What’s the biggest party animal you can think of? Dolphins with their pufferfish huffing habits? Sex-crazed Bonobo monkeys? Your cousin Jeff with his allegedly “wild” weekends he keeps droning on about? While all of these may be correct answers in their own ways, the latest addition to the party is a creature that has already struck fear in the hearts of many, even before it hopped up on hard drugs: <keyword id="19908382" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sharks" source="keywords">sharks</keyword>. In a revelation that seems like a Sharknado side plot, a team of <keyword id="21483069" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="marine-biologists" source="keywords">marine biologists</keyword> have found significant levels of cocaine in the systems of Brazilian Sharpnose sharks off the coast of <keyword id="19908342" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rio" source="keywords">Rio</keyword> de Janeiro. Yes, we’re talking about the same stuff that made Pablo Escobar rich. The research team, representing several Brazilian institutions, procured 13 Brazilian Sharpnose sharks from local fishermen for their study. Once in the lab, these shallow-dwelling small sharks were dissected, and muscle and liver samples were meticulously analysed using tandem mass spectrometry. The results were shocking: cocaine concentrations in these sharks were approximately 100 times higher than any previously recorded in marine animals. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111967497" title="An ultra-swimmer tried to eat as much as a tiger shark and ended up consuming 40,000 calories in a day" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>The journey of cocaine from human consumption to the depths of the <keyword id="20167032" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ocean" source="keywords">ocean</keyword> is an intricate and troubling tale. Prior studies have indicated that cocaine often finds its way into the ocean through a combination of wastewater, drainage from illicit laboratories, and packages discarded by traffickers evading law enforcement. Yet, the persistence of cocaine in the marine <keyword id="19939494" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="environment" source="keywords">environment</keyword> and its impact on <keyword id="19908071" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="marine-life" source="keywords">marine life</keyword> has remained largely unexplored. Now that it is affecting some of the ocean’s apex species, there will hopefully be more research into the matter. <h2>How does it affect the sharks?</h2>While the discovery of cocaine in shark tissues is intriguing, it raises more questions than it answers. Does it make them more aggressive, like we see in humans? Could it disrupt their reproductive systems, as seen with other toxins in shark livers? Only more research will tell. Previous studies have shown that cocaine can damage the DNA of mollusks, another significant component of the marine ecosystem. The potential ramifications of such damage cascading through the food web are alarming, highlighting the urgent need for deeper investigation. Notably, “Cocaine Sharks” was covered by Discovery Channel’s Shark Week show after some scientists found <a href="https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2023-07-21-floridas-cocaine-sharks-might-be-consuming-drugs">hammerhead sharks acting highly unusually </a>in Florida. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111502518" title="Single shark injures 4 different people on the same day" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Understanding how this potent drug enters the ocean is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies. The researchers emphasise the need for concerted efforts to identify and mitigate these sources to protect marine life from the unintended consequences of human activities. In the meantime, the idea of "cocaine sharks" might seem like a quirky headline, but it represents a serious and complex challenge that requires our immediate attention. The findings of this research have been published in Science of the Total Environment and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174798">here</a>.

Udta Machhli: Cocaine-infused sharks have been found infesting Rio’s waters in Brazil!

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sharks might be consuming drugs that are dumped off the Florida coast, scientists say.</li><li>An upcoming Shark Week episode will investigate whether the drugs are impacting the animals.</li></ul>Scientists think hungry sharks might be feeding on drugs dumped off the Florida coast and sending them a little crazy.An upcoming Discovery Channel Shark Week episode, "Cocaine Sharks," looks into the theory, with its title referencing the "Cocaine Bear" that ingested nearly 75 lb of cocaine in 1985 – and loosely inspired a comedy horror film that came out earlier this year."It's a catchy headline to shed light on a real problem, that everything we use, everything we manufacture, everything we put into our bodies, ends up in our wastewater streams and natural water bodies, and these aquatic life we depend on to survive are then exposed to that," said Dr. Tracy Fanara, a Florida-based environmental engineer and lead member of the research team, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/22/cocaine-sharks-drugs-florida-coast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian.</a>Studies had shown pharmaceuticals, including cocaine, methamphetamines, and ketamine, had affected fish, Fanara said.Huge bales of cocaine have washed up on Florida's beaches for decades, usually being thrown into the sea by traffickers fleeing from law enforcement.The US Coast Guard <a href="https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/article/3431687/coast-guard-offloads-more-than-186-million-in-illegal-narcotics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it had recovered more than $186m of illegal narcotics seized in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean last month.If these cocaine bales are a point source of pollution, it's "very plausible" sharks can be affected by this chemical, Fanara said. "Cocaine is so soluble that any of those packages open just a little, the structural integrity is destroyed, and the drug is in the water." In the upcoming Shark Week episode, Fanara and British marine biologist Tom Hird conduct a series of experiments to determine whether the sharks in waters around Florida were consuming the dumped narcotics and whether this affected them.The scientists observed unusual behavior by some of the sharks, per The Guardian.This included a hammerhead swimming directly towards them while moving erratically, despite being a species that would typically avoid humans.And at one point, a sandbar shark was seen swimming in circles as it appeared to focus on an imaginary object, despite nothing being there.The scientists created packages that resembled cocaine bales and dropped them into the water to see how the sharks would respond. The sharks swam straight to the bales and took bites out of them, the outlet reported.They also filled balls of bait with highly concentrated fish powder to simulate cocaine and see how the animals would react. "It set their brains aflame. It was crazy," Hird says on the show, per The Guardian.Researchers said the reaction was similar to catnip on felines.However, the observations do not necessarily confirm that the sharks consume drugs, and Hind told <a href="https://www.livescience.com/animals/sharks/cocaine-sharks-off-florida-may-be-feasting-on-dumped-bales-of-drugs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LiveScience</a> he hopes the show will lead to more research in the area.

'Cocaine sharks' may be consuming drugs dumped off the coast of Florida, sending them a little crazy, scientists say

'El Chapo' Guzman has been recaptured - here's how his cartel dominates the cocaine trade

The risky allure of WiFi Money: private jets, sports cars, and ruined investors

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! Find someone as committed to you as much as Mark Sumersett is dedicated to surfing. Sumersett isn't giving up surfing despite a<a href="https://www.insider.com/shark-bite-man-face-volusia-county-florida-what-to-do-2023-9"> shark biting his face last week</a>."Heck yeah, I'm going surfing again," he told the local news. "Because I love it. There's nothing in the world that makes me feel better than surfing."In today's big story, we're looking at the most compelling argument for why the AI boom likely <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatgpt-replace-jobs-unemployment-salaries-technology-economist-daron-acemoglu-2023-9">will only benefit those at the top</a>, as opposed to all of us.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: Inside Wall Street's <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-private-credit-careers-asset-management-2023-9">hottest career move</a>.</li><li>Tech: Generative AI's boom comes with <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcafee-ceo-greg-johnson-cybersecurity-ai-tool-and-threat-2023-9">big cybersecurity risks</a>.</li><li>Business: The incredible story of <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tupac-cocaine-murder-henchmen-brothers-hip-hop-forgotten-moguls-2023-9">hip-hop's forgotten moguls</a>, the Henchman brothers.</li></ul>But first, a rise in tide doesn't always raise all ships.<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><hr /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatgpt-replace-jobs-unemployment-salaries-technology-economist-daron-acemoglu-2023-9"></a><div type="image" title="Daron Acemoglu in his office" height="4480" width="5973" msid="103762816" hostid="261" sizebytes="1676458"></div>The big story<h2>The AI heretic</h2>One of the leading experts on technology's impact on the economy has some bad news: AI is on track to do more harm than good. MIT economist Daron Acemoglu is highly respected and a best-selling author. But his latest position disputes the notion widely believed by his peers that<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatgpt-replace-jobs-unemployment-salaries-technology-economist-daron-acemoglu-2023-9"> new tech always leads to everyone having a better life</a>, Insider's Aki Ito writes. Acemoglu argues new technology, in and of itself, hasn't been the catalyst for widespread economic growth that most have touted it as. In actuality, tech only benefits and enriches those at the top and harms broader society when left to its own devices. It's an important distinction, Aki writes, as new technology has been pitched — particularly during the AI boom — as net-positive. Executives like to say innovations will empower employees to work better instead of making them obsolete.But that equation only works, Acemoglu says, if the tech creates more new tasks than it takes away and there is a balance of power between employer and employee. Unfortunately for us, we fail on both counts when it comes to the AI boom. Acemoglu's research found that every additional robot introduced since 1990 has reduced employment by roughly six humans. That type of math doesn't indicate tech is leaving much work for the rest of us.Meanwhile, the power dynamics between boss and employee have gotten increasingly lopsided. CEOs made about<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wage-gap-executive-compensation-ceo-pay-ratio-workers-2023-8"> 272 times more than their workers</a> in 2022, according to a recent report. And the percentage of unionized workers has dropped to a record low. If you're banking on regulators coming to the rescue, good luck. In recent years, some members of Congress have lacked a<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/techs-beef-runs-deep-with-a-flip-phone-congress-2022-9"> basic understanding of technology</a>, let alone something as complex as generative AI. In the meantime, tech companies aren't slowing down, as they help themselves to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-updated-terms-to-use-customer-data-to-train-ai-2023-9"> plenty of our data</a> to train their models. It's led to a "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-create-ai-materials-resources-guide-2023-9">shadow war</a>" over the information, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman said in a recent interview. But maybe it won't be that bad? AI leaders like to talk about how everyone will have a<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-personal-virtual-assistant-work-home-chatgpt-deepmind-2023-9"> tech-powered assistant</a>. Maybe that'll help us find ways to fill the hours of the day since we'll all be out of work. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatgpt-replace-jobs-unemployment-salaries-technology-economist-daron-acemoglu-2023-9">Read the Full Story</a><hr />3 things in markets<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-private-credit-careers-asset-management-2023-9"></a><div type="image" title="A tower of money overshadowing an atm" height="1000" width="1333" msid="103762817" hostid="261" sizebytes="180622"></div><ul><li>Private credit is the hottest job on Wall Street. Money managers willing to lend are hitting it big thanks to sky-high interest rates and risk-averse big banks. The $1.5 trillion market, which offers impressive pay packages, is in the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-private-credit-careers-asset-management-2023-9">middle of a talent frenzy</a>.</li><li>Just when you thought the housing market couldn't get any worse. The median monthly mortgage payment — $2,632 — is now at an all-time high, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/housing-market-mortgage-payments-record-high-home-prices-inventory-shortage-2023-9">according to a new Redfin report</a>. And it's set to get worse, as recently purchased homes with the highest mortgage rates since 2001 haven't yet been <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/housing-affordability-crisis-home-prices-outlook-mortgage-rates-supply-inventory-2023-9">priced into the data</a>.</li><li>Be prepared to sleep in the office if you want to run a successful hedge fund. Renaissance Technologies CEO Peter Brown said he <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/renaissance-technologies-hedge-fund-ceo-goldman-sachs-peter-brown-finance-2023-9">spent 2,000 nights in his office</a> and didn't "see how I could do it otherwise." The result: The firm's flagship fund averaged nearly 70% returns over two decades.</li></ul><hr />3 things in tech<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dreamforce-salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-generative-ai-2023-9"></a><div type="image" title="Salesforce Marc Benioff Dreamforce" height="2333" width="3110" msid="103762820" hostid="261" sizebytes="613050"></div><ul><li>Salesforce CEO warned about the perils of generative AI — unless it's from his company. Marc Benioff spent much of the annual Dreamforce conference sounding the alarms on <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dreamforce-salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-generative-ai-2023-9">how untrustworthy generative AI is right now</a>.</li><li>A trio of AI pioneers: "The scholar, the pragmatist, and the rainmaker." The three partners of Bloomberg Beta have been prolific AI investors for more than a decade. Here's how they <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-beta-ai-pioneers-by-rewriting-the-vc-playbook-2023-9">rewrote the VC playbook</a>.</li><li>McAfee CEO warns about the "exploding" cybersecurity risks that generative AI poses. Greg Johnson highlighted how the technology is <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcafee-ceo-greg-johnson-cybersecurity-ai-tool-and-threat-2023-9">making phishing more sophisticated</a>. This can include fake AI-generated phone calls or videos that indicate your loved one is in distress.</li></ul><hr />3 things in business<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tupac-cocaine-murder-henchmen-brothers-hip-hop-forgotten-moguls-2023-9"></a><div type="image" title="A collage featuring Jimmy and Mario Rosemond as well as other people mentioned in the story" height="1800" width="2400" msid="103762822" hostid="261" sizebytes="969212"></div><ul><li>Tupac, cocaine, murder: The incredible saga of the Rosemond brothers. They founded rap's most notorious management firm and were responsible for the likes of The Game, Salt-N-Pepa, Akon, Sean Kingston, and Gucci Mane. But the firm was originally created as a <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tupac-cocaine-murder-henchmen-brothers-hip-hop-forgotten-moguls-2023-9">"hideout" for their drug empire</a>.</li><li>The two work archetypes: 9-to-5 "splitters" and flexible "blenders." There's a major <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/work-life-balance-expectations-flexible-work-boundaries-manager-boss-challenges-2023-9">disconnect between workers and bosses</a>. Around half of Americans want a defined 9-to-5 work schedule. Meanwhile, bosses think most workers want to do chores throughout the day alongside work.</li><li>A guide on when to tip and when it's okay to skip. More and more places are asking for tips. Etiquette experts revealed that <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tipping-restaurant-takeout-coffee-checkout-should-i-tip-etiquette-tips-2023-9">it's okay to skip tipping</a> for things like takeout and coffee. Meanwhile, you may want to tip for food deliveries.</li></ul><hr />In other news<ul><li>Former and current Sweetgreen employees are suing the salad company, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sweetgreen-slammed-racial-discrimination-employees-allege-slurs-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-2023-9">alleging racial discrimination</a>.</li><li>Google cofounder Sergey Brin quietly <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sergey-brin-divorced-wife-accused-affair-with-elon-musk-2023-9">finalized his divorce</a> from Nicole Shanahan on May 26, court records show.</li><li>Here's how to fight seasonal allergies while <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-manage-allergies-side-effects-allergy-medications-2023-9">avoiding medication side effects</a>.</li><li>President Joe Biden's economic policies have quietly made people's lives better by providing essentials like <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-economy-is-bidenomics-working-policies-progress-unnoticed-2023-9">clean water and internet access</a>.</li><li>Gen Zers respond to accusations that they're lazy and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.insider.com/gen-z-responds-to-accusations-that-theyre-lazy-and-dont-want-to-work-2023-9">don't want to work</a>.</li><li>A <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/superyacht-yacht-jeff-bezos-barry-diller-dvf-koru-eos-celebrity-2023-9">recap</a> of the 2023 superyacht summer.</li></ul><hr />What's happening today<ul><li>The 16th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors is tonight. The award show is hosted by Carly Pearce for the third year in a row and will air on FOX.</li><li>It's International Equal Pay Day. The UN General Assembly created this day in 2019 with "equal pay for work of equal value" in mind. Globally, there is an estimated 20% gender pay gap.</li><li>Earnings today: Stitch Fix <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">and other companies</a>.</li></ul><hr /><a href="https://www.insider.com/ways-exercise-can-help-live-longer-longevity-2023-9"></a><div type="image" title="Valter Longo and an older man on an exercise ball" height="1800" width="2400" msid="103762823" hostid="261" sizebytes="174646"></div>For your bookmarks<h2>Longevity workout</h2>A longevity expert shared his centenarian-inspired exercise routine. It includes 150 minutes of intentional exercise every week and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.insider.com/ways-exercise-can-help-live-longer-longevity-2023-9">walking every day</a>.<hr />The Insider Today team: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

Insider Today: Tech's biggest lie

Inside the wild, drug-fueled world of celebrity keynote speakers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Recent revelations about President Trump's tax problems have confirmed suspicions among US allies that the president is uniquely vulnerable to influence or blackmail by foreign powers, <keyword id="6371298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="NATO">NATO</keyword> sources told Insider.</li><li>Security operatives in the US's European allies now regard Trump as a risk that makes them reluctant to share information with the US.</li><li>Trump's messy finances are exactly the kind of thing that foreign powers look for when trying to recruit assets. "Everything about his finances smells like blood and we are trained to be sharks," one source told Insider.</li></ul>European intelligence services have long considered US President <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword> vulnerable to financial influence by foreign powers. But this week's revelations from the New York Times that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">Trump's personal finances are a tangled mess of tax avoidance and huge debts</a> have raised their level of concern to something approaching alarm, according to half a dozen current and former European intelligence officers interviewed by Insider. Three of six officials in civilian or military intelligence services in NATO refused to say specifically whether they believe Trump is vulnerable to foreign pressure or blackmail through his business entanglements and debts, citing national security reasons. But the same three agreed that Trump's finances and behavior have put the United States — and, via NATO, Western Europe and the UK — in significant peril in terms of intelligence operations.Since taking office in 2017, Trump has repeatedly refused to stand up to key countries — such as Russia Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia — that sometimes have hostile agendas toward the US and Europe, former intelligence officials among US allies say. At the same time, Trump has allowed foreign dignitaries to spend millions at his hotels, golf resorts, and clubs. And he has displayed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/us/politics/trump-impeached.html">a willingness to politicize aspects of intelligence and foreign relations for benefits that seem to be personal or political</a>, these sources note. <h2>'The US president's finances and business leave him uniquely vulnerable to foreign pressure and influence'</h2>"There has been a longstanding debate [in Europe] on how to look at Trump's behavior towards rich autocratic figures such as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Turkish President Recep] Erdogan, and the Gulf Monarchies," said a senior official with the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, who refused to be identified. "The extent of the problem and its origin has been at times hotly debated across European capitals but these debates have ended with the most recent revelations. The overwhelming evidence is that the US president's finances and business leave him uniquely vulnerable to foreign pressure and influence in the best of situations and by refusing to detail these entanglements to his own security services, which are designed to protect his office from such pressures, he has made things considerably more suspicious." When asked what this meant in terms of these concerns affecting the close intelligence-sharing relationship between the US and Netherlands — the Dutch services are considered to be skilled at technology operations and closely monitor Russian intelligence activity — the source refused to comment further.  The White House did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Insider. Trump has insisted that the New York Times' investigation into his taxes and debts are "fake news." All six officials contacted additionally refused to comment on anything involving the US election scheduled for November, citing versions of widespread EU policies against election interference.  Two other senior active duty intelligence officials — who refused to directly comment or allow their countries to be named — agreed with the assessment that Trump and his precarious financial condition pose historically unprecedented counterintelligence threats. "The situation is so dire that I would be disappointed if anyone else commented directly on it," said one official before refusing to elaborate. "It's a difficult job normally without concerns that things that can hurt you might leak directly from your most powerful ally, intentionally or just accidentally." <h2>'My first response was to compare it to a Hezbollah-linked company making and laundering money in Africa'</h2>Three other officials — from Belgium, from a central European country, and a third who serves as a senior member of Italian law enforcement — all offered similar concerns. They ranged from the structure of the president's finances indicating further wrongdoing to a persistent belief that Trump acts to indirectly benefit foreign political figures that could be useful in his post-presidency. None would dismiss the possibility of outright corruption. "My first response was to compare it to a Hezbollah-linked company making and laundering money in Africa," said a Belgian military intelligence official with a long history of working money laundering cases in the Middle East and Africa. "But Hezbollah is trying to make money so there's always physical assets being traded you can eventually find to explain the cash flows. Trump's stuff is more like the shell companies used to move Russian money to the EU or an international drug cartel: They're moving around ghost amounts of cash trying to obscure everything." The Italian official strongly agreed.  "I have studied the organizational structures of many companies and the first thing I'd say about the Trump businesses, if you showed them to me and did not tell me who ran them, would be, 'OK so who are they money laundering for? Helping Russians get money into the West or is it the Ndrangheta?'" The Ndrangheta is an Italian organized group based in Calabria which is believed to control much of the world's cocaine trade. "Then I would get to work building cases on his lawyers, accountants and proxies to turn them," the source continued. "That's my law enforcement side. My counterintelligence side would look at his finances and say, 'OK, this person is uniquely positioned to know many things of use to my service, so let's get him to work for us.' There's plenty of obvious levers of pressure." <h2>'Everything about his finances smells like blood and we are trained to be sharks'</h2>When asked if he was suggesting the US president was a candidate for being blackmailed or coerced into cooperating with an intelligence service, the source agreed."This is what they teach us to do: Find weakness and exploit them for the gain of our legal system or intelligence services, the only thing stopping me would be what would happen if I suggested it to our foreign ministry. But all the signs are here: Recruit this guy or have him arrested." "Please make it clear Italy would never do this to the president of the United States, but as an intelligence and law enforcement officer, everything about his finances smells like blood and we are trained to be sharks," the source added.<h2>'Large countries are having a tough time deciding how to handle the sense that you might not be able to trust the president'</h2>To put this in perspective, a former CIA case officer once told Insider that it is for this reason — financial weakness — that Americans are often denied clearance in the US services if they have too much student debt. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-new-york-san-francisco-archive-4475833ffad7162a460374f695786f27">Trump has up to $300 million in debt</a>.A central European counterintelligence official said that Trump's finances had previously concerned him sufficiently to warn his government about information sharing. He suspects the warning was ignored because, in his view, the geopolitical risks for their country outweighed the real fears the president could be compromised. "I assessed there was a possibility that Trump posed a risk in terms of information sharing but that is very much not my decision," said the official. "Large countries are having a tough time deciding how to handle the sense that you might not be able to trust the president of the United States with valuable information. Smaller countries have even more at stake and this is a position none of us should be in."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kassim-tajideen-released-trump-deal-hezbollah-and-iran-2020-7">The Trump administration gave Iran and Hezbollah a high-value terrorist prisoner but seems to have got next to nothing in return</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-used-us-intel-sharing-to-pursue-chechnya-dissidents-sources-2020-7">Russia used Trump's intelligence sharing to try to assassinate Chechen dissidents in Europe, sources say</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-paul-whelan-detention-bait-prisoner-swap-viktor-bout-2020-6">Russia is trying to lure Trump into a dangerous prisoner swap, intelligence officials say</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/european-security-officials-aghast-trump-protests-2020-6">The Germans are openly done with this president': European security officials are aghast at the way Trump is handling the George Floyd protesters</a></li></ul>

NATO insiders believe Trump's tax and debt problems make him vulnerable to blackmail by foreign powers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Oscar B. Castillo, a documentary photographer, had extraordinary access to Venezuela's PGV prison during an extended period when it was controlled by inmates.</li></ul>One of Venezuela's hottest venues for musicians and sports stars was, for part of the last decade, a maximum-security prison run by its own inmates. "Party at the PGV tonight," local DJs would announce over the radio. Visitors would come from the nearby towns, or all the way from the capital, Caracas, 100 miles away. The PGV, or the General Penitentiary of Venezuela, was a place where inmates mostly roamed freely. The cell blocks had been torn out and there was no "behind bars." But there was also a rigid, if convoluted, code of conduct that was maintained by gangs and an arsenal of heavy weapons. Infractions were met with brutal punishments.Visitors were considered sacred, and off-limits. The PGV was at its best on Visitors' Days — which could run for weeks since there wasn't a formal limit. Christmas, Mother's Day, or the birthdays of gang leaders who ran the place were always a good excuse to put on concerts, or bring in bouncy castles, clowns, and hot dog carts for visiting kids. As night fell, DJs would be brought in to perform in the penitentiary's central square with electronic music, laser shows, and fireworks. <div type="image" title="A couple is seen dancing." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668288" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Kids are seen on a huge bouncy castle" height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668289" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="A woman sings in front of a band of Mariachis." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668290" hostid="261"></div><h2>Outside/Inside </h2>From the outside, there were vestiges of ordinary prison infrastructure: High fences heavily crowned with barbed wire, control towers, and checkpoints manned by military officers armed with rifles and machine guns. Long lines of relatives, mostly women and kids, carrying large bags of goods and tired expressions on their faces, lined up under the scorching heat to submit to searches — or be made to pay bribes — before being allowed through. But look closer, and you would have seen a thin fence. On one side were guards, employed by the state and confined to the prison's perimeter. On the other side, manning the PGV's entrance, a select group of prisoners held far more powerful guns, and many more of them. Once inside, most inmates — everyone here was an inmate — walked around freely through the maze of corridors, pavilions, and wards. In some areas, shacks and other private dwellings had been erected. From the alleyways and through the prison's windows, the rugged mountain landscape, which lent the town of San Juan de Los Morros its name, could be seen in the distance — beautiful, but also painful, for how it reminded prisoners of their lost freedom. The PGV first opened in 1948, billed as a model South American prison where prisoners could work the soil, care for animals, and live in the relative open. But starting around 2007, as the institutional structure of Venezuela crumbled and mafia activity and corruption spiraled out of control, prison gangs amassed weapons and drugs and, with it, leverage. After years of continuous abandonment and failed policies, police and soldiers were often interchangable with criminals, and human rights groups documented their abuses.Around 2009, the criminal group called "El Carro" (The Car), under the command of El Principal, had taken over the daily workings of the PGV. By 2010, many of Venezuela's biggest male prisons were under the effective control of inmates. <div type="image" title="Shelters are seen lined up, with mountains in the background." height="1000" width="1497" msid="93668291" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Prisoners hold their hands out in prayer." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668292" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Two inmates lie side by side and one, smiling, points a gun at the other's head." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668293" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Joints are laid out on a table, along with mounds of other drugs." height="1000" width="1497" msid="93668294" hostid="261"></div><h2>La Rutina</h2>At the PGV's entrance was a makeshift market. There, entrepreneurial prisoners filled tables with basic items, like bread and DVDs, or marijuana joints that were artfully arranged to look like a bouquet of flowers. More stands lined the prison's narrow corridors, which reverberated with the rhythms of Salsa and Reggaeton. You might find barbeque meat, or rum or vodka-based cocktails spun in blenders and served with a lime twist. Even in those times when extreme shortages plagued Venezuela, here at the PGV, people could find practically anything they wished to buy. On visitor days, you might see free Venezuelans shopping for toilet paper, flour or cooking oil — basic products that had completely disappeared from supermarkets shelves.All of this happened under the attentive eyes of Los Luceros. Select members of the gangs that ran the PGV, they answered to orders from the Principal. Armed with revolvers, rifles, and even hand grenades, Los Luceros made sure that everything ran smoothly. They also enforced the payment of an obligatory weekly tax, called "La Causa," which officially paid for prison maintenance and security (more weapons), as well as parties and other activities. For inmates, life at the PGV was like walking a tightrope over a pool of sharks. Abiding by an unwritten code known as La Rutina was obligatory, and prisoners lived under the constant threat of ruthless punishment if they stepped outside of it. A minor offense, or the wrong look, might make you into a pariah, or lead to a punishment that could be the last thing seen in this world. Stealing a cigarette could result in a bullet through your hand. On Mondays, in an improvised arena called the Coliseum, dozens of inmates were compelled to settle their debts or other disputes over knife fights. Ordinary words like egg, milk or water — that in Venezuelan slang might carry a vague sexual connotation — were banned because of their potential to offend other inmates. Saying them could get you banished to dirty and trash-filled corners of the prison, far from the markets and the fun.<h2>Free Convict </h2>For three years, from the beginning of 2014 until Venezuelan authorities finally shut the place down in 2016, I had extraordinary access to the PGV as a Venezuelan documentary photographer. At that point, the PGV had a population of around 5,000 people — more than six times its intended capacity. Most of the inmates were still in legal limbo; many hadn't yet been tried for their alleged offense, or given an exact sentence. It was also extraordinarily violent: In 2014, there were at least 309 homicides in Venezuelan prisons, where some 60,000 prisoners were held, according to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory. <div type="image" title="The words &quot;Free Convict&quot; are seen on the wall." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668295" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="A prisoner does a motorcycle stunt in an open area." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668296" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Two men are seen on either side of a wall. One is seated on the floor and the other sits at a desk." height="1600" width="2400" msid="93668297" hostid="261"></div>I was at the PGV with Free Convict, a Hip Hop collective formed by 12 inmates and to try to understand their lives in all of their complexities. These men had survived gang life, street violence, drugs, and now this bizarre penitentiary existence. They were now looking to chart a new path for themselves, making rhymes around the themes of non-violence, self-improvement, and redemption. In the early days, Free Convict would gather in a Freestyle circle in the prison's central square. The meetings became bigger and more frequent, and eventually even the PGV's toughest bosses began to show them respect. (It helped that their leader, Ray Martinez, was part of the "El Carro" gang that controlled the prison.) Through the same cracks by which drugs and weapons flowed into the PGV, Free Convict managed to smuggle in a recording studio, where they recorded a full album and produce music videos. In time, they got to be good enough, and famous enough, to attract collaborators both from inside the prison and beyond its walls. Only in total chaos, as Venezuela was of those years, would a place like the PGV be possible. Out of that anarchic landscape, Free Convict offered the possibility of a different way of life, a fresh start, and an oasis in the midst of madness. <h2>Héctor</h2>One of the inmates behind Free Convict was a man named Héctor. Like a few of the others, he had arrived at the PGV as something of a stereotype of the hardened criminal. By the time I met him, he was much more interested in self-reflection and finding redemption. Born in 1992, Héctor came up in the Pinto Salinas neighborhood of Caracas. As a kid, he was a promising basketball player. But his future in the sport was cut short in 2010. His gang was fighting for control of the area, a notorious staging ground for drug distribution, and he got caught in a hail of bullets that nearly killed him and tore up one of his arms at the elbow. <div type="image" title="A man is seen, wide-eyed, looking directly at the camera." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668298" hostid="261"></div>By 2012, the year Héctor was sent to the PGV for being an accomplice to a homicide, his two brothers had been killed. Humberto, the oldest, was gunned down near their home in Pinto Salinas in 2008. Junior, the youngest, died a similar death in 2011. Now, another son seemed to be heading down the same inexorable path.Like most prisoners at the PGV, Héctor depended on his family, outside, to bring him things to sell at the market. In good times, he might make enough to pay La Causa, take care of his needs, and even send some profits home. The best bet for making money was to set up a table selling crack, cocaine, base paste, marijuana and blunts. But even in this environment, where drugs could be sold and consumed out in the open, this line of work could be unpredictable and dangerous. Héctor liked the money; the money was useful to him. But selling drugs brought problems. So Héctor mostly avoided it. At one point, he sold nails, screws, wires, and pieces of wood to inmates — coveted objects that inmates used to build improvised shacks. If he got his hands on some flour, he might set up a stand selling banana cake or Venezuelan arepas.<div type="image" title="A man lies on a bed with his mother." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668300" hostid="261"></div>Whenever possible, he'd hoped to make enough money so his mother, Rosalia Rivero, who worked as a janitor and whom he playfully called "La Pucha," could travel from Caracas for a Visitors Day. On these visits, she would head straight to her son's room, willfully ignoring the strangeness she passed along the way. She was used to seeing drugs and weapons, and she associated both with losing two of her sons, and almost losing a third. At the PGV, she found Héctor a changed man. Héctor was never an angel; nobody in Free Convict was. But now he was searching for something different. Together with the rest of Free Convict, Héctor had resolved to take control of his life, and break the cycle that had put him on the frontlines of the street wars that were tearing apart Venezuela and that nobody had asked for. To do that, Héctor had to sharpen his talent, and believe in himself.<div type="image" title="Men are seen seated in what used to be a bell tower high up on a building." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668301" hostid="261"></div><h2>Boom!</h2>By 2016, the situation in Venezuela had become catastrophic. Inflation was out of control and finding basic items had become nearly impossible. At the PGV, families were barely able to send help. Inmates went from drinking good rum at parties to making their own alcohol, from fermenting banana skin, in plastic Gatorade bottles. Instead of manning tables piled high with drugs, inmates like Héctor scraped together money selling single cigarettes or hot chocolate. La Causa had to be paid first. There was barely any money for food. The beginning of the end of the PGV came in September of 2016. Musicians and sports players had been brought in, along with the usual flood of friends and family from the outside, to celebrate the birthday of the PGV's big boss, Franklin "Viru Viru." <div type="image" title="An outdoor display of pictures and trophies." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668302" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="Inmates at seen sleeping in makeshift hammocks and on the ground below." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668303" hostid="261"></div>Then, suddenly, BOOM, a hand grenade explosion caused the prison's foundation to tremble. Smoke was everywhere. Some people screamed in agony, others ran in all directions. In the confusion, Los Luceros pointed their guns at each other, looking for signs of treason.When the black cloud had cleared, there was a hellish scene of wounded people and dead bodies. Visitors and prisoners alike were among the almost 20 victims. Afterwards, tension and fear were everywhere, and the prison divided into warring factions. Punishment, including murder, was more common, and even more random. Seeing an opening, forces from the state finally stormed the prison. For two weeks, there was fighting, leading to an estimated 80 deaths. There was no water or electricity. Starving inmates killed their pets for food, or consumed whatever drugs they could find to fight off hunger. Tuberculosis was plaguing the prison and infected prisoners were dying daily. When it was finally over, government soldiers emptied the PGV and inmates were sent to other detention centers around the country. Free Convict scrambled to stay in touch, but finding out who had ended up where was almost impossible.Free Convict, which by then was better and more popular than ever, seemed to be dying. Héctor ended up at Tocuyito, another prisoner-controlled prison, where he stayed for another two years.<h2>Caracas</h2>One day in 2020 — six years after I began documenting Free Convict at the PGV — I went to a recording studio in Caracas to meet up with the collective. Nearly all of them had been released, and they were trying to keep Free Convict's work alive from the outside. Free in Caracas, there was still so much to navigate. The immediate problem was Héctor. His family hadn't heard from him in three days. At first, the police said they had no record of him being arrested. Now, thanks to pressure from his family, they were saying he had been arrested, and would be released soon. We predicted he'd come to the studio directly, and were waiting for him there. When he finally arrived, fear, rage, and frustration filled his eyes. He told us that he had been in his neighborhood with his cousin, known as "The Cat," when police arrived and shot his cousin dead. They'd then arrested Héctor, who now told us he'd been spared only thanks to a divine intervention.<div type="image" title="A man is seated with young boys seated all around him." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668304" hostid="261"></div><div type="image" title="People are seen clustered together on a narrow strip above a passing river and beneath a bridge." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668305" hostid="261"></div>We couldn't confirm Héctor's story, but there were plenty of others like it. Later that year, the United Nations would call on President Nicolas Maduro to disband various police units that had been behind extrajudicial killings and "crimes against humanity."It was possible that Héctor had actually been spared because, since his release, he'd become relatively well-known both for his work with Free Convict and for his anti-violence and community-building work in prisons, schools, and other areas affected by violence and exclusion.Having overcome so much in an upside-down Venezuela where police forces could turn their guns on civilians and prisoners controlled the prisons, Héctor is a survivor. After so many close calls with death and so much adversity, he had done so much to rebuild his life and forge a new path. His mistakes were part of who he was, but the actions he had taken in his life because of those mistakes, and his skill in communicating the things he'd learned, made him a valued mentor to so many Caracus youths who were in a desperate search for new paths to walk away from violence.But for all the progress Héctor had made in his life, he was still at the mercy of the arbitrary violence of Venezuela. Together, we all wondered where Héctor was safest: In Caracas, trying to contribute to his community while at the mercy of the arbitrary violence of Venezuela, and possibly at the hands of Venezuelan police, or back under La Rutina. <div type="image" title="A man is seen in reflection." height="1000" width="1500" msid="93668306" hostid="261"></div>Oscar B. Castillo is a documentary photographer and multimedia artist. His book about the PGV, "Esos Que Saben" was published this year and is <a href="https://www.eltestigo.net/esos-que-saben-photobook">available for purchase here</a>.

A prison where the prisoners were in charge

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SOME lawmen chase villains down mean streets. Others chase fraudsters across balance-sheets. In the stomach-churning stench of the Vetport at John F. Kennedy International Airport, yet others don surgical masks, goggles and rubber gloves, and peer with penlights into crates holding thousands of little birds.
These inspectors with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) examine not just live animals entering America--such as the 45 outlaw jays they found lurking in a legal shipment of thousands of birds--but plants and animal products such as handbags and caviar. In 2011 FWS agents raided Gibson Guitar facilities in Tennessee and seized wood worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that they suspected had been illegally imported from India and Madagascar.
The buyers may be besotted ornithophiles, air-brained fashionistas or greedy gourmets. But the sellers are crooks, supplying a market which, according to America's Congressional Research Service, is worth as much as $133 billion annually. Commodities such as rhino horn and caviar offer criminals two benefits rarely found together: high prices and low risk. Rhino horn can fetch up to $50,000 per kilogram, more than gold or the American street value of cocaine. Get caught bringing a kilogram of cocaine into America and you could face 40 years in prison and a $5m fine. On January 10th, by contrast, a New York court sentenced a rhino-horn trafficker to just 14 months.
The appeal of such trade is increased, however unwittingly, by governments trying harder to protect what is precious and rare. "When we finally get it together to agree that we'll only take ten tuna out of the water this year because that's all we can afford to take, that 11th tuna will be worth a lot of money," says Theodore Leggett of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As with tuna, so with ebony, ivory and rhino horn--all being regulated more tightly, and all still desirable.
<h3>The world is their oyster</h3>
Organised crime is globalising and diversifying. Mono-ethnic, hierarchical mafias are being replaced by multi-ethnic networks that operate across borders and commit many types of offence. In an ongoing investigation into rhino-horn trafficking, the FWS arrested Irish travellers using indigent Texans to procure material for Chinese and Vietnamese buyers. Europol, the European Union's law-enforcement agency, estimates that just a quarter of Europe's roughly 3,600 organised-crime groups have a main nationality, and that some operate in dozens of countries. A third are involved in more than one criminal enterprise, with half of those linked to drug-trafficking.
And though traditional trafficking in drugs, guns and people is still lucrative, gangs are increasingly moving into lower-risk, higher-reward areas--not just wildlife, but fraud and illegal waste-disposal. The UNODC says the value of cross-border trade in counterfeit goods could be as much as $250 billion a year. On January 14th it launched a campaign to tell consumers about the dangers posed by fake electronics, food, medicines and the like--and how the buyers of knock-offs enrich some highly unpleasant people.
Gangs in Britain make around £9 billion ($14.8 billion) a year from tax, benefit, excise-duty and other fraud--not much less than the £11 billion they earn from drugs. In America cigarette-trafficking deprives state, local and federal governments of $5 billion in tax revenues annually. The European Union estimates that losses within its borders from cigarette smuggling, tax fraud and false claims on its funds by organised groups total EUR34 billion ($46.5 billion) a year. But member states bring fewer than ten cases each a year for defrauding the EU, and sentences tend to be light.
According to the FLARE Network, an international group of campaigners against organised crime, criminal groups in Italy make around EUR14 billion a year from being mixed up in agriculture. In some parts of the country mafias control food production and distribution; Franco La Torre, FLARE's president, says they also enrich themselves through fraudulent claims on EU agricultural funds. Increasingly strict regulation of waste disposal has created another profitable opportunity for organised crime in Europe--particularly, according to Europol, for the Italian Camorra, 'Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra.
Where politics is corrupt and law enforcement weak, as in much of Latin America, gangsters still look much as they have for decades: brutal and keen on the brand-enhancing effect of highly visible violence. But in the rich world, the shift to new lines of business is changing the face of organised crime. The FBI estimates that the four big Italian Mafia groups still have 3,000 members and affiliates in America. But as traditional industries have shrivelled so, too, have the unions and tight-knit neighbourhoods that were once their fertile breeding grounds.
Old-style loan sharks and drug-dealers are finding a new role as distributors for the modern mobsters who manage the supply chains, marketing, finance and human resources needed to move goods, money and people across borders. "The new generation are very talented businessmen and technologically advanced experts," says Mr La Torre. They prefer invisibility to showy violence. Many also have legitimate business interests.
Clever criminals acting across borders are extremely difficult to prosecute. They profit from gaps in enforcement and regulation, and conceal their illegal acts in complex supply chains. If a network of Nigerian scammers based in Amsterdam defrauds French, Australian and American credit-card holders, where does the crime occur? And who has the motivation, not to mention the jurisdiction, to prosecute?
A commodity such as oil, ivory or fish will be transported on a ship flying a flag of convenience, explains Mr Leggett. The ship will be owned by a holding company registered in a tax haven with a phoney board. Thus the criminals can disguise the provenance of their ill-gotten goods and middlemen can plead ignorance.
Governments are reacting by getting law-enforcement agencies to work together. America is trying to improve the flow of information between them. Britain's recently created National Crime Agency will have the power to order local police forces to make arrests, unlike the body it replaced. Europol analyses and distributes information from EU member states.
But organised crime sells things that people want--not just drugs and sex, but handbags, sushi and wardrobes, too. Businesses and consumers will have to accept, says Mr Leggett, "that there is no such thing as just wood. It has to be wood from somewhere." And they will have to agree not to sell or buy illegally harvested wood, however beautiful or cheap.
Until then, illicit goods will keep coming in quantities too great for governments to stop. One FWS inspector estimates that for all the peering, prodding and chirping, for all the rewards promised and rhino-horn traffickers caught, the agency picks up perhaps 5% of wildlife brought illicitly into America. For criminals, that is merely a light tax on the profits from the rest.
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