battery of physical tests, then take all that information and create a personalized health and fitness plan.

Live long and prosper: Fortune reported that the booming longevity industry received $5.2 billion in investments in 2022 and that people in households making more than $250,000 per year were far more likely to spend their time and money on their health than those in households making less than $50,000.

If you can’t afford this…experts encourage regular exercise to live a longer, healthier life. As Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at the Yale School of Medicine, told the WSJ: “You’re at the gym, just work out.”—DL

Stat: Baguettes aren’t just an item required to stick out of every cartoon grocery store haul, in France they’re also a delicious symbol of national pride. So we imagine that other national gem, champagne, started flowing freely this weekend after France reclaimed the world record for longest baguette, which had been held by Italy since 2019. The record-breaking loaf baked in a Paris suburb measured 140.53 meters (461 feet). That’s 235 times longer than the traditional ones sold at boulangeries. And since everyone who’s tried to eat a baguette the morning after knows they go stale fast, don’t worry: The oversized bread was shared with the public and distributed to unhoused people.

Quote: “Don’t say that s*** again.”

The Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix delivered its own version of Will Smith at the Oscars—minus the physical assault. Brady came to the aid of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft when roastmaster Jeff Ross made a joke at the expense of the 82-year-old, alluding to when he was charged in 2019 for allegedly soliciting sex at a massage parlor. The quarterback approached the dais and told Ross, in his own way, to keep his former boss’s name out of his mouth. Ross shrugged it off with a laugh, and the rest of the show continued without any jokes that rubbed Brady the wrong way.

Read: Why Sweden has so many billionaires. (BBC)