Charged: A Baton Rouge investment adviser has been charged with defrauding clients by using their money for personal expenses, to pay off other investors and to invest in a risky real estate venture. Ralph Willard Savoie, a resident of Baton Rouge and Mandeville, was charged last Friday with one count of wire fraud, says acting U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson. Savoie is accused of obtaining more than $150,000 from investors and used some of the money on jewelry, hotels, restaurants, credit card bills, a car note and rent, according to a court filing. Savoie’s attorney could not be reached for comment. Read more.
Sued: Eight lawsuits accuse Apple of defrauding iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance, Reuters reports. Apple acknowledged last week for the first time in detail that operating system updates released since “last year” for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 included a feature “to smooth out” power supply from batteries that are cold, old or low on charge. The tweak may have led iPhone owners to misguided attempts to resolve issues over the last year, the lawsuits contend. All of the lawsuits—filed in U.S. District Courts in California, New York and Illinois—seek class-action status to represent potentially millions of iPhone owners nationwide. Read more.
Confident: Consumer confidence, robust online shopping activity and a slew of procrastinators helped boost holiday retail sales this year to record-setting numbers, The Washington Post reports, citing preliminary figures. Holiday sales increased 4.9% over the previous year, marking the largest year-over-year increase since 2011, according to the latest Mastercard SpendingPulse report, which tracks retail spending by all payment types. The figures do not include automotive sales. “Overall, this year was a big win for retail,” says Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of market insights at Mastercard. Read more.
