Business Briefs – May 14, 2017

Lawyers: Wells Fargo Created About 3.5 Million Fake Accounts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lawyers representing aggrieved customers suing Wells Fargo have said the bank may have opened about 3.5 million unauthorized accounts, far more than bank and regulators disclosed last year.

In a court filing late Thursday, lawyers representing customers told a federal judge in San Francisco that they believe bank workers created the unauthorized accounts over the last 15 years, “based on public information, negotiations, and confirmatory discovery.”

The bank initially estimated about 2 million unauthorized accounts were opened dating back to 2009. Last month, the bank said the problem dates back to 2002.

Bank spokesman Ruben Pulido said Friday that the lawyers’ claim was an unverified estimate.

Anthem Gives Up Cigna Bid, Vows To Fight On Over Damages

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Anthem is finally ending its soured, $48 billion bid to buy rival Cigna, but the nation’s second-largest health insurer isn’t giving up a fight over whether Cigna deserves a termination fee for the scrapped deal. Anthem says Cigna sabotaged the merger agreement and caused “massive damages” for Anthem, which provides Blue Cross-Blue Shield coverage in several states.

Mnuchin: U.S. Partners More Comfortable With Trump on Trade

BARI, Italy (AP) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that major trading partners are “much more comfortable” with the Trump administration’s stance on trade and tax policy and understand that they will benefit from the intended U.S. growth.

Mnuchin spoke after face-to-face meetings with major trade partners such as Germany, Japan and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting in Bari, Italy.

The meeting focused on finance and security issues such as keeping multinationals from dodging taxes and a collective response to cybercrime like the ransomware attack that hit dozens of countries on Friday.

Apple to Invest $200 Million In Scratch-Resistant Glass

HARRODSBURG, Ky. (AP) — Apple says it will invest $200 million in a rural Kentucky facility that it credits with rescuing the company’s signature smartphone from a design flaw that would have led to scratched screens.

The California-based company announced Friday it would give the money to Corning Inc. to use at its facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

Elon Musk Posts Video of
‘Electric Sled’ for Tunnel Travel

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday posted video on social media of what he describes as an electric sled speeding through a tunnel, a test of a system he envisions for 3-D networks of underground passages for speeding traffic under Los Angeles’ congested roads. He posted that such sleds could transport cars at 125 mph, with automatic switching from one tunnel to the next.