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Scoop
a day ago
- Business
- Scoop
CNMI's delegate seeks clarification from US Treasury on use of federal tax revenues
, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent The delegate for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to the United States Congress, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, has formally asked the US Treasury to clarify how fedeal taxes generated in the territory are being utilised. Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds sent a formal request to US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent seeking clarification. According to Section 703(b) of the CNMI's Covenant with the US, federal income taxes and other federal revenues derived from sources in the CNMI needs to be returned to the local government. In her letter, King-Hinds raised concerns that significant tax revenues linked to federal activity in the CNMI are not being returned to the local government as the Covenant provides. She pointed specifically to recent Department of Defence construction projects on Tinian totaling more than $153 million. Despite the scale of federal spending, the CNMI government received only $87,000 in reported tax revenue. "This provision was included in the Covenant to ensure that when activity happens in the CNMI, the returns from that activity are shared with the CNMI," she said. " "The people of the Northern Marianas and our government should see the benefit of economic activity occurring in their islands, especially when it is federally funded." Section 703(b) outlines a range of federal taxes that are to be paid into the CNMI Treasury, including income taxes derived from the CNMI and taxes on goods produced or consumed in the Commonwealth. King-Hinds noted that the provision applies regardless of where a contractor is headquartered, so long as the income is derived from work in the CNMI. "Nearly five decades after this language was adopted, we still do not have clear implementation of this section," she said. "As more federal funding and contract work flows into the CNMI, the question of how those revenues are treated under the Covenant is increasingly urgent." King-Hinds is requesting that the Department of Treasury clarify its interpretation of Section 703(b) and determine whether income taxes collected on work performed in the CNMI, particularly by off-island contractors, are appropriately credited to the CNMI government. She also indicated that if legislative steps are needed to reinforce the Covenant's requirements, she is prepared to work with Congress to advance those changes. "This is a practical issue with real consequences for the CNMI's ability to operate and plan for the future," King-Hinds said. "The Covenant will only endure if we remain committed to upholding its terms and ensuring its provisions are followed, including making certain the CNMI receives the revenues it is owed. I appreciate Secretary Bessent's attention to this request and look forward to a constructive dialogue on how we can ensure the Covenant is implemented as intended." During a recent CNMI House of Representatives hearing, Rep. Marissa Flores said the CNMI only collected a mere $87,000 in fees and taxes from $153-million worth of military activities in the Northern Marianas. Flores shared that data, which she said was shared at a recent meeting with the military, at the end of the House Standing Committee on Ways and Means budget hearing from the Department of Finance (DOF) last 9 July. "Why are we not collecting? What is the problem?" Flores asked DOF and the Division of Revenue and Taxation. "All this military build-up is happening…Are you collecting tax on developer's tax at all with the military?" she added. Division of Revenue & Taxation director Daniel Alvarez responded, "I do not believe the military projects fall under developer tax. I would probably have to confirm that with legal." Flores said the CNMI also needs to monitor how many military developers are being brought in because the island does not have the workforce. "We're losing money in that area. So many projects came and left, and we're only charging on the construction tax. Again, which is another problem, because now we know that they're bringing in their construction material," she explained. The lawmaker recommended that DOF have an increased presence on Tinian. Finance Secretary Tracy Norita later clarified that it has been a long-standing issue. "This is a conversation that has been going on between the municipality of Tinian and my office and [Department of Public Works] on who's going to assess the tax. "We've received information from DPW, I believe they've asked for [the Attorney-General's] opinion on whether they can assess the tax. To this day, I don't believe they're assessing it because there is no legal authority to assess the developer's tax on the military projects. "And so at this point, I believe it's legislation that's required to specify what exactly is exempted from the developer tax, whether it's a military project with an independent contractor or only military projects that are conducted by the military themselves," Norita added. "So again, it goes back to the legislation and the authority for DPW to assess the developer's tax." DPW Secretary Ray Yumul said they submitted an internal Legal Services Request form to the CNMI AG a few months ago but have not received a response.
Business Insider
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
WeWork's former top lawyer is building an 'AI-native' law firm. Her model for client cost savings? TurboTax.
Jen Berrent helped WeWork navigate a thicket of leases and lawsuits. Now, she's building a new kind of law firm using artificial intelligence to gut Big Law's gravy train. Founded by two former general counsels and backed by $4 million in venture funding, Covenant is betting that private markets are ready for a software-first approach to legal advice. Its tools use large language models to root through hundreds of pages of legal documents, raise red flags, and suggest stronger terms that are tailored to the investor's own playbook. In the world of venture capital and other private funds, investors still pay law firms to tell them where and how to park their money. Endowments, pensions, and other institutional allocators rely on white-shoe lawyers to review limited partner agreements (LPAs), the legal backbone of a private investment fund. In theory, the bigger the law firm, the better the insight because it has seen more deals. But prestige doesn't come cheap, and neither does the billable hour. Covenant is selling directly to institutional investors, not law firms, with the hope of cutting straight to the client and their bottom line. Just as TurboTax made many Americans question whether they really needed an accountant, Covenent aims to give private market investors a reason to ask whether Big Law's invoices are still worth it. The company tells Business Insider it's raised $4 million in a seed round led by Flybridge Capital Partners, with Neil Barsky, a former journalist and hedge fund manager, participating. ReWork Through the late aughts, Berrent was chief legal officer and co-president at WeWork, where she walked one of the trickiest tightropes in corporate law: counseling a high-flying, often chaotic startup and its mercurial founder, Adam Neumann. In 2019, former employees told Business Insider that Berrent was the person who tamed the chaos and protected the company as crisis after crisis unfolded. She left WeWork in 2020. At first, Berrent set out to build a tool to help founders negotiate legal contracts. But she and Richard Perris, Covenant's cofounder and president, realized that opportunity was limited. Term sheets, offer letters, and non-disclosure agreements are relatively short, standardized, and not all that complex. The bigger pain, Perris says, lives in private fund docs: LPAs and side letters, which carve out specific terms for specific investors. Their high-stakes fine print demands hours of expensive lawyer time. That's where large language models, Perris says, could "come in and crush this problem." But before Covenant had a product or revenue, Flybridge made "a bet on Jen," says Jesse Middleton, who helped scale WeWork as an operator before becoming an investor at Flybridge. Over the past 18 months, Berrent says Covenant has brought on around 45 customers, including endowments, foundations, pension plans, funds of funds, and sovereign wealth funds. She declined to name any clients, but says monthly transaction volume has grown 50% since January. Law Firm 2.0 Covenant is part of a new wave of law firms with the skeleton of a tech company and legal services layered on like tissue. Zach Posner, a venture capitalist who correctly called the legal tech boom in 2019, calls this category Law Firm 2.0. His fund is launching an accelerator to back the companies that compete head-on with law firms. Zach Abramowitz, a consultant who advises law firms and legal departments on which software to buy, says he expects to see star attorneys peeling off from big firms to start their own tech-enabled practices. To Abramowitz, the real upside isn't in building the next legal-tech unicorn like Harvey or Ironclad. It's in the long tail — what he describes as the Shopify phase of legal tech. Just as Amazon and Shopify unlocked a wave of entrepreneurs who built their own stores on top of those platforms, Abramowitz believes artificial intelligence will enable a surge of "bionic boutiques" that can generate significantly more revenue per lawyer. "That's a much bigger opportunity," he said, "that inures to the benefit of more people." Covenant joins a growing list of software companies with big backers and even bigger promises to strip the drudgery from legal work. But murmurs of a legal tech bubble are growing louder, especially as flashy tools like Harvey and Legora jockey for relevance in a still-cautious market. For now, Covenant doesn't compete directly with those platforms, which sell into law firms and corporate legal departments. Instead, it occupies a lane closer to contract review tools like Luminance and Spellbook, which are also built for lawyers, not private market investors. To Berrent, the key distinction is that Covenant is selling legal services to customers who typically hire Big Law to do this work. Berrent says she sees the next big opportunity not in AI for law firms, but in entirely new firms built around the tech. Call it counsel-as-a-service. "Uber didn't sell software to taxi companies," she said. Instead, it redefined how people think about getting from point A to B. That's the kind of shift she's after.
Business Insider
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
WeWork's former top lawyer wants to do with fund docs what TurboTax did for tax prep. Big Law should be nervous.
Jen Berrent helped WeWork navigate a thicket of leases and lawsuits. Now, she's building a new kind of law firm using artificial intelligence to gut Big Law's gravy train. Founded by two former general counsels and backed by $4 million in venture funding, Covenant is betting that private markets are ready for a software-first approach to legal advice. Its tools use large language models to root through hundreds of pages of legal documents, raise red flags, and suggest stronger terms that are tailored to the investor's own playbook. In the world of venture capital and other private funds, investors still pay law firms to tell them where and how to park their money. Endowments, pensions, and other institutional allocators rely on white-shoe lawyers to review limited partner agreements (LPAs), the legal backbone of a private investment fund. In theory, the bigger the law firm, the better the insight because it has seen more deals. But prestige doesn't come cheap, and neither does the billable hour. Covenant is selling directly to institutional investors, not law firms, with the hope of cutting straight to the client and their bottom line. Just as Turbotax made many Americans question whether they really needed an accountant, Covenent aims to give private market investors a reason to ask whether Big Law's invoices are still worth it. The company tells Business Insider it's raised $4 million in a seed round led by Flybridge Capital Partners, with Neil Barsky, a former journalist and hedge fund manager, participating. ReWork Through the late aughts, Berrent was chief legal officer and co-president at WeWork, where she walked one of the trickiest tightropes in corporate law: counseling a high-flying, often chaotic startup and its mercurial founder, Adam Neumann. In 2019, former employees told Business Insider that Berrent was the person who tamed the chaos and protected the company as crisis after crisis unfolded. She left WeWork in 2020. At first, Berrent set out to build a tool to help founders negotiate legal contracts. But she and Richard Perris, Covenant's cofounder and president, realized that opportunity was limited. Term sheets, offer letters, and non-disclosure agreements are relatively short, standardized, and not all that complex. The bigger pain, Perris says, lives in private fund docs: LPAs and side letters, which carve out specific terms for specific investors. Their high-stakes fine print demands hours of expensive lawyer time. That's where large language models, Perris says, could "come in and crush this problem." But before Covenant had a product or revenue, Flybridge made "a bet on Jen," says Jesse Middleton, who helped scale WeWork as an operator before becoming an investor at Flybridge. Over the past 18 months, Berrent says Covenant has brought on around 45 customers, including endowments, foundations, pension plans, funds of funds, and sovereign wealth funds. She declined to name any clients, but says monthly transaction volume has grown 50% since January. Law Firm 2.0 Covenant is part of a new wave of law firms with the skeleton of a tech company and legal services layered on like tissue. Zach Posner, a venture capitalist who correctly called the legal tech boom in 2019, calls this category Law Firm 2.0. His fund is launching an accelerator to back the companies that compete head-on with law firms. Zach Abramowitz, a consultant who advises law firms and legal departments on which software to buy, says he expects to see star attorneys peeling off from big firms to start their own tech-enabled practices. To Abramowitz, the real upside isn't in building the next legal-tech unicorn like Harvey or Ironclad. It's in the long tail — what he describes as the Shopify phase of legal tech. Just as Amazon and Shopify unlocked a wave of entrepreneurs who built their own stores on top of those platforms, Abramowitz believes artificial intelligence will enable a surge of "bionic boutiques" that can generate significantly more revenue per lawyer. "That's a much bigger opportunity," he said, "that inures to the benefit of more people." Covenant joins a growing list of software companies with big backers and even bigger promises to strip the drudgery from legal work. But murmurs of a legal tech bubble are growing louder, especially as flashy tools like Harvey and Legora jockey for relevance in a still-cautious market. For now, Covenant doesn't compete directly with those platforms, which sell into law firms and corporate legal departments. Instead, it occupies a lane closer to contract review tools like Luminance and Spellbook, which are also built for lawyers, not private market investors. To Berrent, the key distinction is that Covenant is selling legal services to customers who typically hire Big Law to do this work. Berrent says she sees the next big opportunity not in AI for law firms, but in entirely new firms built around the tech. Call it counsel-as-a-service. "Uber didn't sell software to taxi companies," she said. Instead, it redefined how people think about getting from point A to B. That's the kind of shift she's after.
Hypebeast
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Guy Ritchie Exits 'Road House 2' as Director Ahead of Production
Summary Amazon MGM Studios' upcoming sequel to the hit action remake,Road House 2, has hit a speed bump. Acclaimed filmmakerGuy Ritchiehasreportedlyexited the director's chair, justmonths after coming on boardand shortly ahead of the planned September production start. While no official reason has been given for his departure, the news has stirred significant conversation in Hollywood. Ritchie, known for his distinctive stylish action in films likeSnatchandThe Gentlemen, had been attached to directRoad House 2since April, taking over from Doug Liman, who famously vocalized his frustrations with Amazon over the original film's straight-to-streaming release. This would have marked a reunion for Ritchie and starJake Gyllenhaal, who previously collaborated onThe Covenant. Despite Ritchie's unexpected exit, Amazon MGM Studios remains committed to the project. Jake Gyllenhaal is still slated to reprise his role as Dalton, the ex-UFC fighter turned bouncer. Production is still planned to kick off this fall, indicating an urgent search is underway for a new director to take the helm. Will Beall is penning the script for the sequel, with plot details currently being kept under wraps. The 2024Road Houseremake proved to be a massive streaming success for Prime Video, attracting over 80 million global viewers in its first two months. This commercial triumph made a sequel an immediate priority for the studio, even amidst the behind-the-scenes directorial changes.
South Wales Argus
08-07-2025
- General
- South Wales Argus
Armed Forces Day at Caldicot Castle and Country Park
More than 7,000 people gathered at Caldicot Castle and Country Park on Saturday, June 28, for Wales' National Armed Forces Day in honour of servicemen and women, past and present. Councillor Peter Strong, chair and armed forces champion at Monmouthshire County Council, said: "What a wonderful day at Caldicot Castle and Country Park. "Seeing so many people in attendance to show their support for our Armed Forces community highlights the high esteem that people have for serving personnel, veterans, reservists, cadets, and their families." The event featured a Spitfire flypast, a cadet and veterans parade, and a full programme of musical performances. It was also where the Armed Forces Covenant was re-signed by the council. Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby, leader of Monmouthshire County Council, said: "It was a privilege to re-sign the Covenant at the Armed Forces Day event."
