Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, March 10, 2023

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

The second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, California in a life-threatening flash flood emergency, a Top Story investigation uncovering raunchy video games hidden inside a popular console sold by major retailers, Rep. George Santos claims he's "no mastermind" in an alleged credit card skimming scheme and what to expect ahead of Hollywood's biggest night at the Oscars.

Tonight, breaking news, the stunning meltdown, now the second largest bank failure in American history. The shocking move early this morning, regulators shutting down Silicon Valley Bank, leaving more than $200 billion in assets in limbo. Markets plummeting on the news, what this means for you and your money and the economy at large. Also breaking tonight, California in a life-threatening flash flood emergency, an atmospheric river dumping nearly 10 inches of rain in some spots. water pouring into homes and wiping out roads will have a live report from the heart of the storm plus another system moving into the northeast will time it all out for you.

Battle for Iowa, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on the ground touting his new book, but is this just an early attempt to court voters in the critical first caucus state with sources close to the governor are saying about a 2024 presidential run and the new line of attack coming from former President Trump.

No mastermind, yet another. Another allegation leveled at Congressman George Santos, this time, a former associate accusing him of running a credit card skimming scheme. His forceful denial tonight and what he told are Ryan Nobles about the possibility of criminal charges coming. Plus, a top story investigation tonight, our team uncovering raunchy video games hidden in a popular console, parents who bought the Nintendo look-alike, shocked to find lewd and racist games preloaded inside. the major retailers selling this X-rated product and what you should be looking out for. And the Oscar countdown is on.

We'll break down the best movies of the year. The tightest races and everything you need to know ahead of Hollywood's biggest night. Top Story starts right now. We begin Top Story tonight with something we have not seen since the Great Recession in 2008. One of the largest banks in America going under. In fact, this is the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history, and we're going to walk you through what it all means. Silicon Valley Bank, which primarily services businesses and investors in the tech sector, abruptly shut down by regulators in California after a wave of customers pulled out their money. At the time of the meltdown, the bank was the 16th largest in this country with get this, 175 billion dollars in deposits.

All of that money now being held by the government under a new name. that is not very comforting. It is now being called the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara. So what does this mean for everyday people who don't have money invested in Silicon Valley? Well, today we got one indicator from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said she is closely monitoring recent developments that concern a few, a few banks. So a lot of big questions tonight remain. Will those people get their money back? In a few moments, you'll hear live on Top Story from our guest tonight who can't their payroll because their money was inside that bank. And will this crisis spread beyond Silicon

Valley? We've got full team coverage here tonight to make sense of it all. We start with CMBC's Deidre Boza, who leads us off. Alarm outside headquarters of Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California today. They just came out and told us that the bank is shut down. SVB, the 16th largest bank in the U.S. with 175 billion dollars in deposits, is now the biggest American bank to fail since the 2008. financial crisis. Its customers are primarily businesses and investors in the tech sector. The root cause of the failure here was a sudden and significant increase in interest rates,

which, you know, that part of the job of the bank is to manage interest rate risk, and that didn't happen here. Earlier this week, SVB disclosed it took a loss on the sale of bonds due to rising interest rates and announced it would sell shares to shore up its balance sheet. Its stock price plunged and customers rushed to take their money out. The FDIC now stepping in telling customers they will be able to access funds by Monday. But the guaranteed amount per depositor, $250,000. A heart-stopping moment of this bank is done. Ashley Trunier is the CEO of healthcare startup, Farmbox, RX. Unable to access her money today, she fears she could be out more than $10 million. $250,000 isn't a ton of money to us when you're talking of eight figures

that's in the bank currently. Concern over today's collapse of SVB drove Wall Street lower. The banking sector alone down more than 4%. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. There are recent developments that concern a few banks that I'm monitoring very carefully. The immediate concern? The cash-burning startups who have millions in SVB and may not be able to access the money they need to pay bills or make payroll.

At this point, the issue seems contained to this one bank. SVB was so heavily focused on these startup tech companies that its business model put it in a risky position the major banks don't face in the same way. Tom? Debraeza, leading us off tonight here on Top Story. For more on this shocking shutdown, I'm joined now by Jack Singh, an advisor for Avahi Incorporated,

an Amazon workspace cloud consulting partner, so a tech company, obviously. Jack, thanks so much for joining us tonight. I know it's been an incredibly stressful 24 hours. I want to walk our viewers through what happened to you. Your company had considerable funds, or I should say has, hopefully, considerable funds tied up in SVB. And almost immediately after hearing the bank was in trouble, you started trying to send wire transfers, right? From SVP to an account, I understand, at J.P. Morgan Chase.

But when those weren't going through, you even went so far as to drive to the bank's headquarters yourself to see if you could withdraw $40,000 to meet your payroll, or at least part of your payroll. Pick up the story from here. Yeah, definitely. So we heard yesterday that there might be some issues, and we had payroll that was coming up on Friday. So I was told by my CFO to go and schedule the wire transfers to get out yesterday as opposed to today, knowing what was happening with Silicon Valley Bank.

For the first half of the day, we just were simply not able to schedule any wires. Their systems were not accessible. Later in the day, we were able to schedule the wire. transfers, but this morning, when around 8.39, they hadn't gone out. I decided to just take a trip to the bank and figure out if there is any chance of getting the money out to pay the payroll. But as I went to the bank, the doors were shut. There was a notice up on there by FDIC, which put us in a bit of a scramble mode where I had to go. Jack, can I stop you right

there? I mean, what is that experience like? To work hard, to be part of a business, a business that is thriving, you want to pay your employees, and you go to the bank and you're seeing police outside, you're seeing statements on the window, and you can't get to your money. It is definitely scary. Look, part of the reason being a startup, you definitely, the employees that you bring on, the way you have them buy-in is that we will take care of them, that they don't have to worry about their payroll at the minimum, and we're doing the things the right way, but then suddenly when this happens, it definitely makes you question what's happening with the banks, what's happening with the system.

We have been in just damage control mode overall on how to get the payrolls out today for the employees who've been working hard. They don't have any reason to not get paid. So how are you paying them? I'm lucky enough to have some savings in my personal accounts, which I bank with a different bank. You're using your personal money now? You're using your personal money to cover the payroll.

That's correct. I'm hoping that by the next payroll, some of this would be resolved, and we hopefully would have access to our funds. If not, then we are thinking about what that would look like as well. Has the bank told you anything? Have they called you? Have they apologized? Have they told you they're going to get you your money? No, that is the frustrating thing with Silicon Valley Bank. We just simply haven't been able, we have been trying to get somebody on the phone since yesterday. No calls, no communication yet. The only communication we have seen is through FDIC. And then, Jack, if you could tell our viewers briefly what happened.

I read about this in the Wall Street Journal. What did your son do when he saw you stressed out last night? So I was in a call, and I was stressed out. And I was telling him that, hey, I need to go to the bank to figure a couple of things out. And he overheard some of the conversations with my wife. He ran inside his room. He has a small little wallet with a couple of dollars in it. He came running to me, and he's like, hey, take this.

This might help you. And then when this morning I got home, he was like, hey, dad, I did that money help you? And I was like, yes, it did, buddy. Oh, man, it's a sweet gesture. But I just, it goes to say what you're going through and your family and all of your employees that your son is even trying to help you out to get a couple bucks. Jack, we appreciate you and your honesty and coming on top story tonight. Well, thank you. For more on the market reaction to the collapse of SVB, as we've been reporting tonight, now the second biggest bank failure of all time in the U.S.

I want to bring in CNBC anchor, Sarah Ises, and she joins us tonight from the NASDAQ exchange. Sarah, for our viewers, because I know you guys have been talking about this all day on CNBC, people are going to be worried. Is this a one-off or a sign of things to come? Are other banks in trouble? Good evening, Tom. That is the question. And no doubt, confidence has been shaken.

We've seen a lot of losses in the banking sector, those stocks this week, as a result of some of the contagion from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. it's too early to tell whether there's actually going to be a real ripple effect into the broader banking system. Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest in the country. It was a stunning collapse, but we should tell you it was very unique in its business model because it was so exposed to lending and providing funds to startups and to technology companies. It was really concentrated there, which led to this exodus when some of those companies started pulling their deposits. So it's not clear that you're going to see a similar effect in the rest of the banking system. The other thing I would just tell you, Tom, is that, you know, people are having deja vu to the great

financial crisis. The last time we were talking about runs on banks and bank collapses, things are very different right now. The big banks, the J.P. Morgans and Wells Fargoes and Morgan's families of the world, they're better capitalized. They have been highly regulated. And so there's not a big fear that this is going to infect the entire banking system in a way that the great financial crisis did. And I think there's a small connection here, and you can correct me

if I'm wrong. During that crisis, right, big banks took a lot of risk. And from what you were saying, that's exactly what happened here with SVB, correct? They were taking too many risks, and it caught up to them. Absolutely. This is a bank that quadrupled in size in the last five years. It was a bank that in the glory days of venture capital funding and startups going out there and zero interest rates from the Federal Reserve. It was free money. People wanted to take risks and this bank took a lot of risk betting on those startups. Times have changed. We're dealing with inflation. The Federal Reserve is having to tighten policy to try to fight that. And as a result, you're seeing a lot of those risks come to the surface. And that's what's happened

here specifically with Silicon Valley Bank. I want to go back to something you were talking about the other big banks. We have some graphics. I want to put up on the screen for us because people may be checking out the stock prices, right, of the big banks saying, okay, they noticed a little bit drop and that we can see in the stock prices, but it's smaller banks, right? And banks on the West Coast that are actually also getting hit pretty hard. You can see a more of a significant drop. I'm talking about First Republic Bank here, Pack West, Signature Bank and Western Alliance. First Republic Bank was an interesting stock story to watch today because just after the opening belt, the stock was down 50%. This is a bank that's headquartered in San Francisco. So the

closer you are to the eye of the storm, the more investors were panicking. The bank had to come out and say, hey, we're very different than Silicon Valley Bank. It's much more exposed to high net worth individuals, not necessarily tech startups. It said it's not concentrated in the tech sector. In other words, investors tend to shoot first, ask questions later. But once you've got a loss of confidence, it can have a spiraling effect. So too soon to say that Silicon Valley Bank is insulated because we are seeing this ripple effect. But it is important to note that it's a different case than,

a lot of these other banks. But no doubt to your point, Tom, regional banks aren't as well capitalized as some of the big giant banks, like a J.P. Morgan or a Goldman Sachs. And that's why investors have more questions about how exposed they are as interest rates move up very quickly, because a lot of the problems come to the surface. Sarah, real quick, and I know this is sort of a tough question, but I'm sure you can do it precisely. We have the Fed, right? And they're talking about raising rates. We had a good jobs report today, right? That was the major head. before this thing with SVB. Do we think that what's happened with this bank on the West Coast is going to have any effect

in what the Fed is going to do in the coming days? The investors do believe that the banking failure of SVB and the potential ripple effects is going to not just catch the Fed's attention, but potentially cause them to raise interest rates less than what the market thought just 48 hours ago. Let me explain. This week, we had Fed Chair Jay Powell testifying before both the House. and the Senate. And in those remarks, he made it clear that he was willing to go higher, higher interest rates, faster interest rate, bigger interest rate rises if inflation and the

data continues to look good. So the market started pricing in a double for the next Fed meeting, a double rate hike in March. Guess what happened today? Went back down to a single, a 25-bases point hike. Why? Because so far in this entire cycle that the Fed's been raising interest rates, we haven't seen a ton of pain both in the economy and in the financial markets. However, when you have word of liquidity issues, a bank failure, system stress, like we saw today, that is certainly an indication that the Fed interest rate hikes are having an impact on the system, and they're going to have to proceed very cautiously when it comes to interest rate hikes.

So the market thinks they're going to have to do less, and that's what the pricing and the bond market told you today. Sarah Eisen, a great night to have you on tonight. We do appreciate it. We now turn to our other major headline, a state of emergency in hard-hit California after that devastating snowfall trapped so many. Heavy torrential rains and severe flash flooding slamming the state. Predicted rain amounts through the weekend staggering 8 to 12 inches along the northern central coast and 6 to 9 inches in the Sierra Nevada foothills. They are getting no relief whatsoever.

And on the East Coast, millions facing major winter weather. Miguel Almaguer reports. Tonight, this is the life-threatening flash flooding. following neighborhoods and washing away homes. In cities like Springville, widespread evacuation orders are now underway. It's crazy I've never seen it like this. This, the first of two powerful atmospheric rivers, dowsing waterlogged California. Triggering a state of emergency in 34 counties, the National Guard deploying to the hardest hit regions as this unrivaled, unparalleled weather event washes across the state. If you're told to evacuate, please

do so as soon as possible. Never drive through barricades or road closures. With highways in Northern California underwater or covered in snow and ice, rivers and creeks are raging. Near Santa Cruz, hundreds of homes are cut off after a connecting road washed away. We've been here about 20 years and we really haven't seen anything to this extent. Today, the president approving an emergency declaration for the entire state. After a series of storms and at least two deaths. As major dams open their spillways for the first time in years to mitigate flood control, tens of thousands have lost power, many suffering damage.

Up to 12 inches of rain could drop. The Pineapple Express, funneling warm moisture from Hawaii, unleashing a water hose on California. The rain could melt a historic snowpack, where avalanches and flash flooding are some of the worries. The power being off has been really difficult. Today's snow also making travel treacherous in states like Iowa and Michigan, with some 20 million across the country under winter weather alerts. But tonight it's California facing the wrath of another atmospheric river and the fury of flooding. Miguel Almagher joins us now live tonight from Cambria, California.

Miguel, we can see the water on the ground there. What's the latest on the evacuations? the area. Well, Tom, this neighborhood was evacuated just a short time ago. They took more than 12 people out of here. Those evacuation orders are still coming on a rolling basis. And we should also point out tonight, Tom, across the state of California, there's about 60,000 people without power.

Tom. Okay, Miguel Almiger, with a lot of developments out there on the West Coast. Miguel, we appreciate it for more on this weekend's dangerous winter, weather and what California is going through right now. NBC News meteorologist Bill Caron's joint's top story tonight. walk us through it. Good evening, Tom. So the heaviest rain is shifted now southwards down around Santa Barbara into Los Angeles. We're going to have minor flooding in these areas. We still got a plume moisture come up in the central tier. So the main atmospheric river, the

heavy, heavy stuff is ending. We still have numerous areas with flash flood warnings and a couple flash flood emergencies. That means those are areas in towns that are getting inundated with water at the current time. So this is what we're going to deal with as we go through the weekend. Most areas are going to get another inch or two. So we're not going to see widespread red flash flooding, but we'll see isolated concerns, especially for mudslides and landslides. The heaviest rainfall will actually shift this weekend northwards. And it's still pretty crazy. Above about 6 to 7,000 feet, it's still snowing hard in the Sierra. We're going to pick up two to six additional feet, not inches, feet at the highest elevation. I mean, you can't keep up

with it. It's just insane, especially if you drive up Interstate 80 there through the passes, more snow this weekend. And as Miguel was saying, another atmospheric river is coming in Tuesday. It will start Monday in Northern California. Another significant. and flood there, especially with how wet things are right now. Heading to the northeast, snowy ride for you in the New York State Thruway from Syracuse to Albany, anyone traveling from Oneonta all the way down through Binghamton, Scranton, to the Catskills. That's where you'll have some snow. But my eyes are already fast forwarding, Tom, to our storm system.

This is going to be Tuesday morning. It looks like we're not going to get away with a noreaster free winter. It looks like this could be a significant storm. Anyone with travel plans in the Northeast, Monday night and Tuesday, pay close attention to that forecast as much as one to two feet of snow. know in the high elevations. All right, Bill, I may actually know somebody. Thanks for that. We appreciate it. Turning now to politics where growing legal troubles continue to loom over former President Donald Trump. This is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 candidate

and rival makes a stop in Iowa today, touting his success and taking some swipes at the former president. Kristen Welker has this one. Tonight, signs of growing legal troubles for former President Trump. NBC News has learned his legal team is meeting with him this weekend and has confirmed Mr. Trump has been told he can testify before a grand jury in New York as a part of an investigation into hush money paid to an adult film star. No indication if he will comply, but legal analysts say such an invitation indicates the investigation is near its end and could be assigned prosecutors are considering charges. Mr. Trump's attorneys told NBC News he was not told charges would be forthcoming. On his social media site, Mr. Trump's saying overnight,

He did absolutely nothing wrong. A spokesperson for the former president blasted the Democratic District Attorney, accusing prosecutors of a witch hunt. While tonight in Iowa, indications Mr. Trump could soon be getting a new challenger. I bring greetings from the free state of Florida. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not officially made a decision yet, but according to the Washington Post, citing two people familiar with DeSantis' comments, he's indicated privately. that he intends to run for president. DeSantis sounding every bit like a candidate already. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Our state is where woke goes to die.

And taking a not-so-veiled swipe at President Biden and the Republican frontrunner, fellow Floridian former President Trump, for their handling of the COVID crisis. DeSantis emphasizing he ended COVID restrictions in Florida earlier than the federal government. The state of Florida, stood as a refuge of sanity. We were right and they were wrong. Mr. Trump is still dominant among Iowa Republicans, but there are signs voters are open to new options. In a new poll, Trump's numbers have dipped. Only 47 percent of Republicans say they would definitely vote for him if he were the GOP nominee, down from 69 percent in June of 2021. And Tom, we're watching another headline tonight in a rare unanimous vote. The House and Senate have called on President Biden to declassified

the intelligence about the origins of COVID. Tonight I asked the president if he plans to sign that bill. He said he hasn't made a decision yet. And all of it comes after the FBI and energy department assessed, COVID came from a lab leak in China, though important to note there's no government consensus on the origins yet. Tom. All right, Kristen, welcome with a lot of new reporting on a Friday night. Kristen, thank you. We want to stay in Washington. now embattled Congressman George Santos finding himself in yet another controversy, this time involving an alleged credit card skimming scheme. Santos claiming he's innocent and, quote, no mastermind. Those are his words. NBC's Ryan Noble tracked down Santos and pressed him on those accusations.

Tonight, embattled Congressman George Santos denying yet another allegation. I'm innocent, never did anything of criminal activity, and I have no mastermind of anything. In a new statement Politico obtained from a former associate of Santos, Gustavo Rivera Trella claims he collaborated with the congressman on a credit card skimming scheme. Trella wrote in a declaration that political reports he sent to the FBI, the U.S. attorney, and the Secret Service that, quote, Santos taught me how to skim card information and how to clone cards.

The FBI declined to comment. Secret Service confirmed they received the declaration. Trella pled guilty to felony access to device fraud. served seven months in jail and was deported to Brazil. Santos claims he was an informant for the government. I was an asset for law enforcement in Seattle. I assisted them with the case. The FBI field office in Seattle tells NBC News

they do not comment on the roles of informants in their investigations. Santos was interviewed by investigators and appeared in court. So you've been told by law enforcement that you won't be charged in this case? I didn't say that. What I said, hold on. What I said was, I spoke to them about the case. We were going over the case yesterday. I haven't been guaranteed anything, but I'm very confident I can fight this one.

The House Ethics Committee has already launched an investigation into a number of aspects around Santos' background. If they find any wrongdoing, it could lead to a criminal referral or even an expulsion from Congress. Tom? Okay, Ryan Nobles, we appreciate it. Still ahead tonight, stalked and murdered? a podcast host and her husband killed inside their home what we're learning about the suspect who police say was stalking the victim for months. Plus, top story uncovering a video game console that looks very similar to Nintendo and is marketed to kids, but get this, it contains sexually

explicit and racist games. It's sold on major retailers like Amazon, and we even found it at a store right here in New York City. Stephen Romo is in the house. He's been working on this with our team. He'll walk us through what he discovered when he turned the system on, plus the parents talking to social media to warn others. Stay with us. We're back now with a Top Story exclusive, an affordable video game console sold on major retailers containing hundreds of preloaded games, but there's a catch. Some families who bought the device for their kids are finding racist and sexual content hidden inside the games. We even managed to get our hands on one of those consoles ourselves, and you won't believe

what we found. NBC Stephen Romo has this report. It seems like a normal gaming system, but it's far from it. The super mini SNO2 preloaded with 800 games looks nearly identical to the original Nintendo S&ES. Even the packaging is nearly a perfect copy, but it's not created by, sold by, or affiliated with Nintendo in any way. It looks exactly like a miniature version of the old Super Nintendo. Taylor Turley's five-year-old son was gifted the console for Christmas, and she was ready to share some gaming nostalgia with him. I was raised in the 90s. A lot of these games are very familiar with me. I honestly wanted

to play the game before I gave it to him. But she quickly realized some of the preloaded games included offensive or racist language and pornographic material, like this image of what appears to be two naked children in a tent. The book there labeled porn and one with a sexually explicit character that looks like Ronald McDonald, along with an email account. I can only imagine the type of person that's posting their email on pedophilic games. She says she was also shocked to find a game with racist characters. There's another game that is supposed to be like Mario, Mario, Mario,

I believe. And it's called Black Man, too, once you get into the game. And I don't know how to describe it. It's pretty racist. The gaming system, which doesn't list a manufacturer on the box, but says it's made in China, is sold by multiple third parties on major retailers like Walmart or Amazon. And we found it being sold in person at an electronic store in Corona Queens, displayed right here on a table outside the store, along with what appears to be a knockoff Nintendo Switch. Here is the loading screen, and we see Luigi here, like a cartoon version of Luigi, very familiar.

It looks like a fun game so far. Everything looks pretty normal. But as we kept scrolling, we're deep into the games now. It's 111 is the number of games that we've gotten to to get to this screen. And on the same page, we have Mickey Mouse 3, which sounds like a game, sure, you let your kids play that. That's fine. But on the same page, we have one that sounds much more explicit and questionable.

And then as we hit play, we were even more shocked. Okay, right off the bat. That's not the Mughley I remember. It would just be a normal game if it weren't for Mowgli being naked. We've reached out to Disney for comment on this, but have not heard back. I was fuming. Kyla Knight has been trying to warn other parents about the system on TikTok and tells us she bought it for her kid when it was listed here as a bestseller on Amazon. My husband went ahead and bought it. It was like, hey, this is only $50. You know, we're

going to go ahead and get this. After Kylo reached out to Amazon, the company told her they were investigating. And in a statement to NBC News said the product was, quote, investigated and removed. But as of today, it's now listed on the site by another third party seller. Walmart also telling NBC News the game will be removed because it does not comply with our prohibited products policy. But we found one that appears to be the same system by a third-party seller today. The online post selling the systems do not mention anything about inappropriate content. They even received some five-star reviews. If you go into the descriptions of these consoles, they are marketed to children. They're marketed to give to your friends' children.

However, now Kyla and Taylor joining dozens of other customers leaving reviews to warn other parents and to get the word out. That's all I wanted to do with this whole topic was just make sure that parents knew what could potentially be on presents that they're buying for their kids. My warning would just be to make sure that you go through the console yourself and test out these games, even if you're not interested in playing it. Just be aware of what your child is taking in in all accounts. All right, Stephen, Roma, joins us now live here on Top Stories.

So, Stephen, I mean, this is pretty eye-opening, and it's incredible, much it looks like the old Super Nintendo. How hard was it to get to the games that were inappropriate? I mean, could any kid find them? And you found things that were even sicker than what we saw in your story, correct? Yeah, stuff we could not include in the story, definitely, on this game. That's one of the weird things about it, though, is if a parent it gives us to their child, they might look through it for a while and not find anything. But after scrolling just a few pages down, all of a sudden you see some strange titles that seem racist. The games themselves are actually pretty normal but then you get to the one like we saw the jungle book version there is a normal

version of the jungle book as well but then for inexplicable reasons there's this sexually explicit version in there and there are some totally good games some nostalgic games i played the star chart game that was actually pretty fun for a while that's why i don't understand the the reason that this product would actually have that it'd be good to get a response for the manufacturer but there's actually not one listed on the box yeah some sick puppies out there and we thank you in the top story team for finding this out so we can let parents know When we come back, the major Yeti recall, you may have one of these wildly popular coolers at home. Why regulators are warning they could cause serious injury.

We'll explain. That's next. All right, we are back now with Top Stories News Feed. We begin with the podcast host killed by an alleged stalker inside of her Seattle home. Police say the 33-year-old woman and her husband were shot to death overnight after. a 38-year-old truck driver from Texas climbed through a window of their home. Authorities say the suspect who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound had been stalking the female victim for months,

and they were trying to serve him a restraining order. The victim's names so far have not been released by police. And Yeti is recalling 1.9 million soft coolers and gear cases over an injury risk. The company says magnets inside the products can detach, if swallowed, they could lead to serious injury or even death. Yet he has received almost 1,400 reports of the magnets detaching or falling. The products were sold from March 2018 to January, 2023, by several major retailers, including Amazon. Okay, now to an investigation by our partners over at CNBC.

While Washington argues over how much to spend on Medicare and Medicaid, fraudsters are stealing staggering amounts of money allocated for health care and costing taxpayers billions. Here's Contessa Brewer with the details. This is the face of health care fraud, a Miami businessman counting stolen Medicare money in this video secretly recorded by a government informant. The scheme spanning from sham storefronts to empty offices billing the government. We're going to head over to a durable medical equipment company. Omar Perez-Ibar is Florida's special agent in charge for Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. He took us on a rare ride-along to show how the fraud works. Scammers first buy lists with patients and doctors' personal data.

And with those two key pieces of information, it can just start submitting claims to Medicare. Estimated Medicare and Medicaid fraud tops $100 billion annually. Here in South Florida, Perez-Ibar shows us a storefront used to steal $48 million in a single year. The mastermind? The man counting the money, Jesus Garces. Garces pled guilty to health care and wire fraud in 2021 and was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison. We're at the Miami merchandise mark, which federal agents tell us is a hotbed for these fake companies set up to bill Medicare. Most times we show up, there's nobody there.

Or if there is someone there, they have no clue what business they are representing or how it even operates. This business has been billing Medicare for durable medical equipment, which can include devices like wheelchair, and braces. I'm with CNBC. What is this business? The woman inside says it's a medical supply store, but she has nothing to do with the actual business. She gives us a number for the owner. I call, but it rings at the desk inside. Hi, this is Contessa Brewer from CNBC. We just talked a minute ago. We eventually reached the owner weeks later. He says the equipment is ordered through another company after the patient sees a doctor. He refuses to give more information. Government records showed the company has billed more than $2 million to Medicare,

mostly for wound care. South Florida, without question, is the ground zero for health care fraud. But it's only one state. There are 49 others in territories where these types of schemes are occurring. A business, he says, that's never been as brazen. Contessa Brewer joins us now in studio. So Contessa, you know, people are going to watch this story. and they're going to be outraged. So I want to go back to what you found at that clinic in Miami. Is the government taking any type of action?

Yeah, I mean, the office that we found after the Office of the Inspector General got involved, they shut it down. They're cut off from getting any Medicare funds. In the last few weeks, prosecutors say they have uncovered. What they say is astonishing abuse of our health care system. More than $61 million in fraud. They've charged dozens there.

And then next month, we're following the case of this guy who got caught. stealing and then reselling 2.6 million Medicare beneficiary numbers, this is exactly what facilitates this kind of fraud. His maximum prison sentence, the most time he can get for stealing all of those names and reselling them, five years. Also, it's the people that need to help the most, and now they're getting even ripped off even more. When we see Congress battling back and forth about how much these programs are worth, and you think $100 billion of that is going into the pockets of people who are giving no services, providing no help for those who need it. Yeah,

it's a problem. And the other thing is the schemes are so creative and they're so brazen. Home health care, genetic testing, COVID testing. We even found a scheme where pill bottles are bought by, from patients, and then they get repackaged and resold back to the pharmacies. So the same bottle of pills gets charged to Medicare over and over and over again. Contessa Brewer, it is an honor to have you here on Top Story. Thanks so much for bringing us this report. Thanks, Tom. Now, to Top Stories, Global Watch and more arrests have been made in the murders of two Americans in Mexico.

Mexican officials confirming five more people were charged with aggravated kidnapping and homicide. At least one of the men is accused of taking surveillance of the victims before their deaths. As we reported here, the bodies of those two killed Americans were returned to the U.S. yesterday. The two other people who survived are now hospitalized. And a hostage situation in Germany has ended after several hours. Police say loud bangs were hurt inside of a pharmacy with several people trapped inside. This happened in the western German city of Carl Schurr. Luckily, no one was hurt and one person was taken into custody.

But the situation took place less than 24 hours after at least six people were shot and killed inside of a Jehovah's Witness Hall in Hamburg. And a major diplomatic breakthrough, Iran and Saudi Arabia have restored ties after years of hostilities. The agreement which was brokered by China will see the two major oil producers reopened embassies in each other's capitals. After the agreement was announced, a White House spokesperson told NBC News that the U.S. welcomed any efforts to, quote, de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region. Back here at home, we have some big news in the world of streaming and journalism and a very exciting announcement for NBC News Now. Our very own Gotti Schwartz is launching his own show here on our streaming platform called Stay Tune Now.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Gotti also co-hosts the popular stay-tuned news show on Snapchat. To give us the inside scoop on his new show, I want to bring in the man himself. Goddy Schwartz, the anchor. He joins us now from the Stay-Tune Studios in Los Angeles. Gotti, I got to start with this beautiful set you have behind you. I have what's known as Set Envy right now. I love the color scheme. I love the West Coast feel.

I'm going to let you take it from here, man. Walk me through it. Well, check this out. Tom, this is the first. Look that we're unveiling right now on Top Story. It is such a big deal. We're talking about set envy. Every time I'm in New York, I am just in awe of what your set looks like

and what you're able to do with all the different video monitors. And so we've tried to incorporate some of that here on the West Coast, but with a little bit of a sunset West Coast vibe. So hopefully people like it. No, it looks great, Gotti. So tell us what can we expect and what can viewers expect from your show? Oh, Tom, first off, I think viewers can expect to see the news brought to them from a different time zone. And for people that work in news, this is a big, big deal.

For people that work out of news, they might not realize how big of a deal it is. But, for example, when the best, biggest show in New York, top story with Tom Yamis, when your show ends, it is getting into 8 o'clock Eastern time. That's only 5 o'clock here on the West Coast. The news is just getting started here on the West Coast, 6 o'clock in El Paso, Texas. So there are so many other stories that happened throughout the night, and we want to make sure that we're a catch-all for many of those stories as they develop. We also want to make sure that our story is covering the West Coast looking east, and that means a big emphasis on things like innovation, tech,

all the things that California has been on the forefront of for the past 10, 15, 20 years. We want to make sure that we're a home for that as well. No, I think it's a brilliant idea, and it is really smart, and most people don't know this, but I'd probably say 99% of network news shows, streaming news shows, originate either in D.C. or New York. So this is a brilliant idea. Before you go, Gotti, you have sort of carved your own path, right? You have your own style. As a journalist. There are stories that you love to cover. Are you going to bring sort of the fingerprints that you've brought to your career to this show that we're excited about? I hope so. I hope so. For me, I think about the future constantly, and I think that a lot of viewers, they want to know what's happening today, but they also want to know what's happening tomorrow. So even the name, stay tuned. It's a double meaning, not to get too philosophical, but it means you're in the know on what's happening today, but you're also stay tuned, you're staying tuned for what's going to happen a week down the road, two weeks down the road, a year down the road, two years down the road. So we're going to make sure that we are paying homage to, everything we think is going to happen in the future, whether that's good, whether that's bad, whether that's progress, whether it looks apocalyptic. We want to make sure that the future is just as important as the president is for this show. Gotti, I know you have an amazing team behind you. You are a journalist who cares, and you are

a broadcaster who has a unique voice, and I know you're going to bring that every night. We are so looking forward to it. We're going to be rooting you on from here in New York. Stay tuned now with Gotti Schwartz premieres on Monday right after Top Story. Look at that guy. Look how cool this show looks at 8 p.m. And another thing to look forward to, the Oscars, of course, taking place this Sunday. After the break, we're breaking down the tightest races, the potentially history-making wins, and who is the favor to take home the night's biggest awards? That's all coming up right after this break.

Now to the growing anticipation ahead of Sunday night's Oscars, everything everywhere all at once leads the field with 11 nominations. Can another film be a spoiler for Best Picture? NBC News, now anchor Joe Fryer, breaks it all down for us. The most memorable moment from the Oscars had nothing to do with movies. Oh, wow. The infamous slap is still echoing through Hollywood, fueled by Chris Rock's recent Netflix special. Anybody that says words hurt has never been punched in the face.

But the Academy says this year will be different, ramping up its security measures, so the only surprises are who gets snub. are the 10 nominees. The movie most likely to win almost everything everywhere all at once is everything everywhere all at once. The sci-fi adventure with heart leads all movies with 11 nominations. It's the favorite for best picture. Kiwi Kuan is the clear frontrunner for supporting actor. There is no way I am the Evelyn you are looking for. And the film's lead Michelle Yo could become the first Asian woman to win best actress and just the second person of color to ever win in that category. The first since Hally Berry won for Monster's Ball more than 20

years ago. This moment so much bigger than me. Though Yo faces tough competition from TAR star Kate Blanchin. I keep hearing something. If she wins, it'll be her third Oscar, a rare feat. Another Everything Everywhere star, Jamie Lee Curtis, could capture best supporting actress. But I see a story. That's another tight race. with Carrie Condon from the Banshees of Minnesota, buying for the trophy. No, we wouldn't. Along with Angela Bassett, who's up for Black Panther, Wakanda Forever.

The Protector. She'd be the first actor to win for a Marvel movie. The best actor crown is up for grabs with the king, Elvis star Austin Butler, hoping Academy voters won't be cruel. Well, I want you to know those New York people ain't going to change me none. Seven of the last 10 winners in that category did portray a real. person, so Butler may have an edge over the banshees, Colin Farrell.

He liked me yesterday. And the wales, Brendan Fraser. I have done one day, right? One iconic star who wasn't nominated for his acting, is still hoping to score his first Oscar. Tom Cruise could win for producing box office smash Top Gun Maverick, which is a long-shot nominee for Best Picture. I just want to manage expectations.

Top Gun's also up for Best Original Song, with Lady Gaga's hit, Hold My Hand. hand. Gaga is in a face-off with fellow music superstar Rihanna, who will perform at the ceremony exactly a month after her monumental Super Bowl halftime show. Joe Friar, NBC News. All right, we thank Joe Friar for that. And if you're not too busy catching up on all those Oscar-nominated movies, when we come back, we have a look at what you can binge this weekend.

The documentary about that Missing Malaysian Airlines Fly Plus, are you ready for the season finale of The Last of Us? And new music from Miley Cyrus. Stay with us. All right, welcome back. It is Friday, which means it is time for binge-worthy. Our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And tonight we are joined by one of our favorites, NBC News, Internet, and Cultural Reporter, Callan Rosenblatt.

Callan, so great to see you. It's been a while, but it's good to see you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so stoked to talk about tonight. All right, great, me too. So first up is something I've been binging, so if you don't mind, I may take the steering wheel here. It's a new Netflix documentary. It's called MH370, and it's about the plane, of course, that disappeared. It's on Netflix. We have a small clip. Let's take a look. It's not possible. It's a nightmare. Revely me.

What happens next is like a rip in the fabric of reality. There is about the missing plane are going viral. It's possible it was hijacked. We don't know. very mysterious and very suspicious cargo. A pilot's home flight simulator was removed by police. I have the real evidence that's there, and you can't deny that. So when we talk about binge-worthy, you start watching this, and you cannot stop watching. It is so compelling. It takes you right back to 2014 when the entire world was covering this story.

Everybody was talking about this. It led every newscast. So many conspiracy theories. The good thing about this documentary is that they don't really, they tell you the conspiracy theories, but they don't spend too much time on them. You've heard about this show as well. I don't know if you're seen it or not, but... Oh, I mean, I think the world has been captivated for the last nine years with this story.

So to have something that's so thorough from Netflix and that also touches on conspiracies without getting too deep into them and giving them too much credence, that to me is so fascinating. You also hear from the family members, right? You hear from everyone involved. You hear from Malaysian Airlines.

You hear from the crisis PR people, the reporters who are in the front lines, but you hear from the people, the families that were affected. And it's very emotional, too. I'm only two episodes in, but it's so good I didn't even want to come to work today. But then I found out you were here, so I showed out. Thank you, Tom. I highly recommend it.

It's on Netflix. Make sure to check it out. Next up, Fire of Love. I'm sorry. I saw this one as well, Callie. We invite you. I'm going to go yap, yap, yeah. No, I love it.

We have a clip of this one. This one's super weird, but super cool. This is Kacha, and this is Maurice. Tomorrow will be their last day. They will leave behind hundreds of hours of footage, thousands of photos, and a million questions. So if you're watching this, you may think to yourself, this kind of reminds me of Jacques Cousteau a little bit,

kind of reminds me of Life Aquatic with Steve Sizu, which was a fictional movie, except this is 100% real. It's two French filmmakers, but they were all. also, quote-unquote, volcanologists, which means they just studied volcanoes, but they are so cinematic in their research and they're documenting of these volcanoes, and then something happens, and you don't ever see this coming, just like a volcano, and the whole documentary explodes. I will tell you this, it's up for an Oscar. Yes. We'll find out on Sunday if it's going to win. We'll find out if it wins. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes the Oscar because it is very

compelling. It is so different. It's unlike anything that's out there. Yeah. What have you heard about it. So I watched the trailer today ahead of coming in, and there was a line that made me actually choke up where the wife says, if he was going to die out there, I wanted to be with him. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is not just about the geology of volcanoes. This is like a real human story. And it just like completely entranced me. I cannot wait to watch it. They love volcanoes. They love each other. And guess what? They love just hanging out on volcanoes, especially at night in the same tent. So God knows what happened there. But anyways, very good. and I highly recommend it. We're going to switch gears here. We want to laugh a little bit

this week. And History of the World Part 2 on Hulu. We, of course, know all about History of the World Part 1. Mel Brooks. Take it from there. Okay, so History of the World Part 2, you're going to see some of your favorite actor, some of your favorite comedic actors in this, talking about Harriet Tubman, just a host of historical figures. Of course, so many of them are escaping me. There's just too many talking about. Harriet Tubman doesn't really sound like comedy, but hey, you never know. Have you ever watched Drunk History? I feel like it's going to have that kind of vibe. I think we have a clip.

We do? We have a clip. Let's take a look. Amelia Earhart. They're roaming up. I am Siegman Freud. Join me for my master base. Master class.

What? Who are you? Some call me Jesus Christ, son a guy. Some call him broken corny. My new book idea. The Karma Sutra from Soup to Nuts. I'm not going slurp, sloop, slurp, I'm eating soup. So, big cast, a lot of famous names, a lot of funny names.

A lot of funny names. And Mel Brooks is tied to this one, right? Yes, yes, Mel Brooks is involved. I've been actually seeing ads on TikTok where he's like, I was on it in movies and I wrote for TV and now I'm on your phone. So Mel Brooks's a master class of all different media. I wasn't sure if I was going to watch this. That trailer is really funny.

I think I'm going to watch it now. Next up, I know you love this one, the last of us. Everyone loves this. All of America's watching this. Tell me about what we should expect this weekend. So we're at the finale. We are at the finish line. I have loved The Last of Us since the video games.

I have been privileged enough to see the finale ahead of time. Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie. Wait, you know what happens? Well, I know what happens in the finale. And the finale is going to run at the same time as the Oscars, right? And I worry for the Oscars. It's that good, huh? It's that good.

I mean, it did air. It was intended to air at the same time of the Super Bowl. They moved it for that. that they feel they can go up against the Oscars. That is a power play, if I've ever seen one. Okay, last of us, and the finale, just real quick. Will people be blown away? Will they be upset?

I mean, sometimes it's controversial. Well, Bella Ramsey said it best. It's going to be extremely divisive, and I agree with her on that. I like that. That's a good little tease. Okay. Miley Cyrus, new song, new album. Miley's back.

Top story staff's going crazy. They were celebrating her. People wearing Hannah Montana jackets at the editorial meeting. Oh, that's the best. Yeah. We have a clip of the song. Let's take a look. Cat's so loud that it's trying a river in a hateful feel, and that's a compliment to my

also a Beyonce, you remember, single lady's kind of vibe video. But she's great, great voice. And some people have said her voice is getting better as she gets older. Do you believe it? I agree with that. I agree with that. I think her voices become more mature, and she's really sort of finding her sound. Thank you for saying it's got a Lady Gaga feel. Because obviously, I'm a Gaga-Stan.

We all know this. I really felt like it had that sort of tone to it, and I love it. How's the rest of the album? We know Flowers is a super hit. Flowers is a hit. I've been seeing reviews online that people are really loving this album from Miley. It's something new. It's sonically a new sound for her, and people are just ready to dance

to these tracks. Love new sounds, especially. Sonically. Finally, Maluma. We just want to take this, Brett, just take this video full. And, Callan, tell us about the video, because it really is interesting in something incredibly different, something you haven't seen, at least not in this space in a while. It's beautiful. It is such a fantastic video. And Tom, I'm sure, as you can tell, I'm very much a green guy, but I feel this video. First of all, the video shows off all different kinds of bodies. The song is about loving yourself. I did Google Translate the lyrics, and I was just blown away at the message about how beautiful people are without their making.

up without their coverings. And it's just such a fabulous message. Very bold video. La Reina means obviously queen. I didn't, I thought you were Hispanic. I thought you were Kalan. I'm going to call you Kalan. But anyways, Kalan, thank you so much. You were amazing as usual. And we thank you for watching Top Story all week and especially tonight. I'm Tom Yalmers in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.