• US News & World Report compiled a list of the best places to live in the US in 2025.
• Criteria for the list included affordability of homes, quality of life, and career opportunities.
• Johns Creek, Georgia, tops this year's list, followed by Carmel, Indiana, and Pearland, Texas.

Americans move for all sorts of reasons, whether it's seeking better work-life balance, a more affordable lifestyle, or even a fresh start after a breakup.

Each year, US News & World Report offers a resource to those contemplating such a big change by evaluating 150 American cities on several factors to determine the best places to move.

The publication considers factors including employment opportunities, housing affordability, quality of life, and school rankings.

Johns Creek, Georgia, tops the 2025 list of best places to live for its strong job market and high "desirability" score, a custom index created by US News & World Report to rank factors like weather, accessibility of culture, and average commute times for residents.

The small Atlanta suburb of 81,000 people has been home to stars like Jeff Foxworthy and Usher, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Carmel, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, took second place. The town of just over 103,000 residents previously went viral on TikTok for its massive high school that featured amenities for students like an auto shop, radio station, jewelry-making room, and even a planetarium.

Texas has three cities in the top 10, with Pearland and League City, two suburbs of Houston, and Leander, a suburb of Austin, taking the third, sixth, and eighth spots, respectively.

Here are the 15 best places to live in the US, according to US News & World Report. Residents find plenty to like about these cities, including affordable homes, career opportunities, and relaxed lifestyles.

Sources: Population and income data are from the US Census, median home price from Realtor.com, and median rent from Zillow.

15. Pflugerville, Texas

Population of the metro area: 66,819

Median home price: $395,300

Average monthly rent: $2,195

Median household income: $112,656

Known for: A growing area outside Austin, Pflugerville has more than 56 miles of recreational trails, including those surrounding the 180-acre Lake Pflugerville. The nearby Typhoon Texas Waterpark is also an annual draw for locals and visitors alike.

14. Flower Mound, Texas

Population of the metro area: 79,990

Median home price: $645,600

Average monthly rent: $2,890

Median household income: $157,737

Known for: Named for a local hill covered in wildflowers, the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound is known for its small-town charm just outside the big city. The area boasts a strong public school system and a robust calendar of community events, including a summer concert series.

13. Ellicott City, Maryland

Population of the metro area: 75,947 (as of 2020)

Median home price: $769,000

Average monthly rent: $2,812

Median household income: $157,891

Known for: Under 30 minutes from the bustle of Baltimore sits quaint Ellicott City. Several buildings from the 19th century remain, and there are museums dedicated to everything from turn-of-the-century firefighting to the country's oldest surviving railroad station.

12. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Population of the metro area: 122,756

Median home price: $355,000

Average monthly rent: $1,750

Median household income: $85,220

Known for: One of Tulsa's suburbs, Broken Arrow has long connections to the Muscogee people, who settled in the area after the US government forced them to move from Alabama along the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. Today, its downtown has boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and an annual festival, Rooster Days, that's been held for over 90 years.

11. Sammamish, Washington

Population of the metro area: 66,474

Median home price: $1.9 million

Average monthly rent: $3,845

Median household income: $227,273

Climate Vulnerability Index: 1st percentile, lowest vulnerability

Known for: This picturesque city, home to both the glittering Lake Sammamish and verdant forests, is just a short drive from Seattle. Locals enjoy recreational activities including boating, fishing, and hiking in its multiple parks.

10. Troy, Michigan

Population of the metro area: 89,209

Median home price: $462,500

Average monthly rent: $2,200

Median household income: $119,299

Known for: Not far from Detroit, Troy is home to many companies that support the automotive industry. Somerset Collection is the city's mall, where you'll find upscale stores including Christian Louboutin, Rolex, Versace, and more.

9. Rochester Hills, Michigan

Population of the metro area: 78,330

Median home price: $467,000

Average monthly rent: $1,800

Median household income: $119,054

Known for: With a charming downtown, plenty of nature trails, and a popular cider mill, Rochester Hills has activities for all of Michigan's four seasons. Meadow Brook Amphitheater brings in an eclectic mix of summer concerts, from big-name bands to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

8. Leander, Texas

Population of the metro area: 87,511

Median home price: $403,800

Average monthly rent: $2,195

Median household income: $140,180

Known for: One of the fastest-growing spots in the county, Leander draws people with its good schools and natural beauty. It's a 30-minute drive or a commuter-rail ride from Austin.

7. Apex, North Carolina

Population of the metro area: 75,977

Median home price: $596,000

Average monthly rent: $2,250

Median household income: $138,442

Known for: Apex, North Carolina, a 25-minute drive to Raleigh, is one of the smaller cities on the list, by population, but has a better job market than the national average, according to US News.

6. League City, Texas

Population of the metro area: 118,456

Median home price: $343,800

Average monthly rent: $2,200

Median household income: $119,870

Known for: League City, Texas, is about 26 miles south of Houston and only 30 miles from beaches along the Gulf. It rated highly for value and desirability, according to US News.

5. Cary, North Carolina

Population of the metro area: 182,659

Median home price: $701,500

Average monthly rent: $2,120

Median household income: $129,399

Known for: A suburb of Raleigh, Cary is part of North Carolina's research triangle and attracts people from all over the country — and world — for its robust job market and laid-back lifestyle.

4. Fishers, Indiana

Population of the metro area: 103,986

Median home price: $406,400

Average monthly rent: $2,175

Median household income: $128,141

Known for: Located about 20 miles outside Indianapolis, Fishers has a growing number of tech jobs.

3. Pearland, Texas

Population of the metro area: 129,620

Median home price: $368,900

Average monthly rent: $2,300

Median household income: $112,470

Known for: One of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, Pearland has had its population increase from approximately 19,000 residents to over 100,000 in the last 20 years. It's a suburb of Houston.

2. Carmel, Indiana

Population of the metro area: 103,606

Median home price: $516,600

Average monthly rent: $2,199

Median household income: $134,602

Known for: Carmel, which has a nice civic square, an art and design district, and a network of walking and biking trails, has recently drawn new residents. In 2023, a TikTok video that showed off the local high school's swanky facilities, from big athletic facilities to a radio studio to a café, went viral.

1. Johns Creek, Georgia

Population of the metro area: 81,167

Median home price: $637,500

Average monthly rent: $2,750

Median household income: $160,185

Known for: About 40 minutes north of Atlanta, Johns Creek is the 10th largest city in Georgia and the safest. Fun fact: It wasn't incorporated until 2006.

• Tesla supplier CATL rose 13% in its Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday morning.
• The IPO raised $4.6 billion, primarily to fund its European expansion.
• CATL competes with Tesla and BYD in the EV battery supplier market.

Key Tesla supplier CATL rose 13% in its Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday morning.

The world's largest battery maker filed to go public in Hong Kong earlier this year, primarily to fund its European expansion. CATL has been listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since 2018.

The initial public offering raised HK$35.7 billion, or $4.6 billion, according to a company filing. That size makes it one of the largest global listings of the year. The stock was listed at HK$263 per share.

Companies pursue dual listings — where a company is traded on more than one exchange — because it gives them access to more capital and lets their shares trade for a longer time if the exchanges are in different time zones. Hong Kong listings are a popular option for Chinese companies because they allow international investors to buy stock.

In a document filed with the Hong Kong exchange in February, CATL said that part of the money raised will be used to build a $7.6 billion battery plant in Hungary. The rest will be used for daily business. CATL has a partnership with Jeep and Fiat maker Stellantis in Spain.

CATL is a major supplier to Tesla, selling lithium-iron phosphate batteries to its Shanghai factory.

Last week, HSBC analysts led by Elaine Chen wrote in a note that CATL has a "dominating domestic position" in the EV battery market, enabled by "continuous products upgrade and innovation."

They added that they see the company "unlock more volumes opportunities in Europe on its superior-than-peers affordability and leading lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology."

CATL is ramping up competition against Tesla and Chinese EV star BYD.

Late last month, CATL unveiled a new battery it said can out-charge BYD and Tesla. It launched an updated version of its Shenxing battery, which it said allows electric vehicles to add 520 kilometers, or 323 miles, of range in just five minutes of charging.

EV companies are trying to cut charge times to entice buyers who are wary of switching to electric.

In January, the Department of Defense added CATL to its list of "Chinese military companies" operating in the United States. CATL denied it had any association with the Chinese military and said it was prepared to contest the decision with legal action if necessary.

• Barry Diller said to give Trump's tariffs "a little good spirit," though he thinks "it's going to end in tears."
• "I like big gambles," he said. "Maybe you can pull it off. Maybe manufacturing can come back.
• The Budget Lab at Yale warns that tariffs won't offset the GOP's proposed tax cut bill.

Barry Diller thinks that President Donald Trump's tariffs should be allowed to come to pass.

"I think it's going to end in tears," the Hollywood mogul and IAC chairman said of Trump's tariff during Monday's episode of the "On with Kara Swisher" podcast.

"But you know what?" the 83-year-old billionaire continued. "It's a big gamble. I like big gambles. Maybe you can pull it off. Maybe manufacturing can come back. Maybe it can end taxes for people where you just simply get money from others."

"Don't be in this derangement syndrome, and let's see giving it a little good spirit rather than a violent negative spirit — and that's my attitude right now," Diller added.

Trump's broad-reaching tariffs have met challenges thus far, and he has paused some of the highest levies. Business leaders, even those who have openly supported him, have expressed concerns about their economic impacts, and stocks tumbled when the tariffs were announced.

The Budget Lab at Yale recently said in a report that the income reaped from tariffs won't come close to offsetting the Republicans' proposed tax cuts, which could pass given their majority in Congress and may cost the country $3.4 trillion over the next 9 years.

"If we account for the likelihood that these provisions would become permanent, at the end of 30 years the debt-to-GDP ratio would be over 180%, even assuming substantial revenue from tariffs," the non-partisan policy research group wrote. "For context, the only countries with a higher debt-to-GDP ratio currently are Japan and the Sudan."

In a separate report on May 12, the Budget Lab at Yale found that Trump's tariffs would cost the average American household a loss of $2,800 per household on average in 2024 dollars in purchasing power.

Higher tariffs on 75 trading partners imposed on April 2 were suspended for 90 days starting on April 9. Tariffs on China were temporarily lifted for 90 days on May 14 to negotiate a broader trade agreement.

Expedia did not respond to a request for comments.

• Ray Dalio said on X that Moody's credit downgrade doesn't cover the risks of government money printing.
• Moody's downgraded US credit to Aa1, citing growing deficits and ballooning interest payments.
• A GOP tax bill could worsen US debts, with proposed tax breaks and increased defense spending.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio thinks Moody's recent downgrade of the US sovereign credit rating doesn't capture the danger of the federal government simply printing cash to cover its bills.

"You should know that credit ratings understate credit risks because they only rate the risk of the government not paying its debt," Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, warned said on X. "They don't include the greater risk that the countries in debt will print money to pay their debts thus causing holders of the bonds to suffer losses from the decreased value of the money they're getting."

"For those who care about the value of their money, the risks for US government debt are greater than the rating agencies are conveying," Dalio added.

Dalio's comments came after Moody's, the international financial services company, downgraded the US credit from Aaa to Aa1 on Friday, citing growing deficits and surging interest payments. That makes Moody's the last of the three major credit agencies to bump America's credit off the highest rating. S&P Global Ratings downgraded the US back in 2011, and Fitch Ratings followed suit in 2023.

In response to the downgrade, stocks slipped on Monday while Treasury yields spiked. The 30-year bond yield jumped 4.995%, and the 10-year bond yield rose to 4.521%.

Adding to investor concerns, economists are sounding the alarm on a tax cut bill proposed by Republicans that could come to pass given the slim GOP majorities in both the House and the Senate.

The bill proposes tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans through a higher estate tax exemption, interest tax breaks for private equity, and a $150 billion boost in defense spending. It also plans to increase the child tax credit by $500 and eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay.

Despite the bill also proposing spending cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and to hike taxes for immigrants, the Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan policy research center, says that the GOP bill would worsen America's debt.

"The bill as currently proposed would substantially add to the deficit, even if accounting for possible tariff revenue," authors of the report wrote, "If we account for the likelihood that these provisions would become permanent, at the end of 30 years the debt-to-GDP ratio would be over 180%, even assuming substantial revenue from tariffs."

According to the report, Sudan and Japan are the only two countries with a debt-to-GDP ratio over 180%.

"Assuming temporary provisions expire, the bill's baseline cost of $3.4 trillion would make it the largest spending package in US history," the report added.

In a rare Sunday night vote on May 18, the GOP tax cut bill narrowly passed the House Budget Committee, which days before rejected the bill. The bill now heads to the House for a vote this week.

A spokesperson for Dalio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• OpenAI says it has struggled to raise funds due to its nonprofit structure.
• The company just revealed its fundraising challenges in a letter to California's attorney general.
• OpenAI plans to restructure as a Public Benefit Corporation to attract investors.

OpenAI is one of the most well-funded startups in history, raising a massive $40 billion round led by SoftBank earlier this year.

But many investors have passed on the startup because it's controlled by a nonprofit and is unable to offer "easy-to-understand" equity, the AI giant revealed in a recent letter to California's attorney general.

"Many potential investors in OpenAI's recent funding rounds declined to invest," the May 15 letter reads.

"OpenAI's recent attempts at securing funding have demonstrated the challenges posed by the organization's existing structure," it adds.

OpenAI didn't respond to a request for comment. The letter was first reported on by the AI publication Obsolete. OpenAI submitted the May 15 letter in response to an April 9 petition from a coalition of nonprofits and other organizations that urged the California attorney general to block OpenAI's for-profit conversion plans. Business Insider obtained the letter from LatinoProsperity, one of the nonprofits leading the coalition.

Startups are typically highly reluctant to acknowledge fundraising challenges, so it's an unusual disclosure.

But OpenAI, which was last valued at $300 billion, isn't a typical startup: it was founded as a nonprofit and remains controlled by its board, creating a big fundraising hurdle.

In the letter, OpenAI says it was only "able to secure" investments by promising to change its structure. Indeed, a big chunk of its massive SoftBank round was conditioned on just that.

OpenAI is now trying to restructure its for-profit arm as a Public Benefit Corporation, similar to competitors like Anthropic. It has given up on plans to free itself from its nonprofit's control.

The May 15 letter also shows that OpenAI is worried about competitors who are "far better funded, conventional for-profit businesses."

Google, Meta, and other tech giants have pledged capital expenditures of over $300 billion in AI investments in 2025 alone. OpenAI mentioned such investments as "threats" to its mission, which risks that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, will be consolidated in the hands of a few powerful entities.

If OpenAI can't raise more money to compete with them, then its ability to ensure safe AGI will be "compromised," the letter states.

Orson Aguilar, the founding president of LatinoProsperity, remains skeptical of OpenAI's plans.

"OpenAI's response comes only after they reversed course on their for-profit plans, but they haven't offered anything new," he told Business Insider.

"The core questions remain: What is the true value of their charitable assets? Who are they accountable to? And how can a nonprofit claim independence when it's clearly entangled with corporate interests?"

• If you're entertaining this Memorial Day weekend, set-it-and-forget-it dishes can be a lifesaver.
• From ribs to pulled pork, these slow-cooker recipes are perfect for summer gatherings.
• You can also make sides like potato salad and dips in a slow cooker.

Sizzling burgers, blistered corn on the cob, and sweat dripping from your brow as you man the grill — this is how many mark the start of summer.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans plan to barbecue this Memorial Day weekend, according to a new WalletHub report, and the average cost of a cookout is expected to be about $31, a 4% increase from last year.

However, while grilling certainly captures the spirit of Memorial Day weekend, slow cookers can make preparing sides and meats much easier, with minimal cleanup and no need to bother with gas or charcoal.

Or at the very least, having a couple of set-it-and-forget-it dishes can help you focus on your grill.

From mouthwatering barbecue ribs to savory pulled-pork sandwiches, these slow-cooker recipes are perfect for any Memorial Day cookout.

For your Memorial Day cookout this year, try making the potato salad using your slow cooker.

You might not know that you can parboil potatoes in a slow cooker. To do so, chop and cover the potatoes with water, a little salt, pepper, and butter, and cook them until they're fork-tender, usually about six hours on low.

Then, mix the dressing for your potato salad as you normally would, such as mayonnaise, dill, whole grain mustard, and a splash of red wine vinegar. 

You can also make a German-style potato salad with bacon, light dressing, and baby potatoes.

Dips, such as this spinach-and-artichoke dip, are also easily made in a slow cooker.

"I love to make spinach-and-artichoke dip in my slow cooker," Chungah Rhee, the author of the blog Damn Delicious, told Business Insider. 

"You can just free up so much of your time by using a slow cooker and hang out with your guests instead of laboring in the kitchen," Rhee continued. "Especially for side dishes or dips. You put it all together, set the time, and it comes out ready to go."

This set-it-and-forget-it corn-and-jalapeño dip is creamy and easy to make.

"Another favorite of mine is this corn-and-jalapeño dip," Rhee told Insider. 

The recipe combines many of the summer's best ingredients, from fresh and vibrant jalapeños to sweet corn.

Buffalo-chicken dip is another quick and easy favorite you can make in a slow cooker.

One of the benefits of making a slow-cooker Buffalo-chicken dip, like this recipe on Rhee's blog — or any other side dish in a slow cooker — is that it can be prepared well ahead of time and reheated when you're ready to eat.

Rhee's advice for someone using a slow cooker for the first time for entertaining is actually to start out with a dip or side dish. 

"If for some reason it doesn't turn out, because we all know that can happen using an appliance for the first time, it's not detrimental to your dinner party being a success," she said.

Queso can serve a whole party when made in a slow cooker.

This creamy queso dip from Martha Stewart uses ingredients like American cheese and pepper jack cheese, a can of evaporated milk, diced tomatoes with chilies, sliced jalapeños, red onion, and cilantro. 

Brisket is perfect for feeding a larger family and can easily be made in a slow cooker.

"Brisket is a natural partner for the slow cooker, as a gentle braise renders it meltingly tender," Kim Laidlaw writes in her cookbook, "Everyday Slow Cooking: Modern Recipes for Delicious Meals."

Laidlaw's recipe for slow-cooked braised brisket includes garlic, onion, dry red wine, carrot, and chicken or beef stock, with a chimichurri sauce.

Pulled-pork sliders are another great way to use your slow cooker for a cookout.

One of the best ways to use braised and slow-cooked pork shoulder is to make pulled-pork sliders, like this Damn Delicious recipe, with all that tender meat.

To elevate the dish, top the meat with barbecue sauce and slaw before sandwiching it between two fluffy brioche buns or potato rolls. You can also use the carnitas to make tacos.

You can also make barbecue ribs in a slow cooker.

Nothing screams an end-of-summer cookout like sauce-covered ribs, like Laidlaw's recipe as shared on Cooking by the Book. After cooking them in the slow cooker, place them on a baking sheet in your oven and broil them until they're slightly crispy.

To save space on your grill, you can also make slow-cooked sausages and beer brats in the slow cooker.

Brats with onions, peppers, and garlic simmered in the slow cooker with beer — like this recipe by The Magical Slow Cooker — are one way to use your slow cooker on Memorial Day.

Top your brats with a bit of sauerkraut and put them on buns for an easy summer dish.

Mac and cheese can also easily be made in a slow cooker.

If you're looking to add some carbs to your menu, look no further than a piping hot pot of mac and cheese. Martha Stewart's recipe for mac and cheese in a slow cooker calls for evaporated milk, three kinds of cheese, and homemade breadcrumbs.

Garlic-and-herb mushrooms are a delicious side dish but can also be used as a burger topping.

"The recipe for slow-cooker garlic-herb mushrooms is divine and so easy," Rhee said. "Mushrooms made in a slow cooker are truly the best."

Shredded Buffalo chicken goes great on top of salads.

One of the best — and easiest — ways to use your Crock-Pot or slow cooker is by making shredded Buffalo chicken, such as this recipe by The Magical Slow Cooker.

Add seasoned chicken breasts to the slow cooker and cover with your preferred Buffalo sauce. Then add a splash of ranch dressing and a cube of butter, toss your chicken breasts in the mixture to coat fully, and cook until the chicken is shreddable. You can use it for Buffalo-chicken sliders, salads, or tacos.

You can even make Buffalo or barbecue chicken wings using a slow cooker.

You can make any style of wings in a slow cooker, from Asian-style to barbecue and Buffalo wings. Add your wings to the slow cooker, add in your sauce of choice, toss to combine, and let them cook for a couple of hours on high.

To make them crisp up, add a cornstarch and water mixture to your slow cooker. After they're cooked through, broil them for a few minutes in the oven.

Meatballs make a great appetizer for guests and don't require cooking over a hot stove.

Meatballs make the perfect appetizer for parties big and small and are easy to make in a slow cooker. 

Place your seasoned, raw meatballs into the slow cooker, top with sauce, and let the slow cooker finish them off, says one recipe by Spend With Pennies. Serve them on their own with toothpicks or stuff them inside toasted sub rolls for a meatball sandwich.

• Melania Trump made a rare public appearance at the White House on Monday.
• Trump praised her for bringing together both sides on revenge porn and deepfakes.
• The reality, however, is more complicated.

Melania Trump has never been a traditional first lady. But to hear it from President Donald Trump at a White House event on Monday, she also has a rare ability to smash past entrenched partisan divides.

"I'm not even sure you realize, honey," Trump said to his wife in the Rose Garden at the White House. "You know, a lot of the Democrats and Republicans don't get along so well. You've made them get along."

The first lady's purported achievement: Supporting the passage of the "TAKE IT DOWN" Act, a bill to combat revenge porn, including deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence.

Trump signed that bill on Monday. Though most states already have revenge porn laws on the books, it's the first bill that Trump has signed in his second term that touches AI.

Melania Trump's appearance on Monday was a relative rarity. The New York Times reported earlier this month that she had spent less than 14 days at the White House since Trump's second inauguration, and the first lady has long taken a different approach to the role from prior presidential spouses.

She ultimately spoke for less than four minutes, thanking lawmakers and advocates as she decried the impact of new technologies on children.

"Artificial intelligence and social media are the digital candy for the next generation: sweet, addictive, and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children," she said.

The first lady has sought to put her stamp on the legislation, framing it as a continuation of the children's well-being and online safety initiatives that she undertook during her husband's first term. "Today, I'm proud to say that the values of 'Be Best' will be reflected in the law," she said.

The reality, however, is more complex.

The bill had been making its way through Congress last year, and it was originally supposed to be signed into law before the Trumps returned to the White House.

But after the bill passed the Senate for the first time in December, the legislation was slipped into an ill-fated government funding bill that Elon Musk and hardline conservatives tanked for unrelated reasons.

The spending bill that ultimately passed days later did not include the TAKE IT DOWN Act, requiring lawmakers to go through the whole exercise once again this year.

The bill was also never that controversial, at least on Capitol Hill. While some digital rights advocates raised free speech concerns, only two lawmakers voted against it when it came up for a vote in the House last month.

Meanwhile, it passed the Senate via a "voice vote" — meaning no one opposed it, so there was no need to hold a vote — in both December and February.

On Monday, none of that was mentioned. The first lady, according to Trump, had taken up an "amazing issue," tackling a problem that's "gone on at levels that nobody's ever seen before."

"Working with our first lady, though, we've shown that that bipartisanship is possible," Trump said. "I mean, it's the first time I've seen such a level of bipartisanship, and it's a beautiful thing to do."

• Instagram is testing a new program that pays creators for driving app traffic and sign-ups.
• The program, called "Referrals," offers $100 for every new user or 1,000 visits, up to $20,000.
• The test is limited to US-based creators and is invite-only, Meta told BI.

Instagram's got a new pitch for creators: Get paid for bringing people to the app.

The Meta-owned app has been quietly testing a program that pays creators for driving people to the app, the company confirmed to Business Insider.

The program, called "Referrals," is an invite-only, limited test that pays US-based creators when people visit Instagram or sign up for a new Instagram account from links shared by the creator.

There are two ways creators can earn money, capped at $20,000, from Instagram's referrals:

1. Some creators will be able to earn $100 for every eligible new user who signs up for an Instagram account.
2. Other creators can earn $100 for every 1,000 "eligible visits" to the Instagram app.

For instance, Courtney Canfield, a creator who runs an Instagram page for her dog Rambo, was offered the latter.

Instagram's referral program is set to run for six weeks from May through June. Meta is working with a third-party partner called Glimmer to handle the payments, according to an Instagram help center page for the program.

The app is telling creators to share links — such as to their profile, reels, posts, stories, and channels — "off Instagram," on other websites and apps like TikTok, YouTube, Discord, and Substack, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.

Instagram has faced fierce competition from other apps like TikTok and YouTube. The new monetization test also comes as Meta's broader competition with other social media platforms takes center stage during the Federal Trade Commission's landmark antitrust case against the company.

Instagram has recently been testing a few new ways to incentivize creators to post to the app as it continues to compete for people's attention. Earlier this year, in January, when TikTok was on the brink of a potential ban, Instagram rolled out a "Breakthrough Bonus" for creators coming over from TikTok. Instagram also inked deals with some creators for exclusive-to-Instagram reels content that ranged from $2,500 to $50,000 a month over the course of three months.

Over the past few years, Instagram has also tested several creator monetization programs.

Instagram's not the only social-media platform to incentivize people to bring over new users. Last year, TikTok rolled out a referral program that rewarded people with shopping discounts and other financial incentives for inviting friends to the app, according to The Information.

• Trump's bill could lead to rampant AI abuse, organizations warn in a letter to Congress.
• A provision in the bill would prevent states from regulating AI for a decade.
• The critics argue it risks civil rights, privacy, and accountability.

A group of high-profile unions, advocacy groups, non-profits, and academic institutions are warning that a provision in President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" could lead to the "unfettered abuse" of AI.

In a letter to Congress on Monday, 141 organizations called out a provision in Trump's signature bill that would prohibit states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade. The provision, which Republicans placed into the sweeping tax, immigration, and defense legislation, would be a huge victory for regulation-wary AI companies.

But it would be a nightmare for Americans' civil rights, the groups argued in their letter, which was addressed to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

"Protections for civil rights and children's privacy, transparency in consumer-facing chatbots to prevent fraud, and other safeguards would be invalidated, even those that are uncontroversial," the letter reads.

"The resulting unfettered abuses of AI or automated decision systems could run the gamut from pocketbook harms to working families like decisions on rental prices, to serious violations of ordinary Americans' civil rights, and even to large-scale threats like aiding in cyber attacks on critical infrastructure or the production of biological weapons," it continues.

And, the letter added, without state-level regulations on emerging technologies, companies wouldn't be held accountable.

"This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public," the letter reads.

The letter's signatories include Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Economic Policy Institute, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, the Alphabet Workers Union, and many others.

The provision would invalidate critical state laws — like those already in effect in New Jersey and Colorado — designed to protect people from the harms created by AI, like algorithmic discrimination, which can affect everything from housing, policing, healthcare, and financial services, the letter argues.

Those harms include "many documented cases of AI having highly sexualized conversations with minors and even encouraging minors to commit harm to themselves and others; AI programs making healthcare decisions that have led to adverse and biased outcomes; and AI enabling thousands of women and girls to be victimized by nonconsensual deepfakes," the letter says.

Trump's signature bill, which the House Budget Committee moved forward on Sunday, still has to clear a series of votes in the House before going to the Senate, and the bill's AI provision has to meet a high bar to remain in the larger bill.

The White House and a representative for Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Microsoft's Build developer conference kicked off Monday with a slew of agentic AI updates.
• Microsoft's CTO said there's been an "explosion" of people using agents over the last year, with daily active users doubling.
• The keynote included new agentic features in GitHub, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and appearances from Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

It was all about agentic AI at Microsoft's big developer event on Monday.

"The thing that we've seen over the past year is just sort of an explosion of agents," Microsoft CTO and executive vice president of AI, Kevin Scott, said during the company's Build conference.

Scott added that the number of daily active users of the various AI agents that Microsoft has visibility into "more than doubled" since Microsoft's Build event last year.

CEOs and executives across the tech industry have heralded 2025 as the year of agentic AI, and the Microsoft executive took some time to define what Microsoft means by the term.

Scott described the AI agents Microsoft is building as "a thing that a human being is able to delegate tasks to." AI agents are still in their early days, and Scott said there's still a bit of a "capability overhang with reasoning" at the moment, but they will continue to improve. As that happens over the next year, he said AI agents will get more powerful and cheaper to operate.

'The next big step forward'

Microsoft made a slew of announcements about AI updates and partnerships related to agentic AI during its opening keynote at Build.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company is working to create a host of tools to help build an open, "agentic web" at scale, including cloud computing tools available through its Microsoft Azure platform. The company demoed multiple new AI features available in Windows, Office, Azure, and other platforms throughout the keynote.

Showcasing Microsoft's new Azure SRE agent for site reliability engineering, which will be embedded in GitHub Copilot, Nadella said agents are all about having a reliable AI "peer" that you can delegate complex tasks to and trust to help remove "pain points" for developers, such as getting woken up in the middle of the night to deal with a website issue.

"This is the next big step forward, which is a full coding agent, built right into GitHub, taking Copilot from being a pair programmer to a peer programmer," Nadella said. "You can assign issues to Copilot, bug fixes, new features, code maintenance, and it'll complete these tasks autonomously."

Microsoft also flexed its reach with virtual appearances from a who's who of AI CEOs, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Altman made a live appearance virtually to talk about the evolution of agentic AI and the recent launch of Codex, the AI startup's new agent designed to assist programmers with writing code, fixing bugs, and running tests. Altman described Codex as "true software engineering task delegation."

"We've been talking about someday we'd get to a real agentic coding experience, and it's kind of wild to me that it's finally here," Altman said. "I think this is one of the biggest changes to programming that I've ever seen."

"This idea that you now have a real virtual teammate that you can assign work to, that you can say, 'Hey, go off and do some of the stuff you were just doing and increasingly more advanced things,' you know at some point saying, 'I've got a big idea, go off and work for a couple of days and do it,'" the OpenAI CEO added.

The productivity gains can also be significant, Altman said.

"It was amazing to watch over the last few months as we were working on Codex internally — you know there's always a few people who are the early adopters — and how quickly the people who were just using Codex all day changed their workflow and just the incredible amount they were able to do relative to someone else was quite interesting," he said.

Microsoft announced plans to expand the AI models available through Azure to integrate xAI's Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini. In a pre-recorded clip, Musk, who once interned at Microsoft, talked with Nadella about his first experiences using Microsoft software as well as Grok's capabilities.

Microsoft also introduced "Copilot Tuning" to create agents using company data. The announcement confirmed Business Insider's reporting from last week that Microsoft was planning to debut a new Copilot designed to "rapidly channel an organization's knowledge into a Copilot that can 'talk,' 'think,' and 'work' like the tenant itself," according to an internal memo. That project was previously called Tenant Copilot internally, the company has since confirmed.

In Satya Nadella's closing comments, the Microsoft CEO said the company is trying to apply AI across the "full stack" of software development and agentic web products, including Microsoft 365 Teams, Copilot Studio, and more.

"Ultimately, though, all of this is about creating opportunity to fuel your ambition," the Microsoft CEO said, pointing to a father who used Foundry to speed the diagnosis of a rare disease affecting his son and a startup in South America that created an app to gamify wellness.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is railing against a major stablecoin bill in Congress.
• Warren argued that the legislation, if passed, will "accelerate Trump's corruption."
• The progressive lawmaker has been a frequent critic of the administration on regulatory matters.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on the Senate floor Monday said a major stablecoin bill would boost President Donald Trump and his family's cryptocurrency business ventures.

Warren, a former Democratic presidential candidate and the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, is on the opposing side of the so-called GENIUS Act, a bill intended to regulate stablecoins — a type of currency whose value is tied to another asset.

"The GENIUS Act will accelerate Trump's corruption by supercharging the size of the stablecoin market and the reach and profitability of Trump's USD1," the lawmaker said in her Senate speech. "For the first time in American history, this bill will make our president — Donald Trump — the regulator of his own financial product."

"Congress should not be making it even easier for him to line his pockets with even more shady crypto cash," she continued. "If Congress does not fix this issue here, today, then it will be aiding and abetting his corruption every time President Trump's stablecoin is used to finance a corrupt deal."

The stablecoin bill once had a bipartisan veneer, with a bloc of Democrats joining Republicans in backing the legislation. But the bill has fallen out of favor with Democrats in the wake of Trump's crypto ventures, including the launch of his own meme coin in January and an upcoming dinner for his coin's top 220 investors.

The top 25 holders of the meme coin are set to attend a reception and a VIP White House tour.

In Warren's remarks, she also contends that the legislation could "directly lead to the next financial meltdown."

Before being elected to the Senate, Warren conceived of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the independent consumer protection agency that the White House DOGE office has sought to dismantle since the beginning of the year.

• US special operations is using artificial intelligence to reduce the cognitive load on operators.
• This includes not just combat operations but also paperwork, manual tasks, and data.
• Various types of AI are already being employed and expanded.

From warfighting to paperwork, US Special Operations Forces are interested in getting in on AI to simplify the work.

The goal for these elite forces, much like it is for regular people working office jobs and using AI to sort data or compile information, is to lessen the overall cognitive load, or mental effort, required for whatever a task may be. A lot of different types of artificial intelligence are being used, and it's only growing.

AI has many potential applications for the US military, from autonomous features in uncrewed systems to AI-enabled targeting to enhanced situational awareness. The Department of Defense is eager to implement this technology to prepare US forces for a high-end technological conflict chock full of data and information.

Future wars could be fought in an environment where decision-making may need to happen quicker than humans alone can do, and that's where military officials see the benefit of AI and human-machine teaming.

With AI, "we can reduce the cognitive burden of our operators," Col. Rhea Pritchett, the program executive officer of SOF Digital Applications, said at SOF Week in Tampa, Florida, earlier this month. Instead of worrying about other things, operators "will take that precious time to critically think about actions that they need to take next to achieve the effect that they want."

AI can sift through massive amounts of data quickly to focus on necessary information in a combat scenario and it can aid in mission planning and command and control functions.

This technology can also be used in battlespace awareness tools "to identify the position or location information of objects, people, and terrain — enhancing operator analysis and decision-making capabilities," Pritchett added over email.

These kinds of capabilities are already being developed.

But there are other functions of AI in SOF, and they aren't unlike the way civilians use ChatGPT or other AI-driven platforms for their jobs and personal lives.

That includes paperwork: situational reports, concepts for operations, and forecasting supplies. The tasks that might take an operator a long time to complete and draw their focus away from other aspects of the job.

Back-end work, as Ben Van Roo, CEO and cofounder of Legion Intelligence Inc, put it, could also be aided by artificial intelligence. Such work could include better search functions for analyzing DoD doctrine and understanding elements of specific locations, commands, or job positions.

One prime example could be using AI tools when entering a new position to quickly get up to speed on the work. When military personnel receive orders for their next job, it can be a lot of work to learn not only the ins and outs of the position itself but also the larger bureaucracy, geographic information, and historical and political context, what their predecessor did, types of weapons and capabilities present, and so on.

That is a bit different than how AI in the military is regularly perceived. "People tend to jump to Terminator," Van Roo said. "Actually, the great majority of it right now is just, people can barely even do their jobs with all these archaic systems."

While there are many possibilities for AI technology in warfighting systems, such as the AI-enabled drones that are demonstrating just how effective this technology can make an uncrewed fighting platform or the AI algorithms being taught to fly fighter jets, there's much that can be done to improve the mundane.

AI has the potential to address some of the headaches and help reform some older technological policies, effectively streamlining the processes. It might even have an application in assessing details for contracts and programs.

"The potential to relieve the cognitive load is extremely high," Van Roo said.

AI could provide assistance with what some operators might consider the more time-consuming tasks of their job and take a form similar to an AI assistant designed to take notes, gather and review key client data, transcribe meetings, and outline important takeaways.

AI systems are already being used in SOF, Pritchett told BI, including generative machine learning, large language models, natural language processing, and computer vision.

The rise of AI in militaries has been met with skepticism and ethical concerns from experts and officials about its implementation, especially in combat scenarios.

The Pentagon has maintained that its policy on AI will keep a human in the loop for decision-making, though some observers have argued that doing so might not always be possible in a high-speed, data-driven future fight. Some have also cautioned that the technology may end up developing at a much quicker pace than Washington and the Pentagon can regulate it.

• I used my mom's connections to land a summer internship, which led to a full-time job.
• I suffered from impostor syndrome, worried I only got the job because of my mom.
• But my mom only made the introduction; I got the job because of my accomplishments.

When I was considering my summer plans in early 2021, I knew I had to land a great internship as a college student. I debated whether to reach out to the one person I knew who had the most connections. Ultimately, I knew she would help me land the summer internship I needed. So, I asked my mom for help.

My mother has always been my inspiration as a successful businesswoman. She has held many positions in C-suite and executive roles, oftentimes being the only woman with a seat at the table. She is now an entrepreneur and business owner with connections in many industries.

I knew she would have someone I could connect with to find a job related to my field of study: public health. But once I landed the job, I experienced impostor syndrome.

Using my mom's connections helped me

Before I turned to my mother for help, I was plagued with whether I should ask for it. Did it take away from my own success by asking her? Was I earning what I had worked hard for, or just benefiting from her hard work?

Once I was able to get past the mental hurdle and ask for help, my job search quickly began to fall into place.

In my initial application, I listed my mother as a reference, as she worked very closely with the company. I didn't reference our relationship during the interview process or during work. I only brought it up when it was relevant to the conversation, but for the most part, people knew I was there for the same reasons as anyone else: to learn, to contribute, and to gain relevant experience for my intended career.

Even though the connection was made for me, the interview, conversations, and chance to position myself for a summer internship were all on me. I landed my first professional job, which led to a second internship the following summer with a different team at the same company. After those two internships, I scored a full-time role after graduation.

I struggled with impostor syndrome

At first, I struggled with impostor syndrome, thinking I had landed the job only because of my connections. I worried I hadn't actually earned the positions I was given, especially that first internship.

However, my mom repeatedly reminds me that she only made the introduction; the rest was my own doing.

My career trajectory would look very different if I didn't have that initial introduction. I feel that I utilized all of the resources available to me, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishment.

Using your network is an important step in searching for job opportunities

More recently, I have used connections to explore different ways to use a law degree. I had just finished my first year of law school and was panicking over whether I truly wanted to be a practicing attorney.

By speaking to some of my mom's contacts who had gone to law school and gone into different fields, I saw all the different ways that I could apply my law degree beyond being a practicing attorney.

I still use connections from family and friends wherever possible. The job market is hard, and I think everyone should use their network from family, neighbors, and even professors as a tool to get their foot in the door.

• Walmart's announcement that it will raise prices due to tariffs has other retailers "delighted."
• The news gives retailers cover to raise their own prices, experts told BI.
• Trump's criticism of Walmart sends a warning about discussing price hikes.

Consumers may not be psyched about Walmart's announcement that it's going to raise prices because of President Donald Trump's tariffs, but other retailers are likely breathing a sigh of relief.

Retail analysts told Business Insider that Walmart did other companies a favor with the news, giving them more freedom to raise their own price tags.

"What they are doing is providing air cover for the tens of thousands of retailers — extra-large, large, medium, and small — all of whom are faced with exactly the same issue, and all of whom are going to be raising their prices," said Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia Business School and the former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. Other retailers are, he said, "delighted" about the benchmark Walmart set.

Retailers across the board are contending with rising costs, the experts told BI, but Walmart "leads the market on price," according to the cofounder of the blog Omni Talk Retail, Chris Walton. The country's biggest retailer said shoppers will probably start to see prices tick up at the end of this month and more drastically in June, and those BI spoke to agreed with that timeline.

"We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won't stop. We'll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins," Molly Blakeman, a spokesperson for Walmart, told BI in a statement.

GlobalRetail analyst Neil Saunders wrote in an email that Walmart's honesty about price hikes might open the door for other retailers to have "open dialogues." Yet the honesty didn't come without consequences — Trump bashed the company in a Truth Social post, saying Walmart should, '"EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I'll be watching."

Representatives for the White House directed BI to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's comments on Monday about Walmart, when she confirmed that Trump will be "watching" the company and said he "has always maintained that Chinese producers will be absorbing the cost of these tariffs."

Trump's reaction will likely influence how other retailers manage their own pricing conversations, the experts said.

"Retailers will have learned they need to be very careful — and it's very tricky — on how they articulate that so as to not wind up on a Truth Social post," Michael Baker, a senior analyst at D.A. Davidson, told BI. "That does add a layer of complication."

He anticipates executives will figure out how to more delicately discuss tariffs on coming earnings calls so as not to anger the president. Walton told BI that other retailers may try to avoid talking about rising costs publicly, and instead let shelf prices speak for themselves.

"President Trump has sent a warning shot that he doesn't like companies talking about price increases related to tariffs," Saunders wrote. "That may make some retailers more hesitant to draw a link, but I don't think it will stop them putting up prices. They will need to financially."

The president has issued not-so-subtle warnings about price hikes before, like when he sharply criticized Amazon for its reported plans to publicize how much tariffs were contributing to rising costs. Amazon said it had no plans to do so on its main site at the time, but experts told BI that the swift reaction sent a "warning signal to other companies" nonetheless.

Though Walmart may be one of the first big box retailers to publicize looming price hikes, it's better positioned to deal with the new tariffs than some competitors. Both Saunders and Baker said the company's scale gives it the ability to offset some of the tariff impact.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders took another swipe at Shari Redstone.
• The former Democratic presidential hopeful was responding to the latest shake-up at CBS News.
• On Monday, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced her resignation.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday intensified his pressure campaign on Paramount Global's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, following another major shake-up at CBS News.

CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon on Monday announced that she was stepping down, another bombshell development as its parent company, Paramount, potentially explores a settlement of President Donald Trump's suit against the company and "60 Minutes."

"I say to Shari Redstone: Enough is enough," Sanders wrote on X. "Do not capitulate to Trump's attack on a free press. Do not settle Trump's bogus lawsuit against 60 Minutes."

McMahon wrote in a message to staff that was obtained by Business Insider that it was time for her to "move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership."

"The past few months have been challenging," she said in the message. "It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward."

Paramount declined further comment to Business Insider.

Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has led his colleagues in pressuring Paramount as the company seeks FCC approval of its merger with SkyDance. He and others have expressed skepticism over Paramount's turnabout from fighting Trump's lawsuit against CBS.

Trump sued CBS for $10 billion for what he claimed was deceptive editing of "60 Minutes'" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. Trump later amended his claim to $20 billion in damages and added Paramount to the suit.

First Amendment organizations have dismissed Trump's claims, saying that "60 Minutes" was well within its journalistic rights. In April, The New York Times reported that Paramount's board was discussing a potential settlement.

No deal has yet to be reached.

On May 7, Sanders and eight Senate Democrats wrote to Redstone urging her to "make it clear to President Trump today that Paramount will not surrender to his attack on the First Amendment."

Last month, Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of "60 Minutes," also bowed out. Scott Pelley, one of the show's longtime correspondents, later expressed his displeasure with the situation on air.

"Stories we've pursued for 57 years are often controversial — lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair — he was tough that way," Pelley said during the first "60 Minutes" broadcast that followed Owens' departure. "But our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires."

• Lawyer Erik Bolog is a beneficiary of a $10 million "gift" from Claudia Engelhorn, a pharma heir.
• Engelhorn has said the gift was "alcohol induced," while Bolog says it was legitimate.
• Engelhorn is suing Bolog and his ex-firm. The firm says it's caught in the middle.

Claudia Engelhorn, a daughter of a German pharmaceutical tycoon, claims she was duped into handing over $10 million to her former attorney Erik Bolog — and alleges that his former law firm looked the other way while he pocketed the cash.

The heir has been litigating for months against Bolog and the law firm, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. The dispute is over the "gift" Bolog says she gave him as thanks for helping her win a $130 million case in Monégasque and Swiss courts during the pandemic.

Bolog's defense hinges on a three-page document signed by Engelhorn that says she insisted on making the gift and did so without consulting anyone. "You advised (begged) me to hire independent counsel," the document, which was included in court filings, says. "As you have learned over the past several years, I am not easily discouraged and once I have decided to do something, I do it."

Bolog said in court filings that the gift was legitimate and Engelhorn turned on him after he scolded her for what he said was "a racially hateful statement" that she made at a restaurant. He said she told a Black family "that it was nice that they were allowed to eat in restaurants."

One of Engelhorn's lawyers, Tony Williams, says the heir was "tricked" into signing the gift paperwork when Bolog gave it to her one morning while she was vacationing on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He called the claim about her remark to a Black family "absolutely false."

In an email to Bolog that was included in court records, Engelhorn wrote: "You took an alcohol induced statement for your benefit." Bolog has claimed in court documents that her story shifted.

Williams also said in a meeting that Engelhorn was on the autism spectrum. "She's not a sophisticated investor," Williams told Business Insider. "She's a woman who has spent her life raising a family, and he should've known that. We did say, with her permission, that she's on the spectrum, and we know that she is, and he knew that."

"The whole thing's meshugganah," said Doug Gansler, one of Bolog's lawyers, using a Yiddish word for craziness. "She's a sophisticated businesswoman. She's not someone who doesn't know what she's doing or understand the value of money."

Engelhorn couldn't be reached for comment. Bolog didn't respond to a request for comment.

The existence of the case, which was filed in Baltimore in September, hasn't previously been reported.

Engelhorn's father, Curt Engelhorn, led a German pharmaceutical company that was sold to the healthcare giant Roche in 1997 for a reported $11 billion. Bolog says she's the "life trustee" of an entity called the Mannheim Trust that has paid her $1 million a year and lent her another $30 million.

Williams, meanwhile, said Bolog vastly overstated Engelhorn's fortune. He said the Mannheim Trust, which Bolog said held $500 million to benefit Engelhorn and others, had been divided among three of her children. Only the money from the Swiss case remains for Engelhorn, Williams said, and it's now "substantially less" than $130 million.

Bolog's former law firm, Whiteford, said it had nothing to do with his dealings. The firm said in a court filing it fired Bolog in May 2023 over issues including how he accounted for expenses. (Gansler denied wrongdoing by his client.)

In her lawsuit, Engelhorn said Whiteford bore some responsibility for Bolog's actions. She said billing records showed that other people at the firm were aware of and contributed to the deception.

The firm said in court filings that the other Whiteford lawyers who appeared to have helped draft the gift paperwork were under the impression that Engelhorn wanted to give a much smaller gift to a member of her staff. They say Bolog edited the documents to reroute the money to himself and his family, something Whiteford said it didn't learn about for two years.

The firm didn't respond to a request for comment.

Gansler is a former Maryland attorney general who's now at the white-shoe firm Cadwalader. Another lawyer for Engelhorn, Wes Henderson, is described on his website as "one of the most experienced and knowledgeable car accident attorneys in Crofton," a sleepy Maryland community of about 30,000 people. He also handles legal malpractice cases, the website says. He declined to comment.

Bolog has had various business interests over the years. His main pursuits have been contingency-fee injury lawsuits and a real estate firm called Tenacity that financed tenant acquisitions of their apartment buildings. In 2005, he was listed in Securities and Exchange Commission records as part of a bank's ownership group.

Gansler said Bolog recently moved to California to do plaintiff-side litigation there.

Bolog has had a colorful legal career. In the late 1990s, he helped a Maryland politician get off with a light sentence after she was accused of hiring a contract killer to whack her husband. The trial ended in a hung jury and she later pled no-contest, according to news reports. He was also among a group of lawyers hoping for a payout from a $120 million judgment against Iraq now pending in the US Supreme Court.

He has had gambling debts, though Gansler said he now has none and had no debt at the time he received Engelhorn's gift. In 2019, Harrah's Philadelphia Casino claimed in a lawsuit that Bolog owed $34,000 for a cash advance, and in 2022, a Caesars casino in Indiana sued him for $45,000. Gansler said that the Caesars lawsuit was filed by mistake. The debts in both cases were several years old, and both lawsuits have been resolved.

Engelhorn has had previous legal issues as well.

In 2007, she agreed to let a revivalist preacher named Tommie Zito and his wife live in a $3.2 million six-bedroom Florida mansion for $300 a month. She claimed that he abused her trust and manipulated her into buying the property and letting his family stay there "for a value far below the property's market value." She sued him twice to try to get out of the deal; both times, she lost.

Zito didn't respond to calls and text messages.

Madeleine O'Neill contributed reporting.

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Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with "aggressive" prostate cancer, his office said. Here are five symptoms of prostate cancer that are easy to miss.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon addressed various topics Monday at the firm's investor day meeting.
• He said the bank would allow investors to buy bitcoin, while warning of stagflation.
• He sounded dour on the economy but hopeful about a regulatory reset.

Jamie Dimon isn't a fan of bitcoin, but he plans to start offering it to clients of JPMorgan Chase, nonetheless.

"We are going to allow you to buy it. We're not going to custody it. We're going to put it in statements for clients," Dimon said Monday at the bank's annual presentation for investors.

"I don't think you should smoke. But I defend your right to smoke," he said in explaining his position.

The bitcoin comments came as the JPMorgan CEO, often considered Wall Street's elder statesman, took the stage to answer questions from investors and research analysts. In the roughly 40-minute session, he touched on various topics, from the economy to what he expected from President Donald Trump's regulators.

Dimon sounded a dour note on the economy, saying he thought the risk of stagflation was "two times" as high as many think and making dire predictions on credit as an investment class.

"I think the worst one for a bank and for most companies is stagflation," he said, adding: "I think the odds of that are probably two times what the market thinks."

He also said the bank had lost some commercial opportunities as a result of Trump's trade war. "We've lost business because of that," he said in response to an analyst's question.

He sounded upbeat, however, when it came to the president's regulatory agenda.

"I think that the secretary of Treasury, the president of the United States, the new head of the OCC, the new head of the CFPB, Michelle Bowman at Federal Reserve, and the SEC have all made it clear that they want to fix some of the things they think are broken," he said. "I think they'll accomplish some of that. Some will take longer than others, but they all want to do it."

He called on regulators to consider lightening regulations for publicly traded companies, which he said had been halved since the 1990s, from 8,000 to 4,000.

"We're driving companies out of the public marketplace because of expensive reporting, litigation, cookie-cutter approaches to boards, compensation, and litigation," he said.

"I would love to be a private company," he added.

Dimon also raised questions about the rapid expansion of investments in credit, including through funds raised to make nonbank loans, or private credit.

"I don't like making forecasts, but I am not a buyer of credit today. I think credit today is a bad risk," he said, adding: "I think that people who haven't been through major downturns are missing the point about what can happen in credit."

As interest rates rise and economic conditions soften, the risk of credit defaults rises, sometimes leaving borrowers strapped for cash and lenders struggling to recoup capital.

Earlier in the day, Marianne Lake, JPMorgan's CEO of consumer and community banking, said the firm was "closely monitoring the whole ecosystem" of lending but not giving up despite warning signs.

"The environment is very challenging for home lending and auto," she said, adding: "but we remain committed."

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• Elon Musk was a star at the US Open in September 2024, media mogul Barry Diller said.
• Diller said the public turned on Musk as his influence over the government grew.
• The billionaire advised Musk to address government waste with care, not aggressive measures.

Barry Diller said he witnessed Elon Musk's popularity firsthand at the US Open in 2024 — but less than a year later, it's a different story.

The public's perception of Musk has had a major shift since Donald Trump won the presidential election, Expedia Group chairman Diller said during Monday's episode of the "On with Kara Swisher" podcast.

The pair sat in the same luxury box to watch the US Open men's singles final match in September, where Diller said he was "amazed" by Musk's celebrity.

"A third of the faces in that audience were looking at him and not at this champ game that was taking place," the 83-year-old said.

He recalled hundreds of people gathering to take pictures and ask for Musk's signature during a break in the game.

Eight months, one election, and a controversial plan to cut government spending later, Diller says an appearance like that wouldn't play out the same way it did last year.

"If today he was in that box, they'd throw tomatoes at him," Diller said. "It's only September to May. I've never seen anything as swift as that."

Neither Musk nor representatives for Expedia Group immediately responded to Business Insider's request for comment.

Musk set out to cut $2 trillion in government spending with his involvement in the White House DOGE office, and he's faced backlash since then in the form of protests and movements like Tesla Takedown. Such resistance has made it harder to execute his plans, he told reporters during an April Q&A session.

"Being attacked is not super fun," Musk said. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."

Diller, who cofounded the Fox TV network with Rupert Murdoch, previously said Musk has "a form of megalomania" and backed Trump out of bitterness toward the Democrats in October. He doubled down on Monday, telling Swisher that Musk is entitled to his megalomania, but it has its consequences.

"I personally like him," Diller said. "Unfortunately if you are a megalomaniac, your tuning fork ear is lost, and he lost it."

Enter the proverbial tomatoes prompted by Musk's slashes to government spending through DOGE, Diller said.

His advice? Work to eliminate government waste "with a thoughtful, kind hand" instead of a "chainsaw."

• Sean "Diddy" Combs listed his Los Angeles mansion for sale a week before he was arrested.
• As his trial proceeds, the house is still on the market with the same asking price: $61.5 million.
• Cassie Ventura said "freak offs" weren't held there, but its link to Combs might still deter buyers.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is sitting in a Manhattan courtroom, facing off with his sexual abuse accusers at trial.

His mansion in Los Angeles, however, is sitting empty.

Combs listed the 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in LA's ritzy Holmby Hills neighborhood for $61.5 million a week before his arrest in September 2024 — and it's unlikely to sell anytime soon.

His ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, testified last week that Combs' South Mapleton Drive home was not used for any "freak offs," the dayslong sex performances that the trial centers on. In general, homes priced in the eight-figure range don't fly off the shelves that quickly. Still, most homebuyers are put off by its association with an accused sex trafficker, according to a consultant who specializes in selling homes tainted by murder or other disasters.

"When they buy a home at that price point, they like to brag about it," Michael Tachovsky, a partner at Landmark Research Group, told BI. "P. Diddy's reputation, at the current time, really isn't a positive bragging point for a potential buyer. It can play into perceptions, and when there's a negative perception with a property, it just makes it harder to sell."

Two Los Angeles-area real estate agents reached by Business Insider declined to go on record about Combs' property to avoid any association.

Combs has denied all wrongdoing. The music tycoon has consistently argued that all sexual encounters were consensual. The defense also argues that any violence fell far short of sex trafficking and that his accusers have a financial motive to implicate him.

The listing agent, Kurt Rappaport, didn't return multiple requests for comment by email and phone. A rep for Combs and his lawyer also didn't return requests for comment by email.

The history of Combs' LA mansion

Combs purchased the property on Mapleton Drive in 2014 for just over $39 million, according to Los Angeles County property records.

The main house's architecture excludes European vibes and contains a formal dining room, a wine cellar, a theater that fits 35 people, a kitchen, and a separate catering kitchen. A two-story guest house has bedrooms, a gym, and a recording studio.

The grounds, over 1.3 acres, have an oversize statue of a woman seemingly made from similar material to a disco ball, plus a swimming pool with a waterfall and grotto, a basketball court, a spa house, and an outdoor loggia with a barbecue, bar, and pizza oven.

Other homes for sale on the same street are asking similar prices.

Jack Harris, a real estate agent with The Beverly Hills Estate, has an eight-bedroom listing on Mapleton Drive just a few doors down from Combs' house, priced at $62.5 million.

"You normally can't buy into Holmby Hills for less than $20 million — Mapleton being one of the most prestigious streets in Holmby Hills," Harris told BI.

"It's a little pocket that's right between Beverly Hills and Bel Air — there's only a handful of streets," he added.

Combs hosted parties at his house, including a 2017 Grammys afterparty.

Combs also owns a seven-bedroom, 14,800-square-foot home on Star Island in Miami, where Ventura said in court last week that "freak offs" did take place. He bought the home in 2023 for $14.5 million and satisfied the $18.8 million left on his mortgage in August of 2024 to sure up his proposed bond package.

In March 2024, law enforcement officials seized "narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant" from his Los Angeles and Miami residences.

A buyer could be drawn to the renovation potential

Real estate investor Steven "Bo" Belmon made a lowball offer of $30 million in November of 2024.

Belmont said in a press release that he planned to renovate.

"I want to remove the stigma and focus on the charming elegance of this remarkable property," Belmont said in the release.

Belmont is no stranger to controversial properties purchased at a hefty discount. In 2024, he bought Kanye West's abandoned Malibu mansion for $21 million, less than half of its original asking price of $53 million.

Tachovsky pointed to other properties where negative events have taken place that sold years after they hit the market for well below the asking price.

The ongoing legal battles will inevitably limit the pool of buyers, he added.

"At the moment, it doesn't sound like anything nefarious happened at the property, but I don't think there's any certainty yet," he said. "When you've got notorious issues, like the Diddy case, that's not a no-name person. That can linger for some time."