Selasa, 22 Oktober 2019

Revolut strikes deal with Mastercard to accelerate expansion into the US - CNBC

Revolut's logo is displayed on a smartphone next to a Mastercard-branded debit card issued by the U.K. fintech firm.

Revolut

British fintech firm Revolut has partnered up with Mastercard to help it expand into the U.S. by the end of the year.

The deal means all of Revolut's first debit cards in the U.S. will be issued with Mastercard, while a minimum of half its European cards will carry the payments giant's branding.

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said the firm would also use some of Mastercard's new technology, including a platform that enables payments to be sent directly from one card to another.

"When we were trying to launch in the U.S. two years ago, Mastercard became our first offer for it," Storonsky told CNBC in a phone interview, adding he thought the company had "great tech and great infrastructure."

The deal arrives on the heels of a separate partnership Revolut struck with Mastercard's largest rival, Visa, a few weeks ago, which it said would help the firm hire an additional 3,500 people by the summer of 2020 to support its global expansion.

But this new tie-up means that Mastercard will get first dibs when it comes to Revolut cards issued in the U.S. Visa will still be the card network behind 75% of Revolut's cards beyond Europe though, and has said it still plans to support the firm's U.S. launch at some point in the future.

"What we've been working really hard on is accelerating Revolut's launch in the U.S.," Sue Kelsey, Mastercard's executive vice president of global prepaid and financial inclusion, told CNBC. "This will allow us 100% issuance of Revolut accounts on Mastercard" to begin with, she added.

Revolut is one of the many digital challenger banks which have gained a foothold in Europe by offering consumers colorful cards and slick mobile apps. Despite having no branches, the likes of Revolut, Monzo and N26 have gained millions of users between them.

London-based Revolut has already hired 30 employees in the U.S. and says it plans to triple its headcount there over the next six months. Rival fintech firms Monzo and N26 started rolling out in the U.S. earlier this year.

Revolut started out in 2015 with a prepaid debit card and foreign exchange service that let people spend abroad without paying high fees. It has since expanded its suite of products to add support for business accounts and trading in cryptocurrencies and, more recently, shares.

But like many of its peers in the fintech space, Revolut has yet to generate an annual profit. The company's most recent accounts showed losses more than doubled in 2018 to £32.8 million ($42.6 million) from £14.8 million a year earlier. TransferWise is one notable exception in the industry, having been profitable for three straight years.

Still, Revolut has been growing at a rapid pace, and is currently signing up between 800,000 and 900,000 new users a month.

Banking challengers have not been without their teething issues. U.S. start-up Chime recently suffered a widespread outage that left millions of customers without access to their accounts. According to fintech consultancy 11:FS, many upstarts in the U.K. faced similar problems in the early days of operating as they relied on third parties for certain processes.

And Revolut hasn't been immune to controversy, having been hit by a series of negative headlines towards the start of the year. Several reports highlighted a toxic work culture at the firm and alleged issues with compliance. The company denies it ever failed to meet any regulatory requirements, but admitted mistakes were made with regard to culture.

Challenger banks have proved to be a hot investment target for venture capitalists looking to tap into their wild growth. According to data firm CB Insights, the space saw $649 million in venture funding across 17 deals in the second quarter of the year.

Revolut is currently in talks with investors for a new round of funding that could close later this year. A recent Sky News report said the company is aiming to raise $1.5 billion, in a funding deal comprised of $500 million in equity and $1 billion in convertible notes. Storonsky declined to comment on that report.

WATCH: What is fintech?

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/22/revolut-partners-with-mastercard-to-accelerate-us-expansion.html

2019-10-22 07:03:18Z
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Revolut will partner with Mastercard for US launch - Quartz

Mastercard and Visa have been battling each other for market share for decades. These days, their competition is increasingly taking place via fintech startups.

An example is Revolut, which will use Mastercard when it launches in the US this year, according to a statement. The London-based financial app and debit-card operator will also partner with Mastercard for at least 50% of existing and future cards issued in Europe (Visa will have the other half). Revolut has an EU banking license from Lithuania’s central bank and will partner with a US-licensed bank when its rolls out in America.

In an effort to strike back, Visa recently said it will partner with Revolut as the startup expands in 24 new markets, for a total of 56 around the world. And while Revolut will start out issuing Mastercard in the US, Visa says it will get a chunk of that business from Revolut over time. Revolut says 75% of its cards outside of Europe will eventually be Visa branded.

As more transactions flow through digital startups instead of traditional banks, fintech firms represent increasingly important partnerships for the card networks. These startups could also prove vital for the card networks’ continued grip on payments, as physical cards become less important and transactions become more virtual. Four-year-old Revolut offers foreign exchange and stock and crypto brokerage as well as peer-to-peer payments. It says it has 8 million customers, and more than 1 million of them use its services every day.

Visa executives have confessed that they were slow to chase the fintech craze but say they are catching up. Mastercard claims it is the clear leader in the fintech game: The card network says it is the “partner of choice” for 60 digital banks and financial startups, which is twice as many as two years ago.

“We are very confident,” said Sue Kelsey, executive vice president and global head of prepaid cards at Mastercard. “I don’t think this is a draw by any stretch.”

Card transactions and online commerce are soaring, making payment companies some of the most valuable financial companies in the world. Mastercard and Visa’s stocks have each returned more than 30% this year, and together they have a market capitalization of more than half a trillion dollars. These payment giants take a tiny toll of a few basis points on card transactions: They processed more than $5 trillion during the most recent quarter, a 5% increase from a year earlier, amounting to nearly $10 billion in revenue.

Revolut, meanwhile, is part of a wave of digital upstarts that offer banking services through slick app interfaces instead of costly bank branches. As it expands globally, Revolut is looking to raise $1.5 billion, according to Sky News, in a deal that would value the company somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion. Some $1 billion of that funding will reportedly be in the form of a convertible loan that converts to stock if Revolut obtains a US banking license.

While European companies like Revolut, N26, and Monzo have proven that they can quickly acquire legions of customers, questions remain as to whether they will prove better than tech unicorns like Uber at converting those users into profitable, sustainable businesses. All three fintech firms are seeking to make inroads in the US.

Some investors are wary of heady fintech valuations. “I have a Revolut card, sure,” said Mark Tluszcz, chief executive of Mangrove Capital Partners, a self-described contrarian investment firm. “But is that a long-term business? I don’t know.”

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https://qz.com/1732023/revolut-will-partner-with-mastercard-for-us-launch/

2019-10-22 07:01:00Z
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Revolut strikes deal with Mastercard to accelerate expansion into the US - CNBC

Revolut's logo is displayed on a smartphone next to a Mastercard-branded debit card issued by the U.K. fintech firm.

Revolut

British fintech firm Revolut has partnered up with Mastercard to help it expand into the U.S. by the end of the year.

The deal means all of Revolut's first debit cards in the U.S. will be issued with Mastercard, while a minimum of half its European cards will carry the payments giant's branding.

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said the firm would also use some of Mastercard's new technology, including a platform that enables payments to be sent directly from one card to another.

"When we were trying to launch in the U.S. two years ago, Mastercard became our first offer for it," Storonsky told CNBC in a phone interview, adding he thought the company had "great tech and great infrastructure."

The deal arrives on the heels of a separate partnership Revolut struck with Mastercard's largest rival, Visa, a few weeks ago, which it said would help the firm hire an additional 3,500 people by the summer of 2020 to support its global expansion.

But this new tie-up means that Mastercard will get first dibs when it comes to Revolut cards issued in the U.S. Visa will still be the card network behind 75% of Revolut's cards beyond Europe though, and has said it still plans to support the firm's U.S. launch at some point in the future.

"What we've been working really hard on is accelerating Revolut's launch in the U.S.," Sue Kelsey, Mastercard's executive vice president of global prepaid and financial inclusion, told CNBC. "This will allow us 100% issuance of Revolut accounts on Mastercard" to begin with, she added.

Revolut is one of the many digital challenger banks which have gained a foothold in Europe by offering consumers colorful cards and slick mobile apps. Despite having no branches, the likes of Revolut, Monzo and N26 have gained millions of users between them.

London-based Revolut has already hired 30 employees in the U.S. and says it plans to triple its headcount there over the next six months. Rival fintech firms Monzo and N26 started rolling out in the U.S. earlier this year.

Revolut started out in 2015 with a prepaid debit card and foreign exchange service that let people spend abroad without paying high fees. It has since expanded its suite of products to add support for business accounts and trading in cryptocurrencies and, more recently, shares.

But like many of its peers in the fintech space, Revolut has yet to generate an annual profit. The company's most recent accounts showed losses more than doubled in 2018 to £32.8 million ($42.6 million) from £14.8 million a year earlier. TransferWise is one notable exception in the industry, having been profitable for three straight years.

Still, Revolut has been growing at a rapid pace, and is currently signing up between 800,000 and 900,000 new users a month.

Banking challengers have not been without their teething issues. U.S. start-up Chime recently suffered a widespread outage that left millions of customers without access to their accounts. According to fintech consultancy 11:FS, many upstarts in the U.K. faced similar problems in the early days of operating as they relied on third parties for certain processes.

And Revolut hasn't been immune to controversy, having been hit by a series of negative headlines towards the start of the year. Several reports highlighted a toxic work culture at the firm and alleged issues with compliance. The company denies it ever failed to meet any regulatory requirements, but admitted mistakes were made with regard to culture.

Challenger banks have proved to be a hot investment target for venture capitalists looking to tap into their wild growth. According to data firm CB Insights, the space saw $649 million in venture funding across 17 deals in the second quarter of the year.

Revolut is currently in talks with investors for a new round of funding that could close later this year. A recent Sky News report said the company is aiming to raise $1.5 billion, in a funding deal comprised of $500 million in equity and $1 billion in convertible notes. Storonsky declined to comment on that report.

WATCH: What is fintech?

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/22/revolut-partners-with-mastercard-to-accelerate-us-expansion.html

2019-10-22 06:33:17Z
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Senin, 21 Oktober 2019

Why the stock market has a ‘great distance to rise’ in the coming years - MarketWatch

There’s a lot to be glum about in the stock market — and the world, really — at the moment, but in our call of the day Michael Kramer, founder of Mott Capital Management, is confident there’s some serious upside potential in the coming years.

It all starts with valuations.

Kramer points out that the earnings multiple of the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.39% on a trailing 12-month basis sits around 19.7, the lowest level since June 2016 — a time when “the world literally felt as if it was on the verge of a meltdown”. (That multiple is a key method of measuring the value of a stock relative to earnings.)

But, in the reality that perhaps matters most to markets, we were in the midst of an earnings recession that would soon come to an end.

The bull market had life and, three years later, it still does, he says.

Read: How big will this year-end rally turn out to be?

For some context, Kramer used earnings data going back to 1988 and projections through to 2020, then overlaid that with a chart of the S&P for what he says is a self-explanatory reflection of where we stand.

And, more importantly, where we’re headed.

Kramer explained that the numbers show attractive equity valuations and, if corporate earnings continue to increase as expected, the market “has a great distance to rise” in the coming years.

Stocks are rising this morning, though not by “a great distance” yet.

The market

Futures on the Dow YM00, +0.13%, S&P ES00, +0.27% and Nasdaq NQ00, +0.33% are all in the green ahead of the opening bell. The pound GBPUSD, +0.1773%  is fairly volatile as investors wait for more Brexit updates after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal vote was a non-starter on Saturday. Europe SXXP, +0.45%  stocks are up.

The chart

Yes, it’s a bit hairy out there.

The buzz

We’ve got a big week of earnings coming up, with bellwethers like Microsoft MSFT, -1.63%, Amazon AMZN, -1.68%, Procter & Gamble PG, +0.72% and Boeing BA, -6.79% among notables on the docket.

Voters won’t have to wait much longer to hear how Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren plans to pay for the “Medicare for All” future she envisions. The Massachusetts senator, who says she’ll give the details of her plan soon, came under heavy fire from her opponents during last week’s debate for refusing to say whether her plan would raise taxes on the middle class.

The strike at General Motors GM, -0.06% is spilling over into a second month, and the impact is intensifying across the Midwest in the U.S.he United Auto Workers union banged out a tentative labour deal with GM last week, but union leaders opted to continue picketing until workers approve the agreement.

The quote

“Market stability should not be the subject of a tweet here or a tweet there. It requires consideration, thinking, quiet and measured and rational decisions.” — Christine Lagarde, soon-to-be president of the European Central Bank, in an interview that aired on Sunday night on CBS’s “60 Minutes”.

The economy

New and existing home sales figures for September are probably the economic highlight of the week, but we won’t get a look at those until Thursday and Tuesday, respectively. There’s nothing of note on the docket today. University of Michigan rounds out the week on Friday morning with the consumer sentiment index.

Read: Latest data does nothing for investors ‘animal spirits’

The tweet
Random reads

Influencers can buy 1,000 fake followers on Facebook FB, -2.38% for $34. Advertisers pay billions for them to pitch products to real people.

There’s a bear market in religion.

This sure looks like Republican senator Mitt Romney’s secret Twitter TWTR, -1.57% account.

A man stabbed his brother to death; now he earns six figures in Silicon Valley.

The grim reality of what climate change could do to three major US cities.

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

Follow MarketWatch on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-stock-market-has-a-great-distance-to-rise-in-the-coming-years-2019-10-21

2019-10-21 11:11:00Z
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Facebook says Libra could use a series of cryptocurrencies pegged to different currencies - CNBC

A "Zuck Buck" is displayed on a monitor as David Marcus, the executive leading Facebook's blockchain initiative, is questioned by U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2019.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Facebook has suggested its Libra project could use multiple cryptocurrencies backed by different existing currencies like the dollar, rather than having one single digital token tied to a basket of currencies.

The tech giant had initially proposed one synthetic unit of value that would be tied to a basket of currencies and government debt. But according to Reuters, David Marcus, the executive leading Facebook's blockchain initiative, told a banking seminar that he was open to looking at alternative approaches.

"We could do it differently," he said, according to the news agency. "Instead of having a synthetic unit … we could have a series of stablecoins, a dollar stablecoin, a euro stablecoin, a sterling pound stablecoin, etc."

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are usually pegged to government-backed currencies like the dollar. Tether is the world's best-known stablecoin, backed by the dollar, though it has garnered some controversy over whether it has a sufficient amount of dollars in reserve, as well as the suggestion that it could have been used for market manipulation.

Such currencies aim to reduce the volatility seen in virtual currencies like bitcoin and ether. In libra's case, the objective is to create a more efficient cross-border payments system.

But the Switzerland-based Libra Association, which oversees the proposed cryptocurrency, has faced numerous setbacks since the start of the month, with various original member companies including payments giants Mastercard and Visa backing out.

And as payments companies withdraw from Libra, there are no immediate signs that banks could be willing to join. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Friday called the group's currency "a neat idea that'll never happen."

Libra has also been met with fierce regulatory pushback, with authorities around the world worried the currency could heavily disrupt the financial system and potentially be used for money laundering or terrorist financing.

Last week, the Group of Seven (G-7) said in a report that no stablecoin project — Libra included — should be allowed to go ahead until the attached legal risks are addressed.

Meanwhile the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog on illicit financing, said that such digital currencies could inhibit efforts to clamp down on money laundering and terrorist financing.

Facebook could find some solace in the fact that the chief of Germany's financial regulator doesn't think libra will go away anytime soon. BaFin President Felix Hufeld told CNBC over the weekend that he doesn't think the social media firm's digital token is "dead in the water." Meanwhile, fellow tech giant IBM has said it's open to working with Libra.

WATCH: Don't think Facebook's libra is dead in the water, BaFin president says

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/facebooks-david-marcus-libra-could-use-currency-pegged-stablecoins.html

2019-10-21 07:04:28Z
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Facebook says Libra could use a series of cryptocurrencies pegged to different currencies - CNBC

A "Zuck Buck" is displayed on a monitor as David Marcus, the executive leading Facebook's blockchain initiative, is questioned by U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2019.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Facebook has suggested its Libra project could use multiple cryptocurrencies backed by different existing currencies like the dollar, rather than having one single digital token tied to a basket of currencies.

The tech giant had initially proposed one synthetic unit of value that would be tied to a basket of currencies and government debt. But according to Reuters, David Marcus, the executive leading Facebook's blockchain initiative, told a banking seminar that he was open to looking at alternative approaches.

"We could do it differently," he said, according to the news agency. "Instead of having a synthetic unit … we could have a series of stablecoins, a dollar stablecoin, a euro stablecoin, a sterling pound stablecoin, etc."

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are usually pegged to government-backed currencies like the dollar. Tether is the world's best-known stablecoin, backed by the dollar, though it has garnered some controversy over whether it has a sufficient amount of dollars in reserve, as well as the suggestion that it could have been used for market manipulation.

Such currencies aim to reduce the volatility seen in virtual currencies like bitcoin and ether. In libra's case, the objective is to create a more efficient cross-border payments system.

But the Switzerland-based Libra Association, which oversees the proposed cryptocurrency, has faced numerous setbacks since the start of the month, with various original member companies including payments giants Mastercard and Visa backing out.

And as payments companies withdraw from Libra, there are no immediate signs that banks could be willing to join. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Friday called the group's currency "a neat idea that'll never happen."

Libra has also been met with fierce regulatory pushback, with authorities around the world worried the currency could heavily disrupt the financial system and potentially be used for money laundering or terrorist financing.

Last week, the Group of Seven (G-7) said in a report that no stablecoin project — Libra included — should be allowed to go ahead until the attached legal risks are addressed.

Meanwhile the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog on illicit financing, said that such digital currencies could inhibit efforts to clamp down on money laundering and terrorist financing.

Facebook could find some solace in the fact that the chief of Germany's financial regulator doesn't think libra will go away anytime soon. BaFin President Felix Hufeld told CNBC over the weekend that he doesn't think the social media firm's digital token is "dead in the water." Meanwhile, fellow tech giant IBM has said it's open to working with Libra.

WATCH: Don't think Facebook's libra is dead in the water, BaFin president says

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/facebooks-david-marcus-libra-could-use-currency-pegged-stablecoins.html

2019-10-21 06:34:21Z
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Illegal vapes traced to California woman who was CBD pioneer - Yahoo Lifestyle

FILE - In this May 8, 2019, file photo, a Yolo! brand CBD oil vape cartridge sits alongside a vape pen on a biohazard bag on a table at a park in Ninety Six, S.C. More than 50 people around Salt Lake City had been poisoned by the time the outbreak ended early last year, most by a vape called Yolo!, the acronym for "you only live once." (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Some of the people rushing to emergency rooms thought the CBD vape they inhaled would help like a gentle medicine. Others puffed it for fun.

What the vapors delivered instead was a jolt of synthetic marijuana, and with it an intense high of hallucinations and even seizures.

More than 50 people around Salt Lake City had been poisoned by the time the outbreak ended early last year, most by a vape called Yolo! — the acronym for "you only live once."

In recent months, hundreds of vape users have developed mysterious lung illnesses, and more than 30 have died. Yolo was different. Users knew immediately something was wrong.

Who was responsible for Yolo? Public health officials and criminal investigators couldn't figure that out. Just as it seemed to appear from nowhere, Yolo faded away with little trace.

As part of an investigation into the illegal spiking of CBD vapes that are not supposed to have any psychoactive effect at all, The Associated Press sought to understand the story behind Yolo.

The trail led to a Southern California beach town and an entrepreneur whose vaping habit prompted a career change that took her from Hollywood parties to federal court in Manhattan.

When Janell Thompson moved from Utah to the San Diego area in 2010, the roommate she found online also vaped. Thompson had a background in financial services and the two decided to turn their shared interest into a business, founding an e-cigarette company called Hookahzz.

There were early successes. Thompson and her partner handed out Hookahzz products at an Emmy Awards pre-party, and their CBD vapes were included in Oscar nominee gift bags in 2014. In a video shot at a trade show, an industry insider described the two women as "the divas of CBD."

Indeed, Hookahzz was among the first companies to sell vapes that delivered CBD, as the cannabis extract cannabidiol is known. Now a popular ingredient in products from skin creams to gummy bears, cannabidiol was at that time little known and illegal in some states.

The partners started other brands that offered CBD capsules and edibles, as well as products for pets. Part of Thompson's pitch was that CBD helped treat her dog's tumors.

By autumn 2017, Thompson and her partner formed another company, Mathco Health Corporation. Within a few months, Yolo spiked with synthetic marijuana — commonly known as K2 or spice — began appearing on store shelves around Salt Lake City.

Synthetic marijuana is manmade and can be manufactured for a fraction of the price of CBD, which is typically extracted from industrial hemp that must be farmed.

Samples tested at Utah labs showed Yolo contained a synthetic marijuana blamed for at least 11 deaths in Europe — and no CBD at all.

Authorities believed that some people sought out Yolo because they wanted to get high, while others unwittingly ingested a dangerous drug. What authorities didn't understand was its source.

Investigators with Utah's State Bureau of Investigation visited vape stores that sold Yolo, but nobody would talk. The packaging provided no contact information.

By May 2018, the case was cold. But it was not dead.

That summer, a former Mathco bookkeeper who was preparing to file a workplace retaliation complaint began collecting evidence of what she viewed as bad business practices.

During her research, Tatianna Gustafson saw online pictures showing that Yolo was the main culprit in the Utah poisonings, according to the complaint she filed against Mathco with California's Department of Industrial Relations.

Gustafson wrote that while at Mathco she was concerned about how Yolo was produced, that it was excluded from Mathco's promotional material and that the "labels had no ingredients or contact listing."

Justin Davis, another former Mathco employee, told AP that "the profit margins were larger" for Yolo than other products.

Gustafson's complaint asserted that Mathco or JK Wholesale, another of the companies that Thompson and her partner incorporated, mixed and distributed Yolo. Financial records in the complaint show Thompson's initials as the main salesperson for Yolo transactions, including with a company in Utah. The records also show Yolo was sold in at least six other states, including to an address in South Carolina where a college student said he vaped a cartridge that sent him into a coma.

The former bookkeeper also tipped the Utah Poison Control Center about who she believed was behind Yolo, according to her complaint.

Barbara Crouch, the poison center's executive director, recalled getting a tip in late 2018 and passing it along to the State Bureau of Investigation. SBI agent Christopher Elsholz talked to the tipster, who told him she believed the company she had worked for distributed Yolo. Elsholz said the company was in California and therefore out of his jurisdiction, so he passed the tip to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The DEA offered to help but took no law enforcement action, spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger said. Spiked CBD is a low priority for an agency dealing with bigger problems such as the opioid epidemic, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

In the end, it wasn't the synthetic marijuana compound in Yolo from Utah that caught up with Thompson. It was another kind of synthetic added to different brands.

By the time of the Utah poisonings, vapes labeled as Black Magic and Black Diamond had sickened more than 40 people in North Carolina, including high school students and military service members. Investigators were able to connect Thompson to that outbreak in part based on a guilty plea from the distributor of the spiked vapes, who said a woman that authorities identified as Thompson supplied the liquid that went into them.

Prosecutors also linked her to dealers charged in New York, where she pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to distribute synthetic marijuana and a money laundering charge. The only brand federal prosecutors cited was Yolo.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman called Thompson a "drug trafficker" who used JK Wholesale to distribute "massive quantities" of synthetic marijuana as far back as 2014. She faces up to 40 years in prison.

Reached by phone the week before she pleaded guilty, Thompson declined to discuss Yolo and then hung up. In a subsequent text message, Thompson said not to call her and referred questions to her lawyer, who did not respond to requests for comment.

While Yolo was Thompson's project and she was the exclusive salesperson, her business partner and former roommate was involved in its production, according to the workplace retaliation complaint.

Thompson's business partner and former roommate, Katarina Maloney, distanced herself from Thompson and Yolo during an August interview at Mathco's headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Maloney has not been charged in the federal investigation.

"To tell you the truth, that was my business partner," Maloney said of Yolo. She said Thompson was no longer her partner and she didn't want to discuss it.

In a follow-up email, Maloney asserted the Yolo in Utah "was not purchased from us," without elaborating.

"Mathco Health Corporation or any of its subsidiary companies do not engage in the manufacture or sale of illegal products," she wrote. "When products leave our facility, they are 100% compliant with all laws."

Maloney also said all products are lab tested. She did not respond to requests for Yolo lab results.

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https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/illegal-vapes-traced-california-woman-050227876.html

2019-10-21 05:44:34Z
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