April 19, 2022

The eve of 4/20 should be recognized as a national holiday: Half of the country is gearing up to cash in one of their "sick days," while the other half is bracing for 24 hours of insufferable weed references. Either way, everyone will end tomorrow with bloodshot eyes—whether from THC or bad tweets.

Today's Wrap is about "Putin's Chef," a hotdog vendor-turned-billionaire who is the subject of major international sanctions. Read about his life below!

― Key Stories

Attack of the Bots
Overview

• Americans are receiving record numbers of spam texts and calls
• Data show Americans received a collective 11.7B spam texts and 7.6B spam calls in March 2022. That equates to about 35 texts and 23 calls per person
• Per the Washington Post, spam emails jumped 30% from 2020 to 2021; the US government reported a 146% increase in spam texts in 2020
• The government also reported a 50%+ jump in scams last year. Americans reported losing $131M to fraud schemes in 2021

Mask Mandate Shut Down
Overview

• A federal judge declared the Biden admin/CDC's mask mandate for public transport unlawful
• The move blocks the rule requiring passengers to wear masks on trains, subways, airplanes, buses, and other types of public transport
• The mask mandate was scheduled to expire on Monday, until last week when the Biden administration extended it to May 3
• The judge, who had been appointed by President Trump, wrote that the CDC had exceeded its authority and failed to adequately consult the public. The Biden admin called it “disappointing”

Births Recover in Developed Countries
Overview

• In wealthier countries, birth rates have returned to their pre-pandemic levels
• During the pandemic, birth rates collapsed in many countries as lockdowns and economic insecurity led to less romance and fewer children
• In the year after the pandemic began, countries including France, China, and Italy reported their lowest numbers of births in recorded history
• Now, though, data analyzed by the Financial Times show that birth rates have returned to their pre-pandemic levels, suggesting the pandemic's impact on births will be short-lived

Quaran Riots Break Out in Sweden
Overview

• Swedish police arrested dozens of people following riots across the country this weekend
• The riots were in reaction to a politician who spent the weekend traveling Sweden burning Qurans, including in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods
• Rioters threw molotov cocktails and attacked emergency vehicles. Police arrested 40+ people
• Sweden's national police chief said, “We have seen violent riots before. But this is something else.” The politician, who plans to run for parliament in September, said he will continue burning Qurans: “It is legal in Sweden”

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Popcorn

Culture & Sports

• We gon' be alright: Kendrick Lamar surprised fans with a new album announcement. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers will arrive on May 13
• One of the drug dealers who gave Mac Miller the fentanyl that caused his overdose death has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison
• Binging bad: The final season of Breaking Bad spinoff series Better Call Saul premieres tonight. Season 5 aired 2 years ago

• Touching story: The older brother of a Boston Marathon bombing victim paid tribute to him by completing the Boston Marathon
• Zillow gone wild: A Zillow listing in Wisconsin went viral for its not-so-subtle "Welcome to Poundtown" sign above one of the beds
• A baaaaa haircut: A New Zealand sheep who grew an enormous fleece after years in the wild lost his 41-lb coat after being rescued
• The number of Americans in Portugal jumped 45% last year, to nearly 7,000. Americans are drawn to its relaxed lifestyle and economic perks

― Roca Wrap

A Newsletter Exclusive

From hotdog vendor to “Putin’s Chef,” Yevgeny Prigozhin climbed Russia’s food chain to become one of the country’s wealthiest and most controversial people.
 
Yevgeny Prigozhin was born in 1961 and grew up in Leningrad, Russia (now Saint Petersburg). As a young adult, he was convicted of robbery and other crimes, and spent 9 years in jail. Upon his release from prison in 1990, he decided to pursue a new business: Operating hotdog stalls.
 
His hot dog business boomed, and he soon turned his sights to a larger enterprise in 1997: A floating restaurant on Saint Petersburg’s main river. Called “New Island,” the restaurant quickly became a great success and one of the city’s hottest restaurants.
 
In 2001, Prigozhin personally served a special guest who stopped by for dinner, the new Russian president and a fellow Leningrad native, Vladimir Putin. Putin loved Prigozhin’s cooking, and it didn’t take long before Prigozhin was catering many of the Kremlin’s banquets, including Putin’s birthday party in 2003, for which he earned the nickname “Putin’s Chef.”
 
As did many others with close ties to Putin, Prigozhin started to earn lucrative state contracts, including over $3B-worth of deals to cater for the Russian army and Russian school children. The money made Prigozhin into one of Russia's richest people.
 
Yet Prigozhin reportedly hides a darker business behind his food. He allegedly funds the Wagner Group, a private military company widely believed to employ mercenaries on behalf of the Russian state. Wagner lets Russia operate in conflict zones without the country formally doing so. Its fighters have fought in Syria, Mali, and Ukraine, where about 1,000 are reportedly deployed today.
 
Prigozhin is also allegedly behind a troll factory that posts pro-Kremlin propaganda online and interferes with foreign elections. In 2018, the US indicted him for interference in the 2016 US presidential election and the FBI set a $250k award for information leading to his arrest. He’s also a subject of international sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
 
Prigozhin denies any involvement with the Wagner Group or troll farms. He has kept a low profile and refuses to give interviews, although he did tell a Russia state news agency his thoughts on the US indictment: “I am not at all disappointed that I appear in this list,” he said. “If they want to see the devil, let them.”
 
Time will tell what Putin’s chef is cooking up next. 

 Roca Clubhouse

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Yesterday's Question:

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― Final Thoughts