A fight at Neiman Marcus; Credit Suisse, SoftBank slip up again; Izzy Englander on the prowl; Mike Novogratz still sees $20K bitcoin; and more!

Trump Freezes Green Cards, Many Work Visas Until End Of Year [NPR]
"The ban on H-1B visas, which are often used to fill very niche positions that are not easily found in the American workforce, will ultimately prove to be counterproductive and is an example of using a nuclear bomb to address a bar fight," said Leon Fresco, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama administration who now represents H-1B workers.

Credit defaults are soon to sweep across Europe, like the US [FT]
While there is something of a dichotomy between the relative calm in US credit indices and the drama under the surface, the goings-on in European credit derivatives are downright uncanny.
Government lockdowns to combat the spread of coronavirus have hit economies hard across Europe. But there has not been a single credit event in the European CDS market this year…. Still, credit events will be coming to Europe sooner rather than later.

Neiman Marcus Creditors to File Competing Restructuring Plan [WSJ Pro]
Unsecured creditors of Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. will challenge the bankrupt retailer’s restructuring plan, seeking to file a competing proposal that would take aim at Neiman’s private-equity owners over a spinoff of the MyTheresa e-commerce business.

Wirecard’s Downfall Blows Up $1 Billion Lifeline From SoftBank, Credit Suisse [WSJ]
The hit to SoftBank and Credit Suisse may be limited financially, since neither holds significant exposure to the Wirecard bonds…. Union Investment, an arm of Germany’s DZ Bank, said it is considering legal action in the case, according to a spokesman. It was one of Wirecard’s largest shareholders before selling most of its stake in May, and invested in the Credit Suisse-arranged bonds before selling them in March.

Pandemic propels old-school bond traders towards an electronic future [Reuters]
“The feedback that we got from dealers was that they were not quoting on the phone. They couldn’t do that, they couldn’t keep up with that,” he said. “I think what this crisis has shown is that really if you weren’t trading electronically, you should be trading electronically….”
The jump in electronic trading activity coincided with both a rush into government bonds as the coronavirus sparked demand for safe-haven assets, and then a sharp selloff as investors sold their most liquid assets to make up for losses elsewhere.

Millennium Seeks $3 Billion of Private Equity-Style Capital [Bloomberg]
Investors would be required to commit at least $25 million to Millennium, and would only be allowed to withdraw 5% of their money per quarter…. This latest capital raising is part of Millennium’s drive to lock up investors’ money for longer to give it greater flexibility and avoid a rush of withdrawals when markets are in turmoil. The hedge fund was one of many that struggled in the first three weeks of March as coronavirus lockdowns shut much of the global economy. It has since recovered and was up 9% this year through June 15, the person said.

Las Vegas Ticketing Company Accuses Hedge Fund of Boardroom Plot [Bloomberg Law]
The Chancery Court complaint accuses HSB of violating a standstill agreement it signed as part of a negotiated deal that gave the activist fund three of Tix’s seven directorships when it dropped its board takeover bid last year.

Second Abraaj Executive to Plead Guilty, Cooperate With U.S. [WSJ]
Mr. Vettivetpillai is one of six former Abraaj employees facing multiple charges from U.S. prosecutors of racketeering and fraud at what was once one of the world’s most influential investors in emerging markets…. U.S. prosecutors accused Mr. Naqvi, Mr. Vettivetpillai and others of operating Abraaj as a criminal organization, leading to losses of more than $1 billion for investors and creditors.

Square, Jack Dorsey’s Pay Service, Is Withholding Money Merchants Say They Need [NYT]
Thousands of small enterprises that use Square to process their credit card transactions — including plumbers, legal consultants and construction firms — have complained that the company recently began holding back 20 to 30 percent of the money they collected from customers. The withholdings came with little warning, they said, and Square asserted the right to hang on to the money for the next four months….
“It may not be the coronavirus that puts us out of business but actually the greed of Square that breaks the camel’s back,” said Jesse Larsen, the owner of PennyWise Contracting, a construction company in Olympia, Wash.

Goldman signals Supreme Court bid in Abacus CDO class action [Reuters]
The stay motion serves as a preview of the arguments that Goldman Sachs will eventually make at the Supreme Court in a case that – at least according to the bank and the business lobby – gives shareholders nearly unfettered power to win certification of class actions based on anodyne and ubiquitous corporate mission statements….
The Arkansas Teachers’ case alleges that Goldman Sachs misled its shareholders in corporate statements about the bank’s robust conflict of interest policies and commitment to putting its clients’ interests ahead of its own…. Goldman has long argued, among other points, that generic statements about business integrity were immaterial to investors.

Mike Novogratz Doubles Down on His $20,000 Bitcoin Price Prediction [U. Today]
It will surprise me if we don’t take on $10,000 soon. After that, you are gonna see $14,000 and $20,000…. We’ve got this unholy alliance between huge fiscal stimulus and the Fed financial the whole thing.

China’s Top Liquor Maker Is Worth More Than Its Biggest Bank [WSJ]
Demand for Moutai, the fiery Chinese spirit which has caught many a greenhorn China expatriate unawares, has been strong in recent years while supply hasn’t kept up. With some more premium versions of the liquor selling way above official retail prices, some investors have even treated a bottle of Moutai as an investment itself.
But they could also just buy shares of the liquor’s producer: Shanghai-listed Kweichow Moutai has overtaken state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest commercial bank by assets, as the most valuable company listed on a mainland Chinese exchange. Kweichow Moutai is up 24% this year. With a market capitalization of $261 billion, the liquor company is now bigger than Intel Corp. or Coca-Cola Co.