The show tells of how Gustavson, a 47-year-old Norwegian living in London, had his penis and testicles removed by a male escort in 2017. He then posted on extreme body modification forums that he was interested in castrating volunteers himself.
He nicknamed himself the "eunuch maker," and performed the procedures in apartments and hotel rooms in London, which he livestreamed on his website and charged viewers a subscription fee. He made almost £300,000 ($365,000) from the website between 2017 and 2021.
The Independent reported that the site had 22,841 registered users.
Gustavson was arrested in 2021 after the London Metropolitan Police launched "Operation Vicktor" to investigate the illegal castrations and other procedures that he carried out on the website.
Marius Gustavson was sentenced to life in prison in 2024
In May 2024, Gustavson was given a life sentence. He can face a parole board after serving a minimum of 22 years, per court documents.
Gustavson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, making and distributing indecent images of a child, and possessing extreme pornography.
During the proceedings, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said that Gustavson also engaged in cannibalism. He said: "On one occasion Gustavson cooked what appeared to be human testicles which were then plated to be eaten, and kept other body parts as 'trophies.'"
Gustavson's defense said he had body integrity dysphoria, a condition that causes a person to feel as if a healthy body part doesn't belong to them.
Rashvinderjeet Panesar, his lawyer, said that Gustavson started to modify his own body in 2017 shortly after the breakdown of his marriage in 2016.
Panesar said: "He was stuck in a body he wanted to make changes to, and understood there were more people out there who wished to do the same."
The author wishes her parents would trust her more with her decisions.
Courtesy of the author
My parents were incredibly involved in my childhood and made sure I had endless opportunities.
I'm 27 years old and constantly fight with my parents about my decisions.
I feel cognitive dissonance when making choices my parents don't agree with.
I'm the youngest child of two, so it's not shocking that I'm the "rebel" between my sister and me, and I definitely drive my parents crazy because of it.
Despite currently living on the other side of the world (a choice they weren't thrilled to hear about), I still find myself bickering with them over every single decision I make — living location, my relationship, career choices, and more.
My parents were incredibly involved as a child, providing me with opportunities that other children never experienced. For example, when my school's mathematics curriculum changed in a way my parents believed would slow the class's progress, they transferred me to a new school to ensure I remained challenged.
During the summers, they found ways to enroll me in programs offered in the neighboring town that weren't available in my own town. This allowed me to sign up for tennis camp, take cooking classes, and become a level-five swimmer — opportunities my classmates didn't have.
In high school, they fought tirelessly at every school board meeting to save the Mandarin course I took from getting cut due to budget constraints. Thanks to their relentlessness, I went on to minor in Mandarin in college, and I'm currently spending a year working from my company's office in China.
These are just a few examples of the many times my parents showed they were overqualified for the parenting role.
My parents blame themselves when I make decisions they oppose
To quote my mother from our most recent kerfuffle: "I didn't fulfill my motherly duties." This isn't the first time I've heard my mother say something along these lines, but it's yet another instance where I wholeheartedly disagree with her.
While my mom and dad will always be my parents, I'm not turning to them to pick me up from soccer practice, help me read over my essays, or pay my cell phone bills. In my late 20s, I just want to know I can go to them for sound advice when I ask for it and that they'll always be in my corner.
I want a closer relationship with my parents
It's challenging to hear that my parents disagree with my choices. While they're only trying to help, our disagreements result in a constant feeling of cognitive dissonance, and instead of consulting my parents about big decisions, I tell them about things after decisions have already been made — such as sky diving, moving to Philadelphia, or taking a trip a self-guided trip to Egypt.
Overtime, this reluctance to share decisions I know they'll criticize has caused me to subconsciously stop sharing updates altogether. For instance, I didn't tell them when I got promoted — a moment I would normally want to celebrate with my parents. Avoiding conversations about choices they might disapprove of made me overlook sharing news of which they'd be proud. I was mortified when my dad mentioned he learned of my promotion via LinkedIn.
The last thing I want is a strained relationship with my parents. I hope they'll eventually see that, while I may never think like them or share all their perspectives, I'm more than capable of making thoughtful, sound judgments and navigating life's challenges — skills they've spent my entire life teaching me. I don't expect them to agree with me all the time, but it would help if they showed trust in my decision-making by leading with a supportive attitude and offering their concerns as suggestions to consider rather than implying my choices are misguided or need to be corrected. Constantly feeling at odds is exhausting.
I know my parents love me deeply and only want to protect me from potential mistakes, but I wish they could see that their job now that I'm an adult, isn't to shield me, it's to trust the person they've raised. My choices aren't a rejection of my parents' values; they demonstrate the independence and confidence my parents have instilled in me. I don't want my parents to feel worry or guilt; I want them to be proud that I'm creating a life that reflects what they've taught me and who I've become. More than anything, I want our relationship to grow stronger, built on mutual respect, trust, and the understanding that even if our paths differ, their guidance has always been — and will always be — my foundation.
Hello there! Business Insider's Alistair Barr thought he was doing the right thing when he discouraged a colleague from joining a little-known startup back in 2016. Turns out he was wrong. Really wrong. The startup was OpenAI, and the former colleague, who thankfully didn't listen, is now an AI billionaire.
Tired: Move fast and break things. Wired: Move fast and get rid of underperformers.
Two years after Mark Zuckerberg's famous "Year of Efficiency" the Meta CEO is ratcheting things up a notch.
The tech giant announced plans to cut 5% of its workforce with a focus on the lowest performers, Business Insider's Jyoti Mann and Hugh Langley report. Based on Meta's most-recent earnings report, that would amount to about 3,600 roles.
In a memo to staff, Zuckerberg said the company is entering an "intense year" and the decision was made to "move out low-performers faster."
So how does Meta plan on doing that? Jyoti and Pranav Dixit got their hands on an internal memo from a human-resources executive explaining how the job cuts will work.
The key is reaching a 5% non-regrettable attrition rate this year. In case you don't speak HR mumbo jumbo, that describes workers Meta wouldn't mind losing.
To get there, Meta managers will need to identify 12-15% of employees with performance ratings of "Met Most Expectations" or worse. Those who receive ratings of "Met Some" and "Did not Meet" will definitely be fired while those with a "Met Most" rating will be further evaluated by a director and VP before a decision is made.
They won't have a lot of time to do it. Employees based in the US will find out about the cuts by February 10.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Alex Wong via Getty Images
Meta employees had plenty of questions about the strategy.
Some got behind the idea. One wrote on an internal message board viewed by Jyoti and Hugh that "there is a need to raise the bar and I absolutely support this."
Others, however, weren't as optimistic. Some wondered how — dare I say — efficient the process would be.
The process is "marginally better than 'monkey's throwing darts,'" another employee wrote.
Like it or not, it might be here to stay. An internal FAQ document viewed by BI hints that performance-related layoffs could become an annual tradition at Meta.
The bigger question is whether the approach catches on at other companies. You could argue Zuckerberg's 2023 efficiency push kicked off a wider trend. (Or maybe it was bound to happen anyway.)
Regular performance-based cuts aren't the standard in tech like they are in other industries, but they also aren't unheard of. Amazon, in particular, has leaned on performance-improvement plans in recent years.
1. Crypto might be a lot of things, but a currency isn't one of them. For all the attention digital currencies like bitcoin have gotten over the years, the likelihood they'll replace money (as some predicted) still seems farfetched. BI's Adam Rogers writes about how crypto has just become another way for people to gamble.
2. JPMorgan and BlackRock shake-up their executive ranks. Daniel Pinto, the bank's president and COO, will step down in June and plans to retire at the end of 2026. Jennifer Piepszak, currently a co-CEO of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank, will replace Pinto as COO. The promotion isn't about CEO Jamie Dimon grooming a successor, though. Piepszak doesn't want the top job, leading to more questions about Dimon's succession plans. Meanwhile, the race to succeed another Wall Street titan — BlackRock's Larry Fink — took a turn with the departure of Mark Wiedman, who was widely viewed as a top candidate for the job.
3. What the Los Angeles wildfires mean for the economy. AccuWeather estimates the total economic cost could reach $275 billion. Goldman Sachs says it could rank as one of the costliest natural disasters as a share of GDP in US history. However, the bank isn't concerned about higher insurance costs meaningfully impacting inflation. In the meantime, here's a rundown on who could foot the enormous bill.
2. Apple takes a hit despite launching AI iPhones. The tech giant had a standout 2024 with the debut of Apple Intelligence and the Vision Pro. However, its global market share of smartphone sales slipped due to the iPhone losing ground to competitors and its new AI feature not being available in Greater China — one of the company's major markets.
3. Exclusive: Layoffs sweep Microsoft. Employees in security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming faced job cuts, two people familiar with the matter told BI. The layoffs are separate from the recent cuts targeting low-performers within the company, which BI previously reported.
1. Justin Baldoni's New York Times lawsuit could hinge on an emoji. The "It Ends With Us" director accused the paper of taking his publicists' quotes out of context. He said the paper omitted an emoji — an upside-down smile — that would've made it clear his publicist was being sarcastic, not serious.
2. Trump's got tax plans, but Congress holds the strings. The president-elect vowed to create an "external revenue service" to collect tariffs and revenue from foreign nations on Day One. It's not clear how the new agency would work, but establishing it would require congressional approval. Back home, Americans could see their tax bills change this year since Trump's 2017 package is set to expire.
3. Come for the coffee, stay for the refills. Starbucks announced all its customers — not just rewards members — can get free refills of many brewed coffee and tea drinks at participating stores starting January 27. But the freebies end there, as the company is closing the door on its open-door policy that allows non-paying guests to use store facilities.
President Biden delivers farewell address to the nation.
Sinaloa cartel's "El Mayo" in court on drug trafficking charges.
CPI data released.
The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
A still from footage by Ukraine's air force that shows a Storm Shadow missile being launched in 2024.
YouTube/Ukrainian Air Force
Ukraine launched waves of drone and missile strikes deep in Russia.
It comes a week before President-elect Trump is to be sworn in.
Both Ukraine and Russia have intensified attacks ahead of Trump's second term.
Ukraine struck targets deep inside Russia using missiles and drones in one of its biggest recent attacks as Donald Trump prepares to start his second presidential term next week.
The strikes were carried out on January 13 and 14 on industrial and military targets up to 680 miles into Russia in Bryansk, Saratov, and Tula oblasts and the Republic of Tatarstan, Ukrainian officials said.
Among the targets struck were an oil refinery near Engels, Saratov Oblast, which provides fuel for the strategic bombers, and a chemical plant in Bryansk that provides material for missile systems, the officials said.
Russia's defense ministry claimed to identify the missiles used, saying they were among the most advanced sent to Ukraine: the British/French Storm Shadow missiles and US ATACMS.
It said 146 drones were also involved in the attack.
On Monday, Russia launched with drone and missile strikes at energy infrastructure targets across Ukraine.
Both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries said they intercepted most of the missiles, a claim that was not possible to verify.
The Ukrainian amount to a show of strength just before President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term on Monday.
Trump has harshly criticized Ukraine's strikes on Russia, and President Joe Biden for allowing the involvement of US weapons.
In a December interview with Time magazine, he said: "It's crazy what's taking place. It's crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We're just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done."
Trump officials have suggsted that Ukraine could be forced to cede some territory now occupied by Russia in a peace deal.
Analyzing the moves, the former UK foreign minister William Hague told Times Radio Tuesday that both sides were seeking to "position themselves" for a new Trump administration.
"The Russians have been trying to grab more territory. The Ukrainians have been striking back harder in order to get them settled positions," said Hague.
In the run-up to Trump's inauguration, fighting has intensified between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine has attacked sites in Russia using missiles and drones, Russia has made important advances on the front line in east Ukraine.
It's also intensified its bid to oust Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine still holds territory.
John Ratcliffe— who is Trump's pick for CIA, and was director of national intelligence for the final months of Trump's first term — will rail against the politicization of the intelligence community during his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today, a transition source tells Axios.
He'll vowto eliminate political biases and "wokeness" in the agency's workforce policies, and instead focus on "the mission."
Driving the news: Ratcliffe will portray tech as both a target (Where's China on hypersonics, quantum and AI?) and as a tool (How are analysts utilizing large language models and AI? How are spies beating ubiquitous technical surveillance?).
Ratcliffe thinks the agency — with a complex matrix of tech-focused directorates, mission centers and positions — has struggled to keep pace with the rapid technological advancements in the private sector.
He plans to accelerate efforts to coordinate with U.S. private-sector firms at the bleeding edge of technological advancement.
Ratcliffe will focus on China, as reported in a Wall Street Journal banger, "Trump's CIA Pick Expected to Push for Bare-Knuckle Spycraft Against China."
Xi has spent the last decade cracking down on corruption in China's military, but a new wave of investigations raises questions about how deep the issues run.
Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Corruption has been plaguing China's military, including senior leadership.
The issues and purges raise questions about China's military readiness and its ambitions.
China's military has long struggled with graft, but it's growth and modernization can't be overlooked.
Corruption investigations have led to significant high-level purges in the Chinese military. A US Department of Defense official said that these purges are "just the tip of the iceberg" and that the issues affecting the military could hinder its ambitions, including Taiwan.
The Defense Department released its annual report on China's military last month, assessing that the People's Liberation Army has "experienced a new wave of corruption-related investigations and removals of senior leaders that may have disrupted its progress towards stated 2027 modernization goals."
China's leadership has directed the PLA to be fully ready to execute a potential invasion or blockade of Taiwan as a professional fighting force should Beijing opt to pursue that path.
Xi has directed China's military to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027.
Xinhua/Xu Suhui
The PLA has long faced corruption scandals, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping has spent the last decade cracking down as part of a wider campaign to root out corruption and ensure loyalty to the Communist Party. But the latest string of cases has left the Pentagon questioning China's military ambitions and their ability to achieve them in the Pacific.
At an event in mid-December with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Chase said the US has assessed "the anti-corruption campaign — the corruption challenges themselves — and how they could present real obstacles to accomplishing the goals that Xi has set for the PLA for 2027."
"Just the tip of the iceberg"
The latest wave of corruption investigations highlights graft across various elements and branches of the PLA.
GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images
Over the past year and half, China has sacked at least 15 high-ranking military officers and defense industry executives. A prominent example includes the dismissal of Defense Minister Li Shangfu. China also expelled Li and another defense minister from the ruling party over graft. The suspension of Adm. Miao Hua from his position as the Director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission in November 2024, was also significant.
PLARF's leadership has faced allegations of fraud in the construction of silos for ballistic missiles, and US intelligence has reported on missiles filled with water and intercontinental ballistic missile silos equipped with improperly functioning lids that could derail a missile launch.
US officials remain skeptical of how corruption is impacting China's military goals.
Feng Hao/PLA/China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images
At CSIS last month, Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner said a key takeaway from the corruption crackdown: corruption investigations such as this are typically highly secretive. Beijing has often publicly described the current wave of dismissals as "serious violations of discipline."
"We often don't hear about them until they're done," Ratner said of the Chinese corruption investigations. "And what that should lead us to believe is that what we are seeing now — which already has been substantial, right, 15 senior PLA officials already rounded up — is just the tip of the iceberg."
Chase added that there can be a spiral effect in these kinds of situations, where an investigation may reveal further corruption in a different branch or program. That's broadly been the case in the current wave of allegations.
China's military growth and Taiwan
Corruption has long plagued China's military, ranging from petty graft to major issues.
Eastern Theater Command/Weibo
The PLA has long suffered from corruption issues. Since he took office, Xi's anti-corruption campaign has been seen as a renewed effort to root out problems while also ensuring the PLA is both politically loyal to Chinese Communist Party leadership and prepared for any military directives Xi gives it.
China has pursued massive military buildup and growth over the past decade or so, with its eyes set on Taiwan and challenging the US as a peer adversary, but that's also driven corruption.
"The PLA is modernizing so quickly, and they're spending significant amounts of money to build up their forces," said Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said that widespread graft is, in many ways, also "a manifestation of the rapid pace of PLA modernization."
Part of China's military modernization is its massive shipbuilding industry both for commercial and military vessels.
Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A concentration of the PLA purges being in equipment procurements and the defense industrial base supports the argument that the corruption could be tied to how quickly and aggressively the military is attempting to build up its forces and capabilities.
That raises questions of whether the PLA is on track to meet its mandated modernization goals — a concern that likely keeps Xi up at night, Hart said.
"Does that really undermine the PLA's ability to fight and win wars, especially when it comes to Taiwan?" he asked.
The Pentagon said in its recent report that an investigation announced in July 2023 related to weapons procurement programs dating back to 2017 pointed to "significant concerns with the PLA's modernization efforts more broadly."
What does corruption mean for China's military goals?
"The substantial problems they have with corruption that have yet to be resolved certainly could slow them down on the path toward the 2027 capabilities development milestone and beyond," a senior US defense official said in a press briefing on December 16.
Its military exercises in the Western Pacific, specifically around Taiwan, have grown in size and frequency, and it puts pressure on US allies. And there have been other demonstrations of might.
In September 2024, PLARF carried out an intercontinental ballistic missile test in the Pacific for the first time in 40 years, an apparent signal that despite its challenges with corruption, it maintains power and ambition.
China has achieved substantial military growth despite — or in spite of — corruption issues.
The ultimate goal, Hart explained, of Xi's anti-corruption campaign has been to ensure the PLA can modernize on the timeline he has implemented. Even with some issues along the way, China's military growth shows that effort has seen its successes.
Despite the Pentagon's observations, it remains unclear if the PLA's corruption problems will impact China's 2027 goals.
On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order temporarily banning unsolicited and undervalued offers for properties in specific Los Angeles County zip codes.
The order will be in place for three months, with the zip codes including areas such as Malibu, Altadena, Pasadena, and Pacific Palisades — some of the areas worst hit by the ongoing fires.
The LA wildfires, which have been raging for more than a week, have burned more than 40,000 acres, damaged over 12,000 structures, including many homes, and killed at least 25 people.
"As families mourn, the last thing they need is greedy speculators taking advantage of their pain," Newsom said in a press release.
The governor described how real estate speculators are exploiting the situation, saying he'd heard firsthand from victims who had "received unsolicited and predatory offers" from speculators offering cash far below the market value.
The executive order prohibits offers below the fair market value as of January 6, 2025 — the day before the fires started.
The press release said that the order was inspired by a similar measure issued by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green in August 2023, designed to protect residents after wildfires devastated much of Lahaina.
Violating the order during a state of emergency is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, six months in prison, or both.
Altadena, a "working-class neighborhood" hit hard by the Eaton fire, was cited as an example where undermarket offers could displace vulnerable residents with long-standing ties to the community.
"We will not allow greedy developers to rip off these working-class communities at a time when they need more support than ever before," Newsom said.
Even in areas like the Palisades, which has some of the most expensive real estate in the country, not all victims were wealthy.
A 22-year-old living in the Palisades, who works multiple jobs and said many in her building were blue-collar workers, told Business Insider about having to evacuate her rental apartment.
Concerns about exploitation in the rental market are also growing, as those who have lost their homes look to the future.
Jason Oppenheim of Netflix's "Selling Sunset" said that greedy landlords have been taking advantage of the fires by price gouging, or illegally hiking rents.
He told Business Insider: "This is a time for people to put aside any opportunities for financial gain. If anything, we should be giving back financially, not trying to be rewarded financially from the situation."
