August 26, 2026

The Financial Wire

The financial news that actually matters

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Warren Cohen

Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.

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How did a Florida man allegedly run a $328 million crypto Ponzi? Federal agents just arrested him on wire-fraud and money-laundering charges

Warren Cohen09 mins

Federal agents arrested Christopher Alexander Delgado, the 34-year-old CEO of Goliath Ventures, on charges of wire fraud and money laundering tied to an alleged cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that collected at least $328 million from investors. The scheme ran from January 2023 through January 2026 out of Apopka, Florida, according to a criminal complaint filed in…

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The Fed, under new chair Kevin Warsh, held rates at 3.5% to 3.75% and raised its 2026 inflation outlook to 3.6%

Warren Cohen09 mins

Borrowers, savers, and bond traders all got the same answer from the Federal Reserve on June 17, 2026: no change. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, the first rate decision under Chair Kevin Warsh, who took office less than a month earlier. Alongside the…

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Investment scams drained $7.9 billion from Americans last year, with the average victim losing more than $10,000

Warren Cohen09 mins

Americans reported losing more than $7.9 billion to investment scams during calendar year 2025, with the median individual loss topping $10,000. That figure marks a sharp escalation from $5.7 billion in investment-scam losses reported just one year earlier, raising hard questions about why federal enforcement and consumer education have failed to slow the bleeding. The…

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Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire is now sitting on a record $397 billion in cash, the clearest sign yet he sees stocks as overpriced

Warren Cohen09 mins

Berkshire Hathaway ended the first quarter of 2026 holding roughly $397 billion in cash and short-term U.S. Treasury investments, the largest reserve in the company’s history. The figure, disclosed in a quarterly filing covering the period through March 31, 2026, arrived alongside a profit that more than doubled and a sharply smaller crowd at the…

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Prosecutors charged the operators of a $200 million Ponzi scheme built around water-vending machines

Warren Cohen09 mins

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Ryan Wear and Jordan Chirico with operating a Ponzi scheme built around water-vending machines that, according to the government, took in more than $200 million from investors. The SEC filed parallel civil actions alleging the pair ran two Ponzi-like schemes through Water Station Management LLC and Creative Technologies, Inc., raising…

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McDonald’s CEO is warning that customers are pulling back on spending, a sign lower-income Americans are squeezed

Warren Cohen09 mins

McDonald’s reported $6.517 billion in revenue and $1.983 billion in net income for the first quarter of 2026, yet the company’s own earnings materials described a “challenging environment” for its core customers. The tension between those headline numbers and management’s caution about consumer spending tells a pointed story about where lower-income Americans stand right now….

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Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi says U.S. recession risk is “uncomfortably high and rising”

Warren Cohen08 mins

Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi has warned that the probability of a U.S. recession is “uncomfortably high and rising,” a phrase that carries extra weight given the softening signals in recent federal labor data. The March 2026 Employment Situation report showed payroll growth slowing and the unemployment rate ticking upward, feeding a debate over whether…

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One breach exposed up to 14.2 million email logins across six internet providers

Warren Cohen09 mins

Up to 14.2 million email login credentials tied to six Japanese internet service providers were exposed after attackers compromised a shared backend email system operated by KDDI, one of Japan’s largest telecommunications companies. The breach turned a single point of intrusion into a sprawling, multi-company security failure, putting millions of users at risk of account…

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The SEC says a pre-IPO scheme pulled in 4,000 investors worldwide

Warren Cohen08 mins

Federal regulators have charged five unregistered brokers and four companies for raising at least $528 million from more than 4,000 investors worldwide through a pre-IPO fraud scheme that operated between approximately March 2019 and July 2022. A parallel criminal indictment names Raymond John Pirrello Jr., the founder and executive of Prior2IPO, on three counts including…

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