CASINOS
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Monday voted to impose several new conditions to Wynn Resorts’ license to operate the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett, in reaction to Wynn’s plans for an events venue across Broadway from the casino and an overhead walkway that could connect the two sites. The conditions include promising that any venue in the development would have fewer than 1,000 or more than 3,500 ticketed seats, essentially matching limits in state law for entertainment venues built within casinos. Any bookings for the new venue could not include restrictions barring entertainers from performing elsewhere in the state, according to the new conditions, and Wynn would submit any proposals it makes for future developments in Everett’s Lower Broadway urban renewal area to the gaming commission for further review. Wynn is fine with the changes and a company spokesman said it is pleased with the commission’s decision; the commission opted against including any property across the street as part of the actual casino footprint that it regulates, a decision that could have imposed additional security- and safety-related rules for that development. In December, Wynn had raised concerns among rival theater operators after proposing an 1,800-seat venue there, and eventually revised its plans to keep it under 1,000 seats in size. Wynn is also building a 20,000-square-foot restaurant space and a 2,300-car parking garage across the street, and has long-term plans to develop hotels and other businesses in that area. — JON CHESTO
UKRAINE
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Citigroup, the US bank with the largest presence in Russia, said it would broaden its planned withdrawal from the country because of the war in Ukraine. Citi, which announced plans in April to sell its Russian consumer division, will “expand the scope of that exit process to include other lines of business,” Edward Skyler, the bank’s executive vice president for global public affairs, said in a statement. The bank will reduce its operations in Russia and unwind its exposure in the country, which includes consumer and corporate loans and other financial products. The bank will stop seeking new business or clients in Russia and is helping multinational corporations unwind their operations there, Skyler said. — NEW YORK TIMES
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PHARMECEUTICALS
Sanofi’s experimental medicine amcenestrant failed in a clinical test for breast cancer, dealing a blow to one of the French drug maker’s potential blockbusters. The patients who got the drug, rather than endocrine treatment, didn’t live longer without the disease progressing — a key benefit measure known as progression-free survival — in the phase 2 trial, Sanofi said Monday. The medicine is one of six products Sanofi has touted as ”potentially transformative” and prioritized. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
German prosecutors have charged the former chief executive of payments company Wirecard and two other ex-managers with fraud and false accounting in connection with the firm’s collapse last year amid allegations that much of its revenue and assets were faked. Prosecutors in Munich said Monday that ex-CEO Markus Braun signed off on financial reports he knew were false. They said the firm booked nonexistent revenue it attributed to multiple partnerships in other countries and used fake documents to show it had funds that it did not. The firm’s former head of accounting and the managing director of a Dubai-based subsidiary also were charged. The fraud cost banks 3.1 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in loans and writedowns, according to the prosecutors’ statement. One of the central figures in the case, the company’s former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, is being sought by authorities, prosecutors said. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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CRYPTOCURRENCY
A man convicted of drug charges in federal court in Boston has been ordered by a judge to forfeit about $2 million worth of bitcoin, the first judicial forfeiture of cryptocurrency in the federal District of Massachusetts, prosecutors said. Binh Thanh Le, 25, of Brockton, described by prosecutors as the leader and organizer of a sophisticated drug trafficking operation that did its business on the dark Web, was also sentenced last week to eight years in prison, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office in Boston. Le was indicted in June 2019. According to court records, he received large quantities of drugs in the mail from international sources, including ecstasy, Ketamine, and Xanax. The drugs were sold on the dark Web and shipped to customers throughout the United States, prosecutors said. Le was arrested in March 2019 when he met with undercover agents at a Norwood hotel to exchange $200,000 worth of Bitcoin for cash. More than 42 pounds of ecstasy, almost 15.5 pounds of Ketamine, nearly 2 pounds of cocaine, and more than 10,000 counterfeit Xanax pills were seized during the investigation. He pleaded guilty in September. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
UKRAINE
Pfizer said it would no longer start new clinical trials in Russia and that it would donate all profits from its subsidiary in the country to Ukraine relief causes. At the same time, the drug maker said in a statement that it will continue to supply medicines to Russia, out of fear that vulnerable patients such as children and elderly people who rely on its therapies could be harmed by any halt. The company “concluded that a voluntary pause in the flow of our medicines to Russia would be in direct violation of our foundational principle of putting patients first,” according to the statement. Pfizer said it doesn’t own or operate any manufacturing sites in Russia and plans to cease planned investments with local suppliers. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Panasonic is engaged in talks over the site for a new US factory that would supply Tesla and potentially other electric-vehicle manufacturers with next-generation lithium-ion batteries, people familiar with the matter said. The longtime Tesla supplier is looking at several locations for the multibillion-dollar factory, including one in Oklahoma and another in Kansas, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The plant could begin operating as soon as 2024, they said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
GOVERNMENT
House Democrats are asking the US Postal Service’s inspector general to investigate the agency’s decision to replace its mail-truck fleet with almost all gasoline-powered models, a move that paved the way for a contract with Wisconsin military truck maker Oshkosh Corp. worth as much as $6 billion. The Postal Service violated legal environmental requirements in its decision to to move forward with the plan, the lawmakers wrote in a letter Monday to Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb. They asked for an investigation into whether the agency complied with national law in its environmental rationale underpinning the decision. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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