OpenAI AI Agent Reportedly Breached Hugging Face, Raising AI Safety Concerns 
Nike Shifts China Online Sales Strategy to Boost Brand and Fight Local Rivals 
Elon Musk Fuels SpaceX-Tesla Merger Speculation After Earnings Call 
Samsung Eyes Up to $1.14 Billion Investment in AI Startup Mistral 
Wistron Opens $700M Texas AI Factory to Build Nvidia Superchips in U.S. 
GE Vernova Q2 Revenue Tops Estimates as Earnings Miss, Shares Slide Despite Higher 2026 Outlook 
Cathay Pacific Sees H1 Profit Surge on Strong Travel Demand 
IBM Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates as Software Growth Offsets Infrastructure Weakness 
Coca-Cola Raises Diet Coke Prices in India as Iran Conflict Disrupts Can Supply 
Oracle Stock Rises After Winning Up to $6.99 Billion U.S. Defense Software Contract 
Trump Administration Monitors OpenAI Incident as Lawmakers Push AI Kill Switch Bill 
Rubio Rejects AI ‘Kill Switch’ Claims as U.S. Defends American Technology Abroad 
Alphabet Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates as AI Spending, Google Cloud Growth Fuel Outlook 
Intel Stock Slips After Earnings Rally Despite Strong AI-Driven Revenue Growth 
Scandinavian Tobacco Group Sells BREAK and Moro Brands to Japan Tobacco for €176 Million 
Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Delayed Until 2027 Amid Antitrust Lawsuit 
A SpaceX engineer reportedly pleaded guilty of conspiracy to perpetrate securities fraud through selling insider information on the dark web. This is said to be the first case that was brought to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission involving violations in the deep web sphere.
About Elon Musk’s employees’ case
Reuters reported that the SpaceX’s engineers’ guilty plea was revealed by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC on Thursday, March 18. The accused has been identified as James Roland Jones of Redondo Beach, California, and with the development in his case, he is facing a five-year imprisonment term in federal jail.
This is said to be the maximum penalty that Jones could get in his guilty plea. However, the official sentencing for the litigation has not been set yet.
The DOJ and the SEC disclosed that from the year 2016 until 2017, the SpaceX engineer conspired with someone whose identity was not revealed. The said person accesses different dark web marketplaces to look for material and confidential information that he can use for his own securities trading business.
Based on the report, Jones also concocted a plan to sell what he said were insider tips on the dark web though it appears that the info was actually false. He has been earning in this scheme as some people are purchasing the tips using bitcoin.
At any rate, the dark web is a part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible through the use of special software. It allows users and website operators to access the internet anonymously, and they couldn’t be traced either. This is usually used to host websites engaged in illegal activities.
Is SpaceX involved in the case?
It is not clear if Jones is currently working in SpaceX or he was already terminated. Moreover, the justice department did not reveal if the illegal trading was done while he was working for Elon Musk’s company or not.
It turned out that the FBI has been investigating his criminal case since 2017, and this led to the DOJ’s charges against him. But then again, despite his link to SpaceX, the SEC did not mention the company in Jone’s case. Meanwhile, the exchange commission, the DOJ, and SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC when asked for comments.
