Ever wonder what lurks beneath the ocean's surface or how our ancestors might have engineered the seas? This episode of Weird World of Variety is a treasure trove of speculation and science, where Jesse and I, your ever-curious hosts, share some hearty laughs over the audacity of pickle-flavored jelly beans and then plunge into the depths of a Stone Age megastructure discovery. Could this be Atlantis, or just a fragment of Earth’s concealed history? Join in as we navigate through the murky waters of scientific skepticism and muse about the philosophical implications of uncovering civilizations that could turn history on its head.
Feeling the pinch at the checkout line? You're not alone. We open up about our own struggles with the climbing food prices and how it's reshaping our budgets. Whether you're flying solo or managing a family's expenses, the conversation gets real about the daily tug-of-war between financial planning and the cost of living. Explore with us the latest USDA data, and take away some fresh perspectives on balancing the need to eat with the desire to save. It's a candid look at the universal challenge of making ends meet in an era where the price of a loaf of bread can feel like highway robbery.
Then, we cap off with a gripping tale of eavesdropping, insider trading, and the million-dollar scheme of one Texas man. It's a story that blurs the line between a lucky tip and illegal activity, with repercussions that echo through the hallways of the financial industry. Listen as we dissect the ethical implications and ponder whether knowledge really is power—or just a one-way ticket to a legal nightmare. It's a cautionary tale that'll have you hooked, questioning where you would draw your own line in the sand of financial morality.
Ever wonder what lurks beneath the ocean's surface or how our ancestors might have engineered the seas? This episode of Weird World of Variety is a treasure trove of speculation and science, where Jesse and I, your ever-curious hosts, share some hearty laughs over the audacity of pickle-flavored jelly beans and then plunge into the depths of a Stone Age megastructure discovery. Could this be Atlantis, or just a fragment of Earth’s concealed history? Join in as we navigate through the murky waters of scientific skepticism and muse about the philosophical implications of uncovering civilizations that could turn history on its head.
Feeling the pinch at the checkout line? You're not alone. We open up about our own struggles with the climbing food prices and how it's reshaping our budgets. Whether you're flying solo or managing a family's expenses, the conversation gets real about the daily tug-of-war between financial planning and the cost of living. Explore with us the latest USDA data, and take away some fresh perspectives on balancing the need to eat with the desire to save. It's a candid look at the universal challenge of making ends meet in an era where the price of a loaf of bread can feel like highway robbery.
Then, we cap off with a gripping tale of eavesdropping, insider trading, and the million-dollar scheme of one Texas man. It's a story that blurs the line between a lucky tip and illegal activity, with repercussions that echo through the hallways of the financial industry. Listen as we dissect the ethical implications and ponder whether knowledge really is power—or just a one-way ticket to a legal nightmare. It's a cautionary tale that'll have you hooked, questioning where you would draw your own line in the sand of financial morality.
What's up everybody? What's up everybody? How you doing, how you doing. Hey, here we go. We're listening to Weird.
Speaker 2:World of a variety. That's right, we'll be there and realize all of it. Just click on it accidentally. But if you didn't, then thanks. Thanks for coming. Yeah, Weird.
Speaker 1:World of a variety. I'm here as well as my co-host, jesse. Yeah, give it up for him. Did you miss me?
Speaker 2:I bet you did because Matt's so low.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were kind of upset that you weren't here last week man, I have no doubt.
Speaker 2:I mean, I am the personality here, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, alright, I'm always convinced right. No, but we did miss you, so I don't know what you did. Definitely, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 2:Alright, we got a lot for you guys today, but first we were talking about pickles earlier, dude, I just saw this weird like totally blonde moment chick video. She was like she was holding a cucumber. She goes why did they pickle everything but cucumbers? I'm thinking, are you serious right now?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had another video. I don't know if I sent it to you I don't think I have yet but it was this guy. It popped up on my feet. He does this series called who's Buying this. You ever seen this? It's like this video series of like where he goes through the store and he picks the weirdest things that like nobody would buy and he goes who's buying this?
Speaker 2:And that's his whole series.
Speaker 1:He just picks up a random item and says yes, so the item that he picked up this week was pickle jelly beans Ew, that's not gross man. He goes who's buying this? That does sound gross. And then his whole thing is he buys the item and then he goes out to his car and tries it.
Speaker 2:So he probably he picks one in his mouth and he makes a face like ew.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he bought the item and then he was like he's like I'm going to go try it, and then he had the like the most weirdest face.
Speaker 2:I've seen that a lot actually Not that particular channel or whatever, but I have seen people do that plenty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you ever see pickled jelly beans, you're going to have to tell me what that tastes like, because I know I'm never going to try it.
Speaker 2:I don't ever intend to either. That sounds gross.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, there is no way I don't think I'd be able to. Speaking of weird stuff, we've got a bunch of weird news for you today. Are you guys ready? All right, all right, all right. So here we go, starting with our first story of the week. We're going to bring it up, and this week I thought I would get a little sciency on you, did you really?
Speaker 1:Yes, we're going to get lost in the Stone Age huh, it's been a while since we've been to the Stone Age of science. We do a lot of weird news and some of it involves science, some of it is just plain weird, and I thought we would do a little science section. This week I've got a good one for you. Scientists scanning the seafloor discover a lost, long lost Stone Age megastructure. Lost long, yeah, lost long, lost Stone Age megastructure at the bottom of the seafloor. Now, what could this be about? I have no idea.
Speaker 2:Dude, they found Atlantis. I'm waiting for it. You're waiting for it, Dude. We're going to be waiting a while.
Speaker 1:You know it's down there, it's probably down there, unless this is part of it Either that or they already found it and they're just not telling us which that wouldn't surprise me either. Yeah, you know there's a lot of things they don't want us to find.
Speaker 2:Don't die. Don't die, I mean man, I might you never know, If I disappear for good. That's what happened, mabel. Sorry, you can't help it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, let's dive into this story and see what's going on. Here we go. In the fall of 2021, Jacob Geerson I want to say Geerson a marine geologist now at the Lebanese Institute for Baltic Sea Research, was teaching a one week field course at the University of Kiel. The class was conducted entirely aboard a research vessel on the Baltic Sea. Gerson prefers the open-air classroom, so do I. Do you want to be stuck indoors, or would you rather be outside?
Speaker 2:I would rather be stuck outside. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I think I would like this class being outside on the boat. Yeah, definitely, it's quite intense, he says, but for some of the students, it's maybe the best time during their studies. Dude, I would love that, if you like, in the middle of your college classes, like, yeah, hey, we're going out to sea today, so we're going to go to the ocean and, you know, do some research, bruh, where's my? I would love to do that. Where's my thing here? Here you go.
Speaker 1:And then yeah, I'll be swimming with them and betting them and talking smack.
Speaker 2:Also, You're talking smack. It's like, yeah, hey, so the humans are up to it again on the surface. Yeah, you would Over there on the shore, you wouldn't believe what happened. I'm sure, like they threw a fish at me and they're like here, flipper, eat, you know.
Speaker 1:And I'm like I'd rather eat you, but Pardon my pun, but I feel like dolphins are the most flippant Literally flippant, yes of the sea creatures.
Speaker 2:They'd probably flip you off.
Speaker 1:So I feel like if anybody is gossiping about the surface, it's gotta be the dolphins.
Speaker 2:I have no doubt that they're like. They are talking smack. And even as a fish, I told I knew it, Bro, did you see the other day? I mean they have the audacity.
Speaker 1:I guarantee, I have no doubt, guarantee they're talking smack, all right. So let's continue here. During the night shift each evening, students map the shape of the sea floor at high resolution. Usually, if we go somewhere and do these measurements, says Gearsen, then we find something interesting. This research crews proved no exception One night in the Bay of Mecklenburg. Is that how you said that, makkelberg?
Speaker 2:Makkelberg. That's where Macklemore from Macklinburg oh.
Speaker 1:Mecklinburg, off the coast of northern Germany, the students fired up the echo sounders and mapped a swath of the sea floor. The next day we downloaded the data, said Gearsen, and it was, and it was. Then, when we were sitting together, we saw that there was something on the sea floor. It was something special. They didn't know it at the time, but not quite 70 feet below the surface they stumbled upon a stone wall more than half a mile long that dated back to the stone age, one of the oldest such mega structures on the planet.
Speaker 1:In research published in PNAS, yes, gearsen and his colleagues say that this piece of ancient hunting architecture may have been used to corral and hunt reindeer, adding a level of sophistication to the prehistoric hunter gatherers who lived 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. So this wall that they discovered was apparently an ancient stone structure. I feel like they're guessing on some of like what it is, because you know, most of science is just guessing. But anyway, that's what they think it is. Gearsen's guessing, gearsen guessing. But yeah, I don't, I don't know, man, the picture that they have here Not going to lie.
Speaker 2:It's like a toy on a. What's up with that? What is that Is? I don't know what that is. It looks like a toy out of place on the bottom oh seafloor.
Speaker 1:What am I? It says it's a scale, I don't, I don't know. Yeah, like I think they're trying to compare the size of the rocks, although to me it just looks like rocks, so I'm not sure. Um right, it was sort of. Yeah this is supposed to be a section of the wall, but honestly it doesn't look like structure or look like anything.
Speaker 1:Hey, terrible picture, yeah, whatever you know, maybe they're down to say this is, this is your structure for the week. So there you go. Sad, I don't know. I feel like half the time they're covering up the real structures. I bet they are and they're just throwing like oh, here's some stuff out at us, here's some here's some rocks.
Speaker 1:They're going to go crazy over some rocks. Here you go Like come on, bro, some of the stuff we found on the sea were crazier than this, I know Way crazier than this, and then they wanted to cover that up. So it's like oh, they want to be like. Oh well, that was just an old city, you know nobody.
Speaker 2:I don't understand why you'd want to hide something of significance like that. Uh.
Speaker 1:I feel like jealousy, but they might be jealous, or what A lot of theories of why they ban you from going into the Grand Canyon and stuff like that. I feel like half the time they don't want you to know the truth because they feel like everybody's going to freak out on the planet, like it's going to interrupt their belief structure or something. But I feel like even if you gave us the most crazy, upsetting discovery of the century right Like, say, it's like aliens are real and their cities, we never knew, people still might not believe it, I feel like nobody would care or care, like it's still cool, like to us, a lot of us especially.
Speaker 1:Okay, take, for instance, I'm a Christian, right so. Take, for instance, like, if I hear something cool, like, okay, aliens are real, cryptids are real, and Then like these ancient structures of, like, old cities actually existed, that's not really gonna change my belief at all.
Speaker 2:I anytime I hear a man. If it is real demons.
Speaker 1:It's like, okay, cool, it's real. Like I just think it's cool, like it could be just a part of history we don't know about, like a section that we're missing in a book. It's, it's all the same to me. Like, for instance, they say the the Bible times was a certain amount of years ago, right, well, I was in roughly we don't have every answer to every period of time in history. There's.
Speaker 2:God's not gonna give us every single answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there is so much time missing like from our history, like it wouldn't surprise me if there's a ton of other discoveries we don't know what you know, is it both, while science tries to give us more but neither can actually give us, they're all guessing, yeah like you know what I mean. Like even their dating system like Half the time is one way and then the other half the time they're like oh no, yeah, that's this. It's like, no like.
Speaker 2:Well, we already just read the Mayans or whatever, right, because they didn't think we'd go past 2000.
Speaker 1:Dude, there's probably tons of time that we don't know about, and my respect is the more discoveries the better. So they need to stop hiding stuff and bring out some cool stuff, because you know we're bored up here. We need some cool discoveries like come on now.
Speaker 2:We. It's tempting me to go down there myself. Hey. Hey, here's some, here's some no nonsense proof right here folks. They're lying again, you know.
Speaker 1:Let me see if I can find a sound for our next story. Let me, let me see. Here is would this be it? Okay, that sounds weird. I know that's not this. That's not the thing I was looking for. There we go, that's better. I'm playing a weird sci-fi sound. There you go and that'll give you the theme for our next story. I'm sorry. Former manager of DoD aerospace threat program says UFOs are real.
Speaker 2:Oh, they're Cementing it again, or what?
Speaker 1:Quote-unquote.
Speaker 2:UFOs are real. Oh, you don't say, haven't they admitted this already?
Speaker 1:after the government revealed this year that you have oh yeah, hey, folks, aliens are real.
Speaker 2:Oh really, where they at, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, this is an older article, but I thought it'd be kind of fun Remember when it like was are you gonna release them to us or what's going on? Like remember when it was like GOV bad Juju to talk about UFOs at all, like to say that, oh, I saw something. And then they'd be like everybody's debunking them right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now you're full of it. Look, that's a shadow, or you were seeing that. What were you taking? Some medicine, what?
Speaker 1:This. This cracks me up because this was an older article back in 2017, kind of kicking off the whole, like how in the world did you find that I Found?
Speaker 2:it. I'm just that guy yeah, I'm just he.
Speaker 1:just he claims to be that good it kind of it kind of kicked off the whole, like cementing that UFOs are a real possibility.
Speaker 2:So they're looking back, oh, they're taking a glance at the past and they're like oh yeah, here, by the way, oh this was.
Speaker 1:This was the year. More proof in the past that they were like hey, we should take this more seriously. 2017, if you remember, right before 2019, the pandemic they started playing them yeah like actual footage, like 2017 to 2018.
Speaker 1:I started throwing actual footage and then they had officials like this coming out saying, hey, maybe we should take this more seriously and let the army talk. And that was when they started Saying oh okay, if you report it, we're not going to Put you down for reporting it anymore. So that's when Navy officers and everybody started coming forward I in that time you keep forgetting me.
Speaker 2:watch more videos than me, so here's.
Speaker 1:Here's. Here's an example. Okay, something extraordinary was revealed today and, if you want to follow along, these are from huff post. The previous article was from NPRorg. This is from huff post. Calm, some extraordinary. Something extraordinary was revealed today. Former high-level officials and scientists with deep black experience, the that deep black, not black, always remain in the shadows came forward on one platform.
Speaker 1:These insiders have long-standing connections to government agencies which may have programs investigating unidentified aerial phenomena. Uaps slash UFOs. The team includes a 25-year veteran of the CIA's director of operations, a Lockheed Martin Martin program director for advanced systems at skunkworks oh, that's a delightful name and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence. Today mark the official launch of To the stars Academy of Arts and Science, an innovative public benefit corporation which will advance research into Unexplained phenomena and developed related technology. It has established three synergistic divisions science, aerospace and entertainment. We believe there are discoveries within our reach that will revolutionize the human experience, says company president and CEO Tom DeLonge.
Speaker 1:So if you remember, this was when this was established. So any of my UFO researchers out there know about this and they know this kind of kicked off a lot. So I thought it was a fun article to do and I thought it'd be an interesting story because this is when Stuff got real, if you know what I mean. This is when they started like taking UFOs seriously, which they should have a lot sooner. But Everything was kind of warming up to this Establish of the to the stars Academy and then you had naval officers coming forward and then you have videos being released. And now we've got all kinds of technology. Now You're starting to see you have video, ufo videos and like 4k, so Won't be long, probably looks.
Speaker 1:It won't be long before people are like hey, we got some actual footage you might want to pay attention to.
Speaker 2:Well see, it's hard for me to pay attention to stuff like that when I'm just reading what I should be. You know what I mean right, right, I agree.
Speaker 1:But yeah, there you go. There is my Science weird section of the week. We've got the to the stars Academy when it was established and are you gonna stone.
Speaker 2:Megastructure. Are you wanting to sign up for the, the to the stars Academy?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna sign up to the stars Academy after I go into the sea and discover the lost stone Megastar that sounds like plan brah.
Speaker 2:I think I'd do it in that order to okay, let's go see if I drown first, and then I'll join To go check out the stars and everything. I'll tell you what, though if somebody gave me the opportunity to explore the ocean, I Would be scared out of my mind but I probably do it because even if I'm gurgling I I will potentially see I what I need to see and, like I said, it would be a no-nonsense disclaimer.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, I almost died, but hey, here you go. Here's a better picture, or I saw it. I totally saw the big old wall down there, my gosh. I explored as much as I could, but I was run out of air, so I resurfaced as fast as possible.
Speaker 1:Well, that kind of trip would probably take a lot of money. And speaking of money, Everything costs a lot of money including groceries, including groceries which we're gonna talk about some weird Money news.
Speaker 2:I am baffled that people can even still buy a grocery. We're gonna talk about some weird money news. I mean a pack of beef being $12 or something like that. It's a little nuts. What was wrong? Beef, beef. I just want that's just. Yeah, I've picked up plenty of packs of hamburger for people and it's like geez, $13 for Less than a pound. What?
Speaker 1:what is wrong with these people? I think I'm just gonna live off bacon bro, I live off chips.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I Eat once a day, maybe I don't know how people do. Even even if I'm making money all the time every day, I'm like you. Know how often I grocery shop? Maybe once a month. It's your. Yes, I'm just throwing in my my little quips there.
Speaker 1:All right and we're back, so we've got some very weird financial news. The first one, gotta say, not so weird. We kind of started kicking it off before the break and that is that.
Speaker 2:Americans are spending the biggest share of their income on food in three decades. Oh, wow, shocker, wow, shocker. This doesn't surprise me in this lightest brother. So, About it? No, I'm not shocked at all People.
Speaker 1:No, like seriously it's. It's one of those things like I've had to cut back on like dude I, I can't cut back anymore, literally, you know, it's just not right but, like you ever find yourself spending more on food than you should and then, like I, have to take a look at my week and spend more on Other things, or try to, you know.
Speaker 2:I don't think I spent more on a hat than I did on food.
Speaker 1:Uh Well, you're doing better than me because I spent a lot of money on food. Oh my gosh, why does it cost so much? All right, well, we're gonna take a look at this and see if we can find some of the Reason why this weirdness is happening. So here we go, can that?
Speaker 2:actually be considered fasting by not buying as much.
Speaker 1:I mean, you just eat less.
Speaker 2:That's what I mean. Yeah, Okay cool.
Speaker 1:I mean there is found me. There is like intermittent fasting when it's just must be what it is one time during the day, I'll claim that that's fine.
Speaker 2:All right Um between groceries and restaurants. Americans are spending more of their income on food than they have in 30 years. That's according to the latest data from the USDA. What why?
Speaker 1:did you say it like that?
Speaker 2:Hey, I was accentuating 30 years I was. I was emphasizing. Okay, that's according to the latest data from the USDA, which shows that us Consumer spent more than 11 percent Of their disposable income on eating. Hey, it says disposable. That's crazy. Don't say like primary.
Speaker 1:Isn't it like when you do the rule of like becoming successful, isn't it? You're not supposed to spend More than what 4% on housing or something like that.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:You're the man like a quarter of your finances on housing, a quarter on food, like I don't know.
Speaker 2:I by 11 percent that might be considered irresponsible adult when it comes to this, because I'm not sure about the percentages. Um, I have to look that up because I need to like a the financial rule.
Speaker 1:You're not supposed to spend more than 4% on housing, more than you know 4% on food or whatever. But I feel like Our Percentages are all out of whack, especially everything's out of whack if you got more than 11 percent on just eating, that's terrible right.
Speaker 2:Yes, and from 4 to 11 percent, taking mine it does say whether at home or a restaurant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I've been grocery shopping and tried to buy the cheapest stuff and I'm spills, I'm still spending like 20 to 50 bucks when I get out of there. Yeah, even on the cheapest stuff at like walmart or kruger. It's ridiculous. All right, keep going. Sorry. Are you sorry, though?
Speaker 2:No, Well, whether at home or at a restaurant, in 2022. The highest percent is since 1991. This is really a metric. That's about the share of our disposable personal income. What's the usda trex? And which recently was at essentially a 31 year high? Jesse Newman, food reporter for the wall street journal, told cbs news. Why does food cost so much? Experts say painfully high food prices and ongoing inflation more generally help explain why many americans Are down on the economy. Despite low unemployment, rising wages and steady economic growth, inflation is expected to continue slowing this year slowing really with the national Association for business economics.
Speaker 1:That's bogus.
Speaker 2:It's speeding it up on monday, forecasting with the consumer price index, a basket of common goods and services Will decline to an annual rate of 2.4 percent this year, compared with 4.1 percent in 2023 and 8 percent in 2022. That was a lot of complicated, yeah, I was like I kind of wish I hadn't picked this now, just reading that really. Pointing eight percent and Okay.
Speaker 1:Like okay, so I can't. I can't think of Like my exact numbers, but I feel like if we looked at Exact numbers of what we spend every day, I feel like food takes up most of it, unless you're paying for housing, because if you're paying for housing in 2024, it's Redoculous, it's like it's. It's so expensive now I don't particularly trouble myself with percentages or right. I mean if you're able to survive and still pay your bills, Uh good on you.
Speaker 2:I'm alive and not starving, so that's literally where I what I count like.
Speaker 1:If I'm here, all right the next day and I'm not starving, I want I'm fine.
Speaker 2:I don't care about budgeting or whatever to oh, dude, okay, but If I can eat a sandwich if you find all day that's a good question.
Speaker 1:No, if you had a ton of money, like say, even if I did, I wouldn't a ton of money Would you budget or not?
Speaker 2:If I had to, I guess I.
Speaker 1:Like if you had a ton of money. I don't certain stuff set aside, like you kind of Probably, even if you didn't budget, you probably still have it in the back of your mind, right Like I have this money set aside for this a lot of like I, anything really, I okay, you're, you and I are fundamentally, fundamentally different days.
Speaker 2:I can't even talk fundamentally different when it comes to that. You have what like 10 bills maybe at a time.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm not going to get too personal.
Speaker 2:No, you have to have a set of bills. You have a list compared to my like, your list would be like five times as big as mine, right?
Speaker 1:Because, well, I'm a single dude.
Speaker 2:I am married and I have kids. We're fundamentally different when it comes to that Right, which is why I wanted to talk about this.
Speaker 1:Okay, there are people, listen, that are single. Yeah, they aren't married, they don't have to worry about certain things like, and that's a good question, even if you had the money, would you budget? Would you kind of just be like you know?
Speaker 2:as long as.
Speaker 1:I got this paid for.
Speaker 2:I'm good. Circumstances were different. Yes, I would Okay, but as of right now.
Speaker 1:I don't need to and I don't care.
Speaker 2:Right, right. I guess that's the difference.
Speaker 1:So it helps if you're living off the grid or not, right, yeah, like, if you're living off the grid or the land, do you have a lot less bills than most people? So I'd imagine you don't have to worry about budgeting as much because you're not really, I literally only need the essentials. You got to imagine that people live off the grid. They make a lot of money because they do not spend a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they should, you'd think they would?
Speaker 1:I don't think so, like if you're, because the guys that I've seen live off the grid. They build the stuff that they need and then that's it. So they'll spend the money on the stuff like the rain collector or the solar panels, whatever, and the garden and whatnot. They'll spend the money on that, but then that's it. Once they're done, they're done, yeah, and then the only thing they have to pay for is land taxes if they even have to pay that.
Speaker 1:That's sort of how I lived, dude, so. But you know the government doesn't like that. So you know, and I am scared, but y'all need to be doing that Like we all need to be living off the grid at some point, we all should be self-sufficient anyway. Yes, I agree, I totally agree. Speaking of making money, what do you got for us?
Speaker 2:The next article we're going to cover is the title is Texas man made 1.76 million from insider trading by Eve by dropping Eve's on wife's business, calls.
Speaker 1:Justice Department says these are the sound, the newscom.
Speaker 2:This sounds ideally fun, at the risk of founding an arrogant.
Speaker 1:I want to know what happened with this, because apparently he made a business from Eve's dropping dropping his wife and made a ton of money.
Speaker 2:I want to know how to do that, because I want to kind of drop Eve's on other people now and now did he do this legally?
Speaker 1:Did he get busted? What?
Speaker 2:happened.
Speaker 1:How legal if? It doesn't sound legal, but it almost sound legal. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like it almost sounds like how could it be illegal if it's not technically illegal but it's? The Justice Department is involved now, so I'm assuming it will see, we'll see.
Speaker 1:Let's see what this guy did?
Speaker 2:A man from Houston overheard his work from home spouse talking business and used that information to make over $1.7 million in an insider trading scheme. Federal authority said so he didn't get busted, looks like, but how? Tyler Loud and 42 pleaded guilty Thursday to securities fraud. That's a thing for buying and selling stocks oh based I get it Spying and selling stocks based on details clean from his wife's business conversations while both were working from home. He made 1.7 mil in profits from the deal, but has agreed to forfeit those gains, the Justice Department announced in a news release.
Speaker 2:That's a bummer. Mr Loudon made a serious error in judgment, which he deeply regrets and has taken full responsibility for. His attorney, peter Zidenberg, said in a statement to CBS News, things might have turned out differently had Loudon or his wife decided to work from well the office. Loudon's wife worked as a mergers and acquisition manager at the London based oil and gas conglomerate. There we go BP. So when Loudon overheard details of a BP plan to acquire Travel Centers, a truck stop and travel center company based in Ohio, he smelled profit. He bought more than 46,000 shares at the truck stop company before the merger was announced on February 16th 2023, at which point the stock soared almost 71 percent, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's my problem with this. Is that fraud, or is that just being smart in the right place at the right time?
Speaker 2:I think it's just like the control edge, because it sounds like people are just mad because he made money. They are definitely just butt hurt that he made money.
Speaker 1:It sounds like they're just mad because he made money. That doesn't sound like fraud to me at all. This is just pathetic. In my opinion it sounds like, hey, because he had insider information. He used that for his business and his trades. Then they got butt hurt that he made the money and they were like well, what I want to know is why does it matter?
Speaker 2:It was his wife also like I don't know. You heard your wife's conversation.
Speaker 1:It's based off the company she worked for right. So technically, if we wanted to be technical about it, he wasn't allowed to access those conversations. You're not supposed to listen to those? Yeah, and I feel like it's their fault for letting them hear those conversations. Like, if anything, it's his wife's fault for letting them hear the conversation.
Speaker 2:If it was so illegal, then you shouldn't have the conversation, and they should charge the wife too, I would think, because she was negligent.
Speaker 1:Well, they didn't, because he was the one that made the purchase and made the money.
Speaker 2:Negligence has to count for something.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but to me this sounds like they were just mad because he made money off of it. They were just bitter, like come on man, like I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:To me it just sounds sad it sounds smart.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what it was, because I'll tell you what. What he's doing is no different from when an investor is like I know this business is going to take off.
Speaker 2:How is this any different than a rumor you hear or a friend tells you something? Hey man, I invested in this stock. Maybe you should do. I don't get it.
Speaker 1:This is the kind of stuff that stops people from getting rich and taking care of their family, like oh, they're going to do everything they can to stop that. And he didn't get punished too harshly. He did agree to hand over the profits and all that, so he didn't get punished too harshly for this. At the same time, I just feel like it's more people trying to control.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what it comes out of Money that you're making.
Speaker 1:That is all it is, and it's like if you have a good idea, don't let anybody know, because then Well, there's some more to that yeah go for it when we got.
Speaker 2:Loud and then allegedly sold the stock immediately for a gain of 1.76 million. His spouse was unaware of his activity, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Speaker 1:See, that's where he messed up. He should have kept it.
Speaker 2:It was gonna be seized either way.
Speaker 1:No because the whole reason why this thing got blown up is because he made the 1.76 million if he would have kept that stock, nobody would have known. So I guess he was down there and then down the road, he could have just set it aside for college or made it, you know whatever sold the stock later.
Speaker 2:So that was. That was a misstep right there, loud, and will be sentenced on May 17th when he faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000.
Speaker 1:So I think that's light. Yes, he could have got that's light compared to what.
Speaker 2:I mean if it's his first offense, that's still pretty bad.
Speaker 1:But he should have just kept the stock and he should just said hey, he wasn't.
Speaker 2:He wasn't thinking clearly. Obviously you may also owe a fine, in addition to the other penalties, in order to resolve a separate and still pending civil case brought by the SEC, of course these are all our opinions, guys.
Speaker 1:Don't take our stuff for salt. We just like to be funny and have fun with the news. I Don't encourage anybody to do anything illegal, all right, but here's the thing with this. The reason why the red flag came up is because he sold it immediately. Yeah, and if he would have just kept it and said, hey, this is something I'm interested in, nobody would have questioned him. Otherwise Nobody would have cared. Yeah, he would have just owned that stock.
Speaker 2:So we allege that mr Loudon took advantage of his remote working conditions and his wife's trust to profit from information he knew was confidential, said Eric Warner, regional director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office. The SEC remains committed to prosecuting such malfeasance.
Speaker 1:See, you could also be like Did I know it was confidential though. I mean this conversation is going on in my house. What am I supposed to do? You know?
Speaker 2:You prove that I was listening to it. That's some shaky justice right there. Yeah, yeah, like, unless you got bugs in my house, you know what you can prove that the he, they should not have been able to charge them at all, in my opinion, because the you can't prove that he was listening. Well, he outed.
Speaker 1:He outed himself when he sold for that 1.76 million. Yeah, that's what it was.
Speaker 2:If he would have just had done that, he would have had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like he would have been fine. He would have just owned, stocked, like everybody, buy stock. It's not a and especially like, be smarter people. It just makes sense to me that his wife works at a certain company and he would want to buy those stocks. Yeah, you know what I mean. Like, hey, my wife works for this company. They're doing really well. I, I feel like I want to invest in this company. That makes sense to me. Yeah, you know what I mean. So it's the fact that he sold it right away, trying to profit. That's where they get you, because anybody who knows.
Speaker 1:Anybody who knows stocks know that you buy it for the long term, not the short term.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you buy a share, keep it.
Speaker 1:You don't sell it, right away, so that just looks fish. Only if you need to. In my experience, yeah, it looks fishy if you're like hey, I bought this yesterday, I'm gonna sell it today, I wish.
Speaker 2:Netflix shares were still cheap. I can't believe. I want to.
Speaker 1:If you in the audience that are listening right now, if you guys got any weird or funny financial stories that you would want to send us, we have a Facebook and Instagram and YouTube YouTube page. We have it. It's live, oh yeah, yes, and we have an email. So if you guys want to send us, just look up weird world variety with Matt and Jesse and you can send us your stories. You can comment, you can go see the videos for yourself. We got the YouTube page up.
Speaker 1:WWE should pop it up, I would think won't be long till we do live videos here soon. So, and then we also are planning to eventually have a voicemail where you could call in my idea. Yes, send us your comments and your stories, and we'd love to hear from you. So you know what. I think that's all we got for today, but I oh, that's fine with me. Alright, so from the WWE, are you weird yet? I hope so. Keep it weird everybody. Thank you everybody for listening. Thanks. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Hey.