New York: Jeffrey Epstein acted as an adviser in the creation of OneWeb Ltd., a low-Earth orbit satellite network that has become the world’s largest rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, according to emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The disgraced financier served as a confidante to OneWeb founder Greg Wyler as the entrepreneur sought funding after launching the company in 2012, the emails show. Wyler later secured investments from SoftBank Group Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. Wyler did not dispute the accuracy of the emails reviewed by Bloomberg.

“Epstein said he had professional relationships with and advised many in the tech industry” during that period, Wyler said in an emailed statement.

Epstein “did discuss investing, but no investment ever occurred,” Wyler said. “More broadly, I never accepted any offer or request he made to invest in or support any company I was associated with.”

A spokesperson for Eutelsat Communications SA, which now owns OneWeb, said Wyler left the company when it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2020. OneWeb was later restructured and refinanced, emerging under new ownership and governance.

OneWeb was rescued from bankruptcy by the UK government and India’s Bharti Enterprises Ltd., before being combined with Eutelsat in 2023.
Wyler is now founder and chief executive officer of E-Space, another satellite network startup. The company broke ground on a headquarters in Arlington, Texas, in October, a project the city said would create 2,000 jobs. E-Space did not respond to requests for comment.In a post on X late Wednesday, responding to disclosures that mentioned him, Wyler said his interactions with Epstein “at all times were professional.”

Many of the emails are abbreviated, misspelled or lack context, at times making it unclear whether deals were pursued or merely discussed. Still, they shed light on negotiations and meetings where business intersected with globe-trotting personal lives, including references to Musk and other billionaires.

The Wyler emails are part of a trove released last Friday that details Epstein’s connections to prominent investors, executives, lawyers and political figures.

In May 2014, Wyler shared a term sheet with Epstein while discussing a potential investment involving Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

The two also wrote about visiting Necker Island, owned by Richard Branson – an early OneWeb investor – and exchanged messages about private jets, with Epstein introducing Wyler to an aircraft broker.

Wyler appeared on a flight manifest with Epstein and requested use of his helicopter, while Epstein sought Wyler’s advice on improving broadband at his estate. Bloomberg

LONDON/TORONTO/FRANKFURT: Swiss wealth giant UBS opened accounts for Ghislaine Maxwell in 2014 just months after JPMorgan Chase decided to end its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and helped her manage as much as $19 million in the ⁠years leading to her sex-trafficking conviction, documents show.

The documents, part of a cache released by the U.S. Justice Department last month, provide fresh insights into the extent of UBS’ banking relationship with Maxwell, who was arrested in 2020 and found guilty in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The documents, which include emails and bank statements, show the Swiss lender opened personal and ‌business accounts for Maxwell holding ‌cash, shares and investments in hedge funds. UBS assigned her two relationship managers, who then helped Maxwell move millions of dollars and accorded her other benefits the bank reserves for its wealthy clients.

In 2014, after JPMorgan closed Epstein’s accounts, UBS provided him with ‌a credit card, an email shows. Epstein had been jailed and pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. That account was closed in September that year.

Epstein’s accountant told him UBS had taken the decision because of the “reputational risk,” an email shows. But the bank continued its relationship with Maxwell even though her proximity to Epstein had been reported by several media, including in an interview with the financier. UBS declined to respond to Reuters questions for this article, including why it took on a client deemed high risk by another bank.

There is no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of UBS or its advisers, and some documents show the bank conducted due diligence before transferring her accounts from JPMorgan. Reuters could not learn details of the diligence the bank did.
A lawyer for Maxwell did not respond to a request for comment. MAXWELL IS ‌INTRODUCED TO UBS
Epstein and Maxwell ‍had banked with JPMorgan for years, but the biggest U.S. lender started getting concerned about risks of dealing with them in the years ‍following Epstein’s 2008 conviction.

In 2011, while conducting know-your-customer checks, JPMorgan advised internally that Maxwell be flagged as a “High Risk Client” ‌over her links to Epstein, separate U.S. court documents show. In 2013, JPMorgan decided to close Epstein’s account.

JPMorgan flagged in Epstein’s history that ” er bank policy, felons [like Epstein] are considered high risk and require additional approval,” according to a court submission by the U.S. Virgin Islands against JPMorgan in federal court in New York. JPMorgan settled the case for $75 million in 2023. JPMorgan, which has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, declined to comment. The bank declined to say when and why it closed Maxwell’s accounts.

In December 2013, David Wassong, then a partner at Soros Private Equity Partners, introduced Maxwell to UBS, according to an email exchange.

“I have cced one of my best friends named Ghislaine maxwell (sic). She is looking for a new wealth manager, and I told her she had to meet you,” Wassong wrote.

On February 14, 2014, an email with the names redacted urges UBS to “expedite this transition from JPMorgan.”

“Ghislaine is ‍leaving for over a month next week so she really needs to get this moved over / paperwork signed before her departure. Also, she would like to speak to you to introduce herself, etc,” the email reads.

In response, UBS representatives said they had reviewed documents submitted by her and had some follow-up ‍questions as they processed the ⁠move to the bank.

Wassong did not respond to a ⁠request for comment about his dealings with Maxwell. Soon after, UBS had opened an account and Maxwell used it for her personal expenses and businesses, including her charity TerraMar Project, as well as for entities called Ellmax, Pot & Kettle, Max Foundation and Max Hotel Services, the documents show. As early as February 2014, Maxwell had nearly $2 million in one of her UBS accounts. Maxwell instructed the bank on how to move her cash. In one request in 2016, Maxwell asked the bank to make a $2.5 million payment to Scott Borgerson, to whom she was married that year.

On July 22, 2019, 16 days after Epstein’s arrest, UBS moved $130,000 on Maxwell’s request from her savings to her checking account to help pay an American Express card bill, the documents show.

Borgerson did not reply to a LinkedIn message requesting comment.

On August 16, 2019, the month after Epstein’s arrest, UBS received a Grand Jury Subpoena on Maxwell, according to a letter from UBS to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. UBS provided the FBI with information on wire transfers, according to the letter.

Reuters could not determine when – and if – UBS had closed Maxwell’s accounts.

Cairo: A limited number of Palestinians were able to travel between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, after Gaza’s Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported.

The vital border point opened last week for the first time since 2024, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion about reopening operations.

Egypt’s Al Qahera television station said that Palestinians began crossing in both directions around noon on Sunday. Israel didn’t immediately confirm the information.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.

Delays and mistreatment accusations
Over the first four days of the crossing’s opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to UN data, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening.

Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that isn’t available in the territory. Those who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.
A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he doing building work in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.

On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.

“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”

The Israeli defence branch that oversees the operation of the crossing didn’t immediately confirm the opening.

Heading back to Gaza
A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.

Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing’s operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.

The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal to halt the Israel-Hamas war.

The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only one in the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel before the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.

Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients – along with two companions for each – would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people have so far crossed in both directions.

Hamas negotiations
A senior Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, said the militant group is open to discuss the future of its arms as part of a “balanced approach” that includes the reconstruction of Gaza and protecting the Palestinian enclave from Israel.

Mashaal said the group has offered multiple options, including a long-term truce, as part of its ongoing negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.

Hamas plans to agree to a number of “guarantees,” including a 10-year period of disarmament and an international peacekeeping force on the borders, “to maintain peace and prevent any clashes,” between the militants and Israel, Mashaal said at a forum in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Israel has repeatedly demanded a complete disarmament and destruction of Hamas and its infrastructure, both military and civil.

Mashaal accused Israel of financing and arming militias, like the Abu Shabab group which operates in Israeli military-controlled areas in Gaza, “to create chaos” in the enclave.

In the forum, Mashaal was asked about Hamas’ position from US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. He didn’t offer a specific answer, but said that the group won’t accept “foreign intervention” in Palestinian affairs.

“Gaza is for the people of Gaza. Palestinians are for the people of Palestine,” he said. “We will not accept foreign rule.” (AP) GSP

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New Delhi: Monthly registration of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) topped the crucial 10,000-mark for the first time on record in January, signalling a rush of entrepreneurs and professionals to take advantage of the country’s booming services sector and brightening manufacturing outlook, a senior government official said.

As many as 10,081 LLPs were incorporated in January, up 60% from a year before, showed the latest corporate affairs ministry data.

Similarly, the number of companies that got incorporated in January jumped almost 39% from a year before to 23,276, the data showed.

Strong outlook amid trade deals
The jump in incorporations is set to continue, as India’s latest trade deals with the US and the European Union, which promise zero duty or preferential access to a combined $53 trillion market when they take effect, have substantially boosted sentiments about the country’s external trade, said the official.

“Incorporations of companies and LLPs are significantly driven by sentiments as well. Until now, they were being driven mainly by strong domestic growth prospects,” he said, asking not to be named.
The trade deals would allay concerns over US tariffs, further cement the country’s medium-term growth prospects, bolster its both manufacturing and services trade outlook and encourage investors to set up units, he added.
The recent goods and services tax cuts, on top of the income tax relief from the current fiscal year, have also brightened consumption and growth potential, aiding new company and LLP registrations, he added.

REGISTRATIONS SPIKE
Between April and January this fiscal year, the number of LLPs that got incorporated scaled a new high of 76,696, representing a 41% year-on-year increase. Similarly, a record number of new companies—2,01,184 in total—got registered during this period, up 41% from a year before. The number of foreign companies incorporated in India jumped to 78 in the first ten months of this fiscal from just 45 a year earlier, the data showed.

Shankey Agrawal, partner at BMR Legal, said ease and affordability of starting a business have pushed up company incorporations. Moreover, due to the “deregulation and decriminalisation of minor corporate defaults, compliance costs and the fear of penalties have diminished”, he said.

This is leading to improved business confidence and fuelling the trend of formalisation of businesses, Agrawal added. “Optimism surrounding consumption prospects, spurred by measures like GST cuts, etc., have also encouraged entrepreneurs to set up new ventures,” said Tahira Karanjawala, partner at law firm Karanjawala & Co. The country’s large pool of talented and cost-effective workforce has boosted company incorporations. The International Monetary Fund last month raised its fiscal 2026 growth projection for India to 7.3% from 6.6%. The Fund expects the country to remain the world’s fastest-growing major economy at least for the next two years.