Good morning. Deutsche Bank’s asset-management arm DWS Group agreed to pay 25 million euros, equivalent to $27 million, to settle an investigation by German prosecutors into allegations of greenwashing.

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that the business advertised products with environmental, social and corporate-governance, or ESG, characteristics that overstated its practices.

• “Greenwashing” in question: The so-called greenwashing—the practice of overstating a commitment toward sustainability goals—occurred from mid-2020 to the end of January 2023, the prosecutor’s office said.
   
• First cases: It was one of the first cases that questioned the ESG claims of money managers. The German fine follows a $25 million settlement DWS reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023 over the ESG matter, as well as deficiencies in its anti-money-laundering programs.
   
• DWS has improved internal documentation and control processes: DWS said it accepted the German fine, which will have no impact on its results as it is covered by existing provisions, and that it cooperated with the investigation. 

U.S. wants to axe Cognizant bribe case.

U.S. prosecutors have moved to throw out high-profile foreign bribery charges against two former executives at Cognizant Technology Solutions, saying the case isn’t compatible with President Trump’s shifting white-collar crime enforcement priorities.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss a long-running case against Gordon Coburn, Cognizant’s former president, and Steven Schwartz, its former chief legal officer. The two are accused of involvement in a scheme to pay bribes in India, where the Teaneck, N.J.-based professional services company has substantial operations, to secure permission to build a corporate campus.

SEC allows some shareholder proposals to advance.

Corporations continue to face pressure on climate, diversity and executive pay issues, despite the Trump administration’s early moves to make it more difficult to bring activist shareholder proposals.

Staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the gatekeeper of which shareholder proposals must be included on proxy statements, have cleared a number of proposals over corporate objections this proxy season.

• Ben Cohen has a message for the corporate giant that bought his ice cream brand 25 years ago: If you love us, let us go.
   
• The Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against three large pharmacy-benefit managers over insulin prices is on hold after President Trump fired two of the agency’s commissioners.
   
• Mark Zuckerberg is lobbying President Trump and White House officials to agree to a settlement that would prevent Meta Platforms from facing an antitrust trial later this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• For the past year, the insurance industry has been on edge over a series of class-action lawsuits arguing that Athene Holding, an insurer tied to private-markets giant Apollo Global Management, is too risky to be part of America’s retirement system. The first two court rulings on these cases, both issued Friday, are likely to add to the industry’s confusion, according to WSJ Private Equity. (Subscription required).
   
• Mobile technology company AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it, according to people familiar with the matter, joining a flurry of suitors for the video-sharing app.

Trump imposes 10% baseline tariff, higher rates for ‘bad actors.’

President Trump announced a sweeping new tariff plan at a Rose Garden ceremony, a stark shift in U.S. trade policy.

The U.S. will impose a 10% tariff on all imports and much higher rates for some nations, Trump said in unveiling a series of moves he declared “Liberation Day” for U.S. trade policy.

Meanwhile, a handful of Republican senators broke with President Trump on trade policy, joining with Democrats to pass a resolution aiming to undo the president’s 25% tariff on Canadian imports.

• What to Know About Trump’s Latest Tariffs
• Trump Tariffs Aim to Bring Down Curtain on Era of Globalization
• Tariffs Look to Create a New World Economic Order
• Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Have Significant Impact on Eurozone Inflation, ECB’s Villeroy Says

Fresh U.S. sanctions actions and FinCEN advisory. 

The U.S. has sanctioned a network of financial facilitators and procurement operatives working with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to buy weapons and other goods from Russia, including by using cryptocurrency.

Russia will face sweeping primary and secondary sanctions if it fails to engage in good faith peace negotiations with Ukraine, according to a bill introduced by U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal and supported by 48 other lawmakers evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

Six entities and two individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and China have been targeted by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for procuring unmanned aerial vehicle components for Iran’s military-industrial complex.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast have warned they will pursue action against the United Nations and its member states if its Human Rights Council goes ahead with a proposed special investigatory mechanism targeting Israel.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has issued a comprehensive advisory to help financial institutions identify and report suspicious activity related to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The Trump White House has renewed the national emergency with respect to South Sudan for an additional year, maintaining the U.S. president's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

• Pressure is building on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where conflicts with Palestinian residents turned violent and Israel is expanding its ground operations in the enclave. 

• A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, ending an unprecedented case that had created a rift within the Justice Department.
   
• Federal drug regulators have missed the deadline for making a key decision regarding a Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax, days after the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief was pushed out.

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