Juul, the San Francisco e-cigarette startup that city officials want to kick out, is trying to buy a 29-floor office tower in the heart of the city

• E-cigarette startup Juul Labs is reportedly in talks to purchase a 29-floor building in downtown San Francisco as it struggles to house a rapidly growing workforce.
• The startup has come under intense scrutiny from federal and local officials for its role in popularizing vaping with youth, the health consequences of which are still undetermined.
• A Juul spokesperson confirmed that the company's headcount grew from 200 to 2,000 people in the last year and that a majority of those jobs are based in San Francisco.
• The San Francisco Chronicle reported the deal would be among the largest in San Francisco history for a tech company that doesn't specialize in real estate.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Juul Labs, an e-cigarette startup that has raised more than $12 billion in funding, is reportedly nearing a deal to purchase a high-rise building in downtown San Francisco to house its rapidly growing staff.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday, Juul has its sights on 123 Mission Street, a 29-floor building near the city's Transbay area in the Financial District. The company recently purchased a renovated historic building near Pier 70 in the city's developing Dogpatch neighborhood, the report said.

Read More: Founders Fund made its first alcohol investment. Here's how the 28-year old woman who founded the company is trying to change drinking culture for the better.

Juul spokesperson Ted Kwong would not confirm the report, but said that the company had grown from 200 employees to 2,000 in the last year, with a a majority of the workers located in the company's San Francisco headquarters.

"As a result, we are currently looking for additional office space in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, but we have nothing to announce at this time," Kwong told Business Insider via email.

Juul first gained notoriety for its aggressive marketing for its flavored e-cigarettes aimed at teens. The company is now partly owned by Altria, the tobacco giant that makes Marlboro cigarettes, and has come under intense scrutiny from federal and local health officials for its claims that vaping is a healthy alternative to cigarettes.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle report, the building in question is five times the size of the company's current office space, and was last sold in 2018 for $290 million. If Juul purchases the building, the deal will be one of the largest in San Francisco history for a tech company that doesn't specialize in real estate, according to the report.

The company's Dogpatch presence ignited a firestorm among San Francisco politicians and residents, and officials introduced legislation in March that would prohibit e-cigarette companies like Juul from occupying city-owned property, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

SEE ALSO: Divvy, the Utah startup that keeps a safe distance from the 'noise' of Silicon Valley, just raised $200 million in its 3rd funding round in a year

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NOW WATCH: Facial recognition is almost perfectly accurate — here's why that could be a problem

source https://www.businessinsider.com/juul-labs-reportedly-purchasing-downtown-san-francisco-high-rise-2019-5

Googlers across the country are staging a big 'sit-in' because they say organizers of November's sexual harassment walkouts were retaliated against (GOOG, GOOGL)

• Google employees in offices around the world are staging a May Day "sit-in" on Wednesday to protest what they say are instances of workplace retaliation at the tech giant. 
• The sit-in was prompted by the case of two employees who said they were demoted and forced to give up some of their duties after they helped organize November walkouts to call attention to sexual harassment at the company.
• The sit-ins are taking place at 11AM local time in offices across the globe. 
• In New York, there were reportedly more than 200 Google employees who took part in the demonstration, reading and listening to instances of retaliation. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google employees in offices around the world are staging a May Day "sit-in" on Wednesday to protest what they say is pattern of of retaliation against workers who speak out for change at the tech giant. 

The sit-in was prompted after two employees who helped organize the November Walkouts — Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton — said Google demoted them and forced them to give up some of their duties in response to their organizing efforts. 

"My manager started ignoring me, my work was given to other people, and I was told to go on medical leave, even though I'm not sick," Stapleton said in an internal email sent to Google employees. "While my work has been restored, the environment remains hostile and I consider quitting nearly every day."

Read more: Two Google employees who spearheaded the walkout against sexual misconduct say the company has retaliated and demoted them

On Wednesday, other Google employees are joining Whittaker and Stapleton in sharing their stories of retaliation. The sit-ins are taking place at 11 AM local time in offices across the globe. 

In New York, there were reportedly more than 200 employees who took part in the demonstration, reading and listening to instances of retaliation. 

#NotOkGoogle story: "I had a manager with clear favorites — he even openly called them his “proteges.” After a year on the team, during perf, I gave my manager an average manager review. In an effort to find out who wrote what about him, he read all his review feedback ...

— Google Walkout For Real Change (@GoogleWalkout) May 1, 2019

 

Employees in Cambridge, London, and Pittsburgh have also reportedly taken part. Stories will also be shared throughout the day on Twitter via the hashtag, #NotOkGoogle. 

In response to the sit-ins, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement: "We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation."

This story is developing. 

Do you work at Google? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (209) 730-3387 using a non-work phone, email at nbastone@businessinsider.com, Telegram at nickbastone, or Twitter DM at @nickbastone.

SEE ALSO: Google launched a new internal portal to help employees report workplace issues, and it's hoping the number of reports goes up as a result

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NOW WATCH: We unboxed the $1,980 Samsung Galaxy Fold — here's what comes inside

source https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sit-in-to-protest-workplace-retaliation-2019-5

A Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger after using a master key to enter her cabin, a lawsuit alleges (NCLH)

• A new lawsuit alleges that a Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger.
• In 2018, a steward on Norwegian's Spirit cruise ship entered a passenger's cabin with a master key after being told not to do so, touching and ultimately sexually assaulting an 11-year-old female passenger, the lawsuit alleges.
• The passenger was then subjected to questioning conducted exclusively by male employees for around three-and-a-half hours in the ship's infirmary, according to the lawsuit.
• Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Norwegian Cruise Line employee sexually assaulted an 11-year-old passenger, a lawsuit alleges. 

According to the plaintiff, referred to in the complaint as Jane Doe, Norwegian failed to provide a safe environment for passengers. The company did not properly screen, train, or keep track of its employees and did not give passengers a way to prevent employees from entering their cabins without their permission, the lawsuit alleges.

Read more: Sexual assault is the most common crime reported on cruise ships

In 2018, a steward on Norwegian's Spirit cruise ship entered Jane Doe's cabin after being told to not disturb the plaintiff's daughter, referred to in the complaint as Janie Doe, as she was resting, according to the lawsuit. The steward, who was around 27 at the time of the alleged incident, entered the room with a master key on four separate occasions, touching and ultimately sexually assaulting Janie Doe, the lawsuit alleges. Before leaving the cabin, the steward allegedly told Janie Doe to refrain from telling anyone about the sexual assault.

Janie Doe was then subjected to questioning conducted exclusively by male employees for around three-and-a-half hours in the ship's infirmary, the lawsuit alleges. According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe made multiple requests for her and Janie Doe to leave the infirmary and was not permitted to do so until she "demanded" they be allowed to exit.

Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sexual assault is the most common crime reported on cruise ships, according to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT). In 2018, cruise lines reported 82 alleged sexual assaults to the DOT.

SEE ALSO: A lawyer warns of a legal nightmare you can face on a ship

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NOW WATCH: Look inside the new $1.3 billion complex at Singapore's Changi Airport, with a 130-foot indoor waterfall

source https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-line-employee-sexually-assaulted-young-passenger-lawsuit-alleges-2019-5

A drugmaker allegedly used free Las Vegas trips, fancy dinners, spa treatments, and Starbucks gift cards to bribe doctors to sell more of its expensive drug

• A company now owned by the $1 billion drugmaker Mallinckrodt allegedly paid doctors and their office staff "bribes" to increase their prescriptions, a whistleblower lawsuit from two former employees claims. 
• The US government recently decided to get involved in the whistleblowers' case.
• The alleged bribes ranged from Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts gift cards to Las Vegas trips, spa treatments and sponsored happy hours, according to the suit.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

To sell its expensive drug, a drugmaker allegedly resorted to bribing doctors and, when that failed, their office staffs, with everything from Starbucks gift cards to free Las Vegas trips, lavish dinners, sponsored happy hours and karaoke excursions.

That's according to allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit by two former employees of the company Questcor. Questcor was acquired by the drugmaker Mallinckrodt in 2014. The Pennsylvania district court suit was initially filed in 2012 and unsealed last month, because the US government decided to intervene.

Mallinckrodt shares dropped 14% on Tuesday after CNN reported on the lawsuit, wiping out more than $200 million in market value. 

At the heart of this lawsuit and others is a controversial, decades-old drug for infantile spasms called Acthar, which became highly profitable for Mallinckrodt thanks to big price increases and pushing doctors to use it "off-label" for new conditions, including to treat the chronic disease multiple sclerosis. 

Acthar cost as much as $150,000 per patient by 2012, according to the whistleblower complaint, much more than a generic steroid alternative, which could cost as little as $800.

The suit alleges that's why Questcor turned to bribes.

Acthar's main competitor "is cheaper, requires a shorter course of treatment and is the standard-of-care for treating exacerbations of MS. Questcor's response to this challenge has been to bribe physicians to prescribe and promote H.P. Acthar Gel instead of Solu-Medrol," the rival product, the complaint alleges.

Mallinckrodt said in a statement that the lawsuit was years old, and allegations largely have to do with "legacy Questcor conduct." The company has been cooperating with the Department of Justice and participating in "advanced settlement talks" over the last few months, it said. 

"As the lawsuit principally concerns allegations of legacy conduct prior to Mallinckrodt's acquisition of Acthar Gel, we do not envision any impact to how Mallinckrodt conducts business today," it said. "Mallinckrodt strongly disagrees with the substance of the complaint and the sensational characterization of the allegations."

Alleged bribes ranged from free junkets to Las Vegas to karaoke excursions and more, whistleblowers say

The alleged bribes given as examples in the lawsuit range dramatically. 

One star sales specialist took doctors on junkets to Las Vegas and gave them spa treatments. The salesperson bragged to one of the whistleblowers of her success going on karaoke excursions with Asian physicians, according to the complaint.

Another doctor, who practiced in Yonkers, NY, started prescribing Acthar after being taken to a lavish dinner with her husband and other doctors at a restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Westchester, the complaint said.

And when doctors wouldn't take meetings with salespeople, the sales personnel allegedly turned to bribing office staff with Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks gift cards. Some of those gifts were valued at as much as $500, according to the complaint.

Those alleged bribes were just some of the many ways the company allegedly pushed Acthar prescriptions, according to the lawsuit. Other methods included doling out research funds to doctors who promoted the product and "exorbitant" speaker fees of $2,000 a presentation or even more, the suit said.

One doctor at the University of Texas, for instance, was allegedly paid $500 a patient for each research trial he led testing out Acthar, plus more to promote the results to doctors all around the US.

"These trials are of dubious scientific value because they were neither placebo-controlled nor double-blind," the lawsuit says.

"None have been published in peer-reviewed journals, none have led to an application to expand the FDA approval for H.P. Acthar Gel, and none have demonstrated that H.P. Acthar Gel is any more efficacious than Solu-Medrol," the competitor.

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NOW WATCH: There are 7.7 billion humans on Earth today. Here's what would actually happen if Thanos destroyed 50% of all life on the planet.

source https://www.businessinsider.com/bribes-allegedly-helped-mallinckrodt-sell-acthar-lawsuit-2019-4

The FBI reportedly just raided microbiome-testing startup uBiome as part of an investigation into improper billing

• The FBI raided microbiome testing startup uBiome's San Francisco offices on Friday. 
• The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the raid, reports that the FBI is investigating uBiome's billing practices. 
• CNBC reports that uBiome routinely charged patients twice for tests. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The FBI on Friday raided the San Francisco offices of uBiome, a startup that sells tests that sequence the microbiome, or the assortment of bacteria and other microbes that live in our bodies.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the raid, reported that the FBI is investigating uBiome's billing practices.

UBiome sent Business Insider this statement: "We are cooperating fully with federal authorities on this matter. We look forward to continuing to serve the needs of healthcare providers and patients."

The FBI confirmed that its agents were "conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity" at the address of uBiome's headquarters, but declined to provide further information.

UBiome sells doctor-ordered tests including SmartJane, its test that looks at the vaginal microbiome to test for sexually transmitted diseases as well as chronic vaginal infections, and SmartGut, which looks at the gut microbiome to test for gut conditions and metabolic disorders. Both can be covered by health insurance. uBiome also sells a direct-to-consumer test that doesn't require a prescription called the "Explorer" test. 

Read more: I tried a test that let me peek inside my microbiome, the 'forgotten organ' that scientists say is the future of medicine — and what I learned shocked me

CNBC reports that uBiome routinely charged patients' plans twice for tests. CNBC also reported that health insurer Anthem had flagged the company for its over-billing practices. Anthem did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Scientists have been working on ways to use the microbiome to unlock new treatments for difficult diseases. It's led to new companies — both on the medical side and in agriculture— that are taking a range of approaches to looking at the microbiome. It's often seen as the "forgotten organ." 

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NOW WATCH: Your apartment location can affect how cockroaches, rats, and mice get in. A New York City exterminator told us the places he'd never live.

source https://www.businessinsider.com/microbiome-testing-startup-ubiome-fbi-raid-2019-4

Here's why Facebook is paying a fine of $3 billion to $5 billion (FB)

• Facebook is estimating that it could be subject to a $3 to $5 billion fine by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to the company's earnings report filed on Wednesday. 
• The fine could come as a result of Facebook violating a 2011 agreement with the FTC regarding consumer privacy. 
• As part of that agreement, Facebook agreed to get users' consent before sharing their data with third parties, such as Cambridge Analytica. It also agreed to take steps to better protect users' data.
• The FTC began investigating the social-media giant in March 2018 after news of Facebook's mishandling of user data in the case of Cambridge Analytica became public. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook said it plans to pay a fine of $3 billion to $5 billion for potentially violating a previous settlement with federal regulators about the social network's privacy practices. 

"In the first quarter of 2019, we reasonably estimated a probable loss and recorded an accrual of $3.0 billion in connection with the inquiry of the FTC into our platform and user data practices," Facebook said in its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.

"The matter remains unresolved, and there can be no assurance as to the timing or the terms of any final outcome," Facebook said. 

Facebook didn't provide details about the inquiry or the specific data practices under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

So what is Facebook expecting to pay all this money for? 

The FTC began investigating the social-media giant in March 2018 after its mishandling of user data, according to reports. That incident involved the Trump-linked political-research firm Cambridge Analytica, which misappropriated personal information of tens of millions of Facebook members for use in targeted political ads. 

But that's just one of many privacy missteps by Facebook in recent years, including a hacking incident that left personal information of 30 million users exposed. As Business Insider's Rob Price reported this month, Facebook also uploaded the email contact information of 1.5 million new users without informing them or seeking their consent. 

Which of these incidents are covered by the $3 billion to $5 billion fine, and which are not, will be crucial for Facebook and its investors going forward. 

1) the settlement will likely include *all* past consent-decree violations
2) its unlikely FTC will re-open an investigation if they're in the middle of negotiations...

$3-5B will be a win for FB as it'll clear them from the more recent violations too (unencrypted passwd etc)

— ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) April 24, 2019

The settlement that Facebook may have violated was reached in 2011 over separate charges of privacy violations. As a part of that agreement — known as a consent decree — Facebook agreed to get users' consent before sharing their data with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica. It also agreed to takes steps to better protect users' data.

Reports of the potential fine became public in February, but no figures were given at the time other than estimates that it could be in the "multibillion-dollar" range. Facebook's call out of the fine in its earnings report confirms earlier estimates, though no definite numbers will be known until a settlement with the FTC is reached or the case goes to trial. 

Facebook finished Q1 with $45 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Shares of Facebook jumped 5% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Facebook expects to be hit with $3-5 billion fine by the FTC, as it beats Wall Street's revenue expectations for Q1

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NOW WATCH: The Mars 2020 rover started as a pile of aluminum panels that took over 5,000 hours to assemble. Here's how it was made.

source https://www.businessinsider.com/why-facebook-paying-3-billion-ftc-fine-2019-4

Tim Cook said Apple's fight with the FBI in 2016 was a 'very rigged case,' and he wishes it went to court (AAPL)

• Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed by visiting Harvard professor Nancy Gibbs at the TIME 100 event on Tuesday.
• Gibbs asked Cook about privacy — since the last time they saw each other, Apple was in the midst of a privacy battle with the Justice Department over unlocking an iPhone.
• Cook says we've come a long way since Apple opposed the Justice Department's order to assist the FBI in unlocking a terrorist's phone, but says he wishes the case went to court since discovering it was "a very rigged case to begin with."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In an interview with Nancy Gibbs at the TIME 100 event on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he wished his company's fight with the FBI over the ability to unlock an iPhone had actually gone to court.

"Our battle was over whether or not the government could force Apple to create a tool that could put hundreds of millions of people at risk in order to get into a phone — and we said no, the law does not support the government having the authority to do that," Cook told Gibbs.

In December 2015, the FBI obtained an iPhone 5C from one of the two perpetrators behind a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and injured 22 others. Police killed the two attackers in a shootout, so the FBI was unable to get into the phone it recovered, as it had a 4-digit passcode enabled. The NSA was unable to unlock it, however, so the FBI asked Apple to help build a new operating system that could be installed on the phone and disable its security features — something Tim Cook called at the time the "software equivalent of cancer." Apple opposed the order, citing the security and privacy risks it would pose to other customers, and a hearing was scheduled for March 22.

But just one day before the scheduled hearing with Apple, the government said it found a third party that could help unlock the iPhone, and delayed the hearing. The FBI formally withdrew its request to Apple one week later.

"I wish that case went to court, to be honest," Cook said on Tuesday. "It was dropped the day before, and now after the Inspector General reports have come out, our worst fears have been confirmed: that it was a very rigged case to begin with."

The Inspector General report Cook alluded to, which was published in March 2018, mentioned how "there were misunderstandings and incorrect assumptions" among people working on this case at the FBI, and that Apple's involvement wasn't actually necessary in the first place. The FBI has a Remote Operations Unit (ROU) that's responsible for handling mobile devices like these — and this is the same unit that ultimately figured out how to unlock the shooter's iPhone — but the FBI failed to get the ROU involved before issuing its order to Apple for assistance.

"This was not the government's finest hour," Cook told Gibbs. "I have personally never seen the government apparatus move against a company like it did here in a very dishonest manner. I felt like the naive guy that thought these things didn't happen. They were trying to prevent a discussion or a dialogue or a debate about this. I hope that we've advanced much further than that."

Cook said privacy has become much more meaningful to mainstream Americans now, and reaffirmed Apple's stance on why it's so important.

"In the world where everything is totally open, people begin to guard what it is they will say. Think about where society goes if we're afraid to tell each other our opinions — if we're afraid that somebody's listening, or watching, or monitoring, or we're under surveillance. This is a bad thing inherently in a very broad way, not to mention the manipulation that can go on with pitting different groups against each other."

You can watch Cook's whole interview with Gibbs from the TIME 100 event below (Cook's portion begins about 45 minutes into the video, since the event is still ongoing).

SEE ALSO: Apple will help rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral after its massive fire, according to CEO Tim Cook

DON'T MISS: The 20 best iPhone tips and tricks to make your life easier

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NOW WATCH: The Mars 2020 rover started as a pile of aluminum panels that took over 5,000 hours to assemble. Here's how it was made.

source https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-apple-fbi-san-bernardino-very-rigged-case-2019-4