CHICAGO – When the House settlement took effect last year, schools could directly share revenue with athletes with a cap in place. That limit doesn't include third-party NIL deals, though, and roster costs continue to increase in college football.
Speaking Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days, USC coach Lincoln Riley spoke in favor of a "true salary cap" in college sports. While he said the landscape is beginning to stabilize a bit, that would make things even better.
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Riley noted the discussions around the state of college sports as the NIL era continues to evolve. He doesn't see the craziness being as much of an issue as others on the outside, though. Instead, he argued things are getting better, though he said a salary cap would further help.
"I've always been one, like, I don't want to have less than somebody has," Riley told reporters at the Hilton Chicago. "But I don't necessarily have to have more. I just don't want to be at some massive, massive disadvantage, if you're trying to win a championship. I will say this, despite the perception outside, it has normalized a lot in the last few years.

#riley #salary #sports

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) and Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are seeing capital inflows right as spot Bitcoin ETFs shed roughly $8.2 billion across an eight-week outflow streak culminating on July 6, and Ethereum funds joined them in the red. Solana ETFs now hold about $904 million in **** ets, and Hyperliquid ETFs have pulled in $350 million since May.
So does that mean investors should be bullish on the coins seeing the inflows?
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Solana is down by about 60% over the past year. Fresh capital entering into spot Solana ETFs looks a lot like investors and financial institutions buying the dip in anticipation of the chain's upcoming catalysts.
Specifically, Alpenglow, the overhaul that is set to cut transaction finality times from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds, activates on the mainnet sometime between August and October. Faster settlement is what Solana's institutional customers want and need, so it's likely going to be a significant unlock for even more capital onboarding in the future.

#NVIDIA #down

By Nate Raymond
July 28 (Reuters) - EBay and three former top executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to resolve a lawsuit by a Massachusetts couple who fell victim to a bizarre stalking and harassment ‌campaign carried out by several of its employees in retaliation for their coverage of the e-commerce company in ‌a newsletter they publish.
David and Ina Steiner announced the settlement late on Monday, bringing an end to a case they filed in 2021 in Boston federal court after several former eBay employees were prosecuted for targeting them in a cyber-stalking campaign that involved sending the couple **** roaches, fly larvae and a **** Halloween pig mask.
As part of the settlement, eBay agreed to pay $46.15 million to the couple; fund $6 million in charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations; and issue a "strongly-worded" statement about the conduct of three of its top ‌former executives.
"We believe this resolution sends a ⁠clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences," Christopher Murphy, the Steiners' attorney, said in a statement.

#million #couple #stalking #several

A decline in public consumption of alcoholic drinks since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a major factor in declining revenue in the beer, wine, and spirits sectors leading certain companies to file for bankruptcy protection.
128-year-old beer, wine, and spirits distributor Republic National Distributing Company was a major company affected as it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking going concern sales of its remaining ****** ets, a wind down of operations, completion of transition services agreements, and approval of its equity holder settlement.
National Distributing Company Inc. is not a part of the Chapter 11 filing, the company said in a statement on its website.
A company spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Republic National Distributing Company filed its petition as its business's financial position deteriorated after the Covid-19 pandemic subsided in late 2022 and demand for off-premises alcohol consumption plummeted.

#company #chapter #consumption #major

Former women's basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton says she has reached a settlement with the University of Virginia after her sudden firing on April 5, a week after leading the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
Details of the settlement were not made public. Agugua-Hamilton shared a statement about it on her Instagram account after the ****** ociated Press published a story about the settlement.
Agugua-Hamilton and her representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Virginia declined to comment.
USA TODAY Sports previously reported that Agugua-Hamilton — widely known in and outside the program as "Coach Mox" — had been the subject of an internal investigation and there were allegations of staff mistreatment within the program, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.
According to a copy of Agugua-Hamilton's contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Virginia owed her a sizable buyout if she was terminated without cause. The contract stipulates that Virginia would have to pay her the remaining amount of her base salary, 80% of supplemental compensation, 80% of royalties and any bonuses earned, but not yet received. According to the figures outlined in her contract — which ran through the 2027-28 season — Agugua-Hamilton would have been owed about $1.3 million.

#virginia #coach

Bunnie Xo has responded to her stepdaughter, Bailee Ann's viral video, after the teen hinted that there is an explosive reason behind the couple's shocking divorce.
The 18-year-old claimed last week that the internet would "crumble" when people find out "what happened" between Bunnie and Jelly Roll.
Her cryptic comments sparked rumors that the former couple's split has turned bitter, despite Bunnie recently admitting that her ex is "taking care" of her in their divorce settlement.
Soon after Bailee Ann's video went viral, Bunnie shared a TikTok of herself lip-syncing to Lola Young's track "One Thing."
Someone commented on Bunnie's video, calling out Bailee Ann for posting "about weird stuff," which prompted the podcaster to respond.

#bunnie #TikTok

Ripple has launched Ripple Mint, a platform that lets institutions mint, redeem, and manage Ripple USD (RLUSD) through one console.
The company also invested in Notabene, a compliance firm, to add identity checks and transaction authorization to its stablecoin network. Standard Custody & Trust Company, a New York-chartered trust firm, issues RLUSD under state financial regulation. Jack McDonald, an executive at the company, called the Notabene deal a step toward globally compliant stablecoin transfers.
"Bringing together $RLUSD, Ripple Payments & Notabene's trusted institutional network to help scale compliant stablecoin payments," McDonald said.
Ripple Mint replaces the platform-only setup institutions previously used for RLUSD operations. Users can choose a web console for manual oversight, or new application programming interfaces (APIs) for automated workflows.
The system tracks transactions in real time and sends webhook alerts for fiat receipt, minting, and onchain settlement. Consistent reference IDs tie every stage together, which simplifies reconciliation for exchanges and market makers.

#notabene

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) is expanding its operations in Singapore as it prepares to grow across Asia.
The U.S. exchange plans to increase its workforce in Singapore by one-third to around 200 employees by the end of 2026.
The new hiring will focus on engineering, customer service, relationship management, and institutional sales, said Coinbase in a statement.
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#group #asia #cryptoprowl

Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ: $GLXY) is planning to sell $3.5 billion U.S. of junk bonds to help fund the expansion of its Helios artificial intelligence (A.I.) data centre located in Texas.
The company plans to use the proceeds from its first junk bond sale to finance growth of the data centre campus located in **** ens County, Texas.
Galaxy Digital is the latest A.I. infrastructure developer to tap the U.S. high-yield debt market to fund A.I. infrastructure projects.
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SBI Group, DigiFT, and Startale Group Advance Tokenized Capital Markets with JPYSC-Powered Settlement and Onchain Dividend Distribution

#junk #centre

Anthropic will pay $1.5 billion to authors whose pirated books it used to train its AI in the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history.
Federal Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland granted final approval of the settlement Monday. The record payout was a modest win for copyright holders, setting a precedent as a wave of AI-related lawsuits works its way through courts.
Although the judge said Anthropic could use authors' works for training, he backed the payout for acquiring and storing pirated books.
More than 500,000 authors and publishers were part of the class-action lawsuit, and they will get paid an estimated $3,000 per eligible work. Their lawyers were awarded $101.6 million in fees.
In 2024, a group of authors sued Anthropic, arguing that the company pirated hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books and used them without permission.

#federal

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Capital One customers awaiting a payout from the $425 million settlement tied to the 360 Savings Account could face a delay of a year or longer.
An appeal filed in June by a class member who objected to the settlement has "substantially delayed" the payments, which were scheduled to begin in July, according to a filing on the settlement website.
In April, a federal judge approved the $425 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Capital One — with payouts going to eligible Capital One customers.
The lawsuit stemmed from interest rates that Capital One paid to savings account customers. Capital One originally offered a 360 Savings Account before introducing the 360 Performance Savings Account, a high-yield savings account, in 2019.

#savings #lawsuit #advertiser

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Formula 1 parent company Liberty Media, which also promotes the Las Vegas Grand Prix, has agreed to a settlement of about $3 million to end a class-action lawsuit brought by spectators regarding the inaugural 2023 race.
The opening-night practice session on Nov. 16, 2023, was halted after nine minutes when Carlos Sainz Jr. drove over a water valve cover that severely damaged his Ferrari. Practice didn't resume until the early morning hours of Nov. 17, ending at about 4 a.m. local time.
Fans were removed from the viewing areas before the 90-minute session took place.
Those who had tickets for only that practice session or bought three-night tickets are eligible for compensation under the settlement. Claims must be filed by Aug. 27.
Liberty Media and the Las Vegas Grand Prix did not admit fault under the settlement. A final approval hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4 at U.S. District Court of Nevada.

#vegas #settlement #grand #prix

July 22 (Reuters) - Coinbase has settled a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Securities ‌and Exchange Commission over records it sought ‌from the agency, the cryptocurrency exchange's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday.
Grewal said the agency, which polices corporate record-keeping, had lost text messages between former Chair Gary Gensler and other ‌officials after a process ⁠the SEC said "automatically wiped" certain data.
As part of the settlement, the SEC will pay $150,000 ⁠and fix its record-retention policies, he wrote.
SEC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Coinbase sued the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2024, ‌seeking documents it said would show a concerted effort by U.S. regulators to stamp out crypto companies.

#grewal #july #securities

With stablecoin supply above $300 billion and payment use reaching an estimated $390 billion in 2025, more than twice the previous year, competition increasingly centres on distribution, liquidity, reserve income, and access to payment networks.
Open USD has brought these commercial forces together through a consortium of more than 140 participants, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and BlackRock. Participating companies will be able to distribute the ******* et through exchanges, wallets, merchant products, and payment services while receiving a share of reserve earnings.
The model places Open USD against established issuers and smaller competitors seeking partnerships with the same financial companies.
BeInCrypto spoke with Louisa Bai, Head of Stablecoins at Mysten Labs, Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, and Kevin Cui, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of OSL Group, about stablecoin competition, regional use cases, currency demand, and blockchain settlement.
Open USD gives participating companies a financial incentive to support adoption through their own products. Reserve earnings can be returned to consortium members, linking token distribution to commercial revenue.

#open #reserve

By Blake Brittain
July 21 (Reuters) - A nonprofit that licenses the University of Tennessee's intellectual property has sued artificial-intelligence ‌giant Anthropic in Delaware federal court for allegedly ‌infringing its patents related to neural networks.
The University of Tennessee Research Foundation's complaint, filed on Monday and made public on Tuesday, said that Anthropic's AI systems violate its patents on machine-learning technology inspired by neuroscience.
The lawsuit is thought to be the first ‌patent infringement case ⁠against Anthropic. A California federal judge on Monday approved the company's landmark $1.5 billion settlement of ⁠a class action copyright lawsuit brought by a group of authors over its use of their work to train AI.
"Anthropic's cavalier approach to others' intellectual property rights in the development of ‌its products extends beyond the use of copyrighted material," the foundation said in its complaint.

#university #lawsuit

Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ:VICR) reported second-quarter financial results on Tuesday that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations for both earnings and revenue.
Despite the stronger-than-expected performance, the power components manufacturer's shares declined 6.23% in pre-market trading following the release.
Adjusted earnings reached $1.04 per share, comfortably exceeding the ***** yst consensus estimate of $0.65.
Revenue increased to $143.4 million, ahead of the expected $138.4 million and up 1.7% from $141.0 million in the same quarter last year. The prior-year period included a $45.0 million patent litigation settlement. Excluding that one-off benefit, product and royalty revenue climbed 49% year over year from $96.0 million.
Net income rose to $49.8 million during the quarter, compared with $20.7 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $41.2 million in the corresponding period last year.

#revenue #earnings #last

Major League Soccer says it is investigating allegations of tampering by Inter Miami after the club signed Brazil midfielder Casemiro.
On Wednesday, Miami announced they had signed the 34-year-old - who left Manchester United at the end of last season - on a deal that runs to the end of the 2027 MLS campaign, with an option to extend until June 2029.
But moments later, the MLS released a statement saying it was "reviewing a tampering allegation" against the club.
"The league is gathering all relevant information and will refrain from further comment until the review is complete," it added.
"While Inter Miami CF and the LA Galaxy have reached a settlement for the discovery priority [first rights] to sign Casemiro, the terms will be released upon conclusion of the tampering investigation."

#casemiro #club #released

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro has completed his transfer to Inter Miami – but the deal is now being investigated by Major League Soccer (MLS) amid claims of tampering.
The 34-year-old Brazil international, who was a free agent following the conclusion of his contract at Old Trafford last season, joins the Major League Soccer club on a deal that runs until the end of the 2027 MLS Sprint Season.
The agreement includes an option to extend his stay until June 2029, pending visa approval.
Casemiro's discovery rights were held by LA Galaxy, and by league rule that would have prevented Inter Miami from negotiating with him.
The teams reached a settlement that allowed Inter Miami to get the long-awaited signing done, but the league is still probing the tampering allegation.

#tampering

MIAMI (AP) — Inter Miami announced the signing of Brazil midfielder and five-time Champions League winner Casemiro on Wednesday, and Major League Soccer is now investigating whether the reigning league champion engaged in tampering to get that deal done.
The 34-year-old Casemiro — who appeared in all five of Brazil's matches at this year's World Cup, scoring one goal — is under contract with Inter Miami through the end of next year's sprint season, with an extension option through June 2029.
Casemiro's discovery rights were held by the LA Galaxy, and by league rule that would have prevented Inter Miami from negotiating with him. The teams reached a settlement that allowed Inter Miami to get the long-awaited signing done, but the league is still probing the tampering allegation.
"The league is gathering all relevant information and will refrain from further comment until the review is complete," MLS said in a statement. "While Inter Miami CF and the LA Galaxy have reached a settlement for the Discovery Priority to sign Casemiro, the terms will be released upon conclusion of the tampering investigation."
It's unclear when Casemiro will debut for Inter Miami. The team said he is still waiting on the necessary visa.

#Miami #league #tampering

Cam Newton doesn't sound like a man nursing a grudge.
Hours after ESPN cut ties with him in the same round of layoffs that ended Ryan Clark's 11-year run at the network, the former Carolina Panthers quarterback framed his brief run at First Take as something closer to an internship than a second career.
"Working alongside some of the most talented journalists and sports individuals that cover sports was something that got me to realize I have a newfound respect for the skill," Newton said. "You can't make me hate ESPN. What I've learned, it was an internship. I am a former athlete that did not study journalism, so now when you see how production actually works, you'll be a fool not to take your notes."
Newton signed a multi-year deal with ESPN last August to expand his role on First Take, stepping into the seat vacated after Shannon Sharpe's departure amid a ***** ual ***** ault lawsuit and settlement. From there, Newton became a fixture alongside Stephen A. Smith through the football season, a run that included a manufactured feud with New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and widely criticized comments about women's value being tied to how many children they have. Criticism even came from colleagues within ESPN after he had Stephen A. Smith's arch-enemy, Jason Whitlock, on his podcast. In response, Smith stated that there were a number of reasons why Newton's First Take presence could be questioned, but that he was still supportive of his appearances on the program.
And yet, Newton's time with ESPN and First Take is now surprisingly over before the beginning of the 2026 football season, as he was one of several names caught in a wave tied to the network's absorption of NFL Network, a list that also included Karl Ravech, Charles Davis, Tom Pelissero, and Clark, who learned of his firing while on-air.

#espn #newton #first #year

Cher will have to pay more than $1 million in legal fees after a protracted court battle over royalties.
The Believe singer had applied to recoup her legal bills after battling her ex-husband's widow, Mary Bono, in court.
Cher, 80, had spent $1,023,605 (£764,810) on top-ranked legal representation as she worked to fight Mary, the widow of Cher's ex-husband Sonny Bono, after Mary stopped royalty payments to Cher.
The singer's 1978 divorce settlement with Sonny had previously entitled Cher to a permanent 50% cut of any publishing revenue from songs written before their split, including their monster hit, I Got You Babe.
Mary discontinued the 50-50 royalty payments in 2021, 23 years after Sonny's 1998 death in a skiing accident, claiming she had "termination right".
However in December 2025, a judge determined Cher should continue to be entitled to the payments - at which point Cher attempted to retrieve the money she had spent warring with Mary in court.

#mary #widow

New York-based MetLife, Inc. (MET) is a financial services company that provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and ******* et management services worldwide. Valued at $60.5 billion by market cap, the company also provides pension risk transfers, institutional income annuities, structured settlements, and capital markets investment products, as well as other products and services. The global provider of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs is expected to announce its fiscal second-quarter earnings for 2026 after the market closes on Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Ahead of the event, ******* ysts expect MET to report a profit of $2.36 per share on a diluted basis, up 16.8% from $2.02 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company beat the consensus estimates in three of the last four quarters while missing the forecast on another occasion.
Alibaba Stock Just Got Apple's Biggest AI Endorsement. This Could Be a Game Changer for BABA.
Elon Musk Says If ******* eX Accomplishes Its Goals, 'It Will Be Worth More Than The Rest of Earth' — Though He's Also Said 'Money Will Stop Being Relevant'
AI Bubble Fears, Earnings and Other Can't Miss Items this Week

#annuities #products

Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo aren't interested in taking advice on the terms of their divorce.
The "Save Me" singer, 41, and podcast host, 46, finalized their divorce on July 17, two months after filing in Williamson County, Tennessee. Within the court records, the two split due to irreconcilable differences.
Despite separating, Jelly Roll and Bunnie still plan to be very present in each other's lives. During a since-deleted episode of her Dumb Blonde podcast, Bunnie revealed the two are "still having a baby together" via surrogate.
"We're going to co-parent together," she said.
According to the former couple's settlement, obtained by People, both Jelly and Bunnie were "separately advised" by their lawyers on the process involved with having children together in the midst of their divorce.

#jelly #podcast

Newcastle United's summer has quickly become a study in modern football tension, ambition on one side, regulation and market forces on the other. In the latest The Athletic DealSheet, the picture that emerges around Newcastle is sobering, detailed and deeply revealing. This is a club still striving to grow under Eddie Howe, yet also one discovering that progress in elite football rarely runs in a straight line.
There is no shortage of intent at St James' Park. There is, however, a shortage of room for error. Missing out on Europe has bitten hard. The competitive consequences are obvious, but the financial aftershock may prove even more significant. As reported, "Failing to get back into the Champions League or any form of UEFA competition for 2026-27 has massively hit Newcastle's revenue streams, costing the club an estimated £60m in annual income." That sentence alone explains much of the club's current caution, compromise and calculation.
Supporters will understandably focus first on names, on who is arriving, who is leaving, who has chosen somewhere else. Yet this summer for Newcastle is about more than an individual target won or lost. It is about status, financial architecture and whether the club can keep building while burdened by the very restrictions that tend to accompany accelerated ambition.
The Athletic's reporting makes clear that Newcastle are not operating with the freedom many supporters might **** ume ownership wealth should bring. "Despite not being in Europe for the upcoming campaign, Newcastle are still being governed by the strict future-compliance settlement they have reached with UEFA," a line that cuts to the centre of the issue. Money exists in theory, but not all of it can be deployed as fans might wish.
This is why recent sales matter so much. The departures of Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali were not football decisions in isolation, they were structural ones. According to the report, "Offloading Gordon ensured Newcastle would avoid a further breach, while Tonali's sale gives the club far greater scope to invest more widely across the squad this summer." Newcastle's transfer business cannot be judged without understanding that context. It is not simply a question of whether the recruitment team likes a player, or whether Howe sees a fit. It is also whether the wider framework allows action.

#whether #Football #Europe

July 21 (Reuters) - The research arm of the University of Tennessee has sued artificial-intelligence giant ‌Anthropic in Delaware federal court for allegedly infringing ‌its patents related to neural networks.
The University of Tennessee Research Foundation's complaint, filed on Monday and made public on Tuesday, said that Anthropic's AI systems violate its patents on machine-learning technology inspired by neuroscience.
The lawsuit is thought ‌to be the ⁠first patent infringement case against Anthropic. A California federal judge on Monday approved the ⁠company's landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class action copyright lawsuit brought by a group of authors over its use of their work to train AI.
"Anthropic's cavalier approach to ‌others' intellectual property rights in the development of its products extends beyond the use of copyrighted material," the university said in its complaint.
Spokespeople for Anthropic and the university did not immediately respond to requests ‌for comment on the lawsuit.

#university #anthropic #Monday #Research

Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow in its latest major attack on the Russian capital, the city's mayor said Monday.
The blitz came hours after Russia bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles in a relentless cycle of ***** -for-tat strikes that make a settlement to end Moscow's more than 4-year-old all-out invasion appear a distant possibility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he would hold "key talks" on Monday as he tries to defuse a domestic political crisis after last week's government reshuffle exposed a deep split between the military's old guard and young innovators over how to fight the war.
Zelenskyy needs to reassure Ukrainians that sacrificing 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister and keeping faith with 60-year-old Soviet-trained Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as armed forces chief won't derail the fight against Russia.
Days of street protests in favor of Fedorov and against Syrskyi followed Zelenskyy's decision.

Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo finalized their divorce in July after 10 years of marriage
A source tells PEOPLE about the process and shares insight into the exes' relationship post-settlement
The pair still plan to have a child together, Bunnie previously revealed on her podcast
In the wake of Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo's divorce settlement, a source is shedding new light on the end of the stars' decade-long relationship.
"There was never any desire to drag the process out," a source tells PEOPLE exclusively of the country musician (born Jason DeFord) and the Dumb Blonde podcast host (real name Alisa DeFord), who finalized their divorce earlier in July. "They both wanted to handle the divorce with respect for one another."

Bunnie XO is showing off her extravagant new surroundings just as details emerge about her confidential divorce settlement with Jelly Roll.
The "Dumb Blonde" host gave fans a glimpse inside a sprawling home complete with oversized closets, dedicated shoe storage, an outdoor shower, and a wellness center large enough to accommodate more than a dozen guests.
Although Bunnie did not reveal whether the residence was one of the properties divided in the settlement, the tour arrived hours after reports that the former couple had reached an agreement covering their homes, vehicles, intellectual property, and even an aircraft.
Bunnie shared an Instagram video documenting her friend Matt Mathews' first visit to the property. "Matt seeing the new house for the first time," the 46-year-old podcaster captioned the clip.
Mathews appeared overwhelmed as Bunnie guided him through the residence, which features a makeup room lined with shelving, an expansive closet, and a separate ****** e dedicated to shoes. He was equally stunned by the outdoor shower and the size of the primary bedroom, joking about how small his own home felt in comparison.

President Donald Trump's brazenly corrupt "settlement" of his lawsuit against the IRS included a jaw-dropping order in which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche purported to shield him and his family from liability for tax violations and any other federal offenses they may have committed prior to May 19. During his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Blanche, who is seeking Senate approval of his nomination as attorney general, repeatedly misrepresented the scope and nature of that sweeping immunity deal.
In response to questions from Sen. Richard Durbin (D–Ill.), Blanche preposterously claimed his promise of protection was "typical" of settlements between the IRS and taxpayers. "This type of settlement is done regularly," he said. "When we enter into settlements like that, we do it with all kinds of people. It's not just President Trump. It doesn't make any of those individuals above the law."
Blanche was referring to settlements of tax disputes. That comparison is inapt for several reasons.
First, Trump's lawsuit, which was joined by two of his sons and the Trump Organization, did not involve a dispute about tax liability. It alleged damages caused by an IRS contractor's illegal disclosure of the plaintiffs' tax returns, an issue that has nothing to do with the question of whether they owe the IRS money.
Second, even in cases that do involve alleged tax violations, it is not "typical" for settlements to include a promise that the IRS will never pursue any other claims based on past returns. After Blanche revealed his order, former IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told the **** ociated Press he was not aware of any previous cases in which the IRS had agreed to "permanently forgo examination of previously filed tax returns for a specific person or business."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced questions from senators on the handling of the Epstein files, crime statistics and a Trump settlement with the IRS during his confirmation hearing to permanently serve in the position. NBC News' Julie Tsirkin reports from Capitol Hill on what lawmakers highlighted in their questioning.