My 17-year-old daughter told me that she’d been offered a special deal at the Verizon store: access to Apple Music for up to six people for $10 a month. She was desperate to take advantage of the promotion and said the streaming service had an amazing selection of songs.
I said no, not only because we have Spotify, but also because I’d had a rude awakening after New Year’s.
My husband and I were worried about how much we were charging to our credit cards, especially during the holiday period.
We decided to do a financial tune-up, and I was responsible for reviewing the Mastercard statement. We only used it as a secondary payment method if a merchant didn’t accept American Express.
I thought I’d been subject to fraud
As a result, I rarely looked at the bill. This time, however, I printed the statement covering November 11 to December 12, 2025, when we did most of our Christmas shopping.
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There were a few transactions for items like coffee at a little café that doesn’t take Amex and some co-pays for doctors’ visits, but there were others I didn’t recognize.
What on earth was Uexton? I’d paid them $19.99 on November 11. Then there was Sportelx, to whom I’d paid $29.55 on November 21. I’d never heard of it.
I Googled to find that Uxeton was a gaming website and Sportelx was a sports news service.
I’d been a victim of fraud on several occasions, and assumed it had happened again.
The author accidentally signed up for services she never used.
Lam Kraker/Business Insider
Then, I looked over the rest of the bill and saw payments of $29.99 to ESPN New York, $14.99 to Canva, and $11.95 to Audiobookstore.com. As far as I was concerned, neither my husband, kids, nor I had used any of them.
There was also a $25 fee to Rockin’ Jump, where my son went once a week before getting too old for a trampoline park. Why were we still paying for his membership?
I reviewed the last two months’ statements and realized the suspicious payments had occurred before, on the same day each month.
It wasn’t fraud. The recurring fees were subscriptions we’d signed up for before switching banks and credit cards. Some went back years. We had failed to cancel Rockin’ Jump. I didn’t know how the rest had come about.
Over the next few hours, I racked my brains trying to figure out where they came from. The only thing I could think of was that my spouse or I must have shared our credit card information at some point to get a trial subscription.
We’d wasted almost $1,600 annually
We must have forgotten to cancel at the end of the free or discounted period. The total of our unnecessary payments was $131.88 a month, the equivalent of a family cellphone plan.
Over the years, I calculated that we’d spent almost $1,600 annually on streaming and other services we didn’t touch. It was hard to blame the companies that use subscription models when I had been the one to drop the ball. I felt dumb and ashamed.
I sprang into action, canceling as many fees as I could. In most cases, I found it much more difficult to unsubscribe than to subscribe because of the hoops you have to jump through.
Still, the experience taught me a lesson. It’s no thank you to tempting — but ultimately useless — offers from now on.
China’s drive to modernize its military to rival the US armed forces is running parallel with an aggressive purge of its senior leaders.
The People’s Liberation Army has been repeatedly shaken by a massive anti-corruption campaign led by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Now, the military leadership is under renewed scrutiny after one of China’s most senior generals was placed under investigation.
The latest disruptions within the PLA,the world’s largest military and one of its most powerful, raise questions about who is leading the force and how the shake-ups are affecting the military as an organization and impacting readiness.
This past weekend, China’s defense ministry announced investigations into Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, the chief of staff of the commission’s joint staff department. Zhang was widely believed to be one of Xi’s trusted military advisors.
An editorial published in official PLA media said the two had “seriously betrayed the trust and expectations” of both the Communist Party and the CMC and “fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the party’s ruling foundation.”
Analysts Business Insider spoke with said the accusations suggested more than just financial corruption, which has been the case for others. Rather, the language indicates Zhang and Liu challenged Xi’s authority, whether through disagreements on modernization goals, failures to meet expectations, or power and influence struggles within the ranks. The reasons may never be known, as China’s “black box” opacity increasingly blurs realities inside its government.
A report from the Wall Street Journal raised the possibility Zhang leaked nuclear weapons data to the US. Business Inside is unable to independently verify the information.
Xi and other official are now the only two remaining members of the Chinese Military Commission.
Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Of the seven officials appointed to the Central Military Commission in 2022, only two — Xi himself and Zhang Shengmin, the commission’s anti-graft officer — remain in power. The rest are either under investigation or have been expelled.
Two defense ministers have been ousted, and last October, nine top PLA commanders were purged. The exact number of senior military leaders affected is unknown, but there are indications the purge has deeply impacted the senior officer corps.
Zhang is the highest-ranking official affected by Xi’s crackdown on the military. And across the lower ranks of the PLA, dozens of other officers have been removed from their positions.
“This is kind of the ultimate crescendo of this anti-corruption campaign in the military,” Jonathan Czin, an expert at the Brookings Institute who previously served as a top China analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and director for China at the United States National Security Council, told Business Insider.
“It sends a very clear sign throughout the system that nobody is safe regardless of what kind of relationship you had or have with Xi Jinping,” he said.
More investigations may follow those of Zhang and Liu. Officials with ties to the two men could come under suspicion as well, analysts said. Other senior people have been notably absent from important meetings in recent months, suggesting more shakeups.
That leaves Xi with a difficult next step: deciding who can credibly fill the vacancies.
Because so many senior officers have been removed or face investigations, “the pool of candidates for refilling top positions has been winnowed,” Brian Hart, the deputy director and fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ China Power Project, told Business Insider. “Xi could continue to use the existing command structure of the CMC and fill it with new people loyal to him,” he added. “It is also possible Xi could try to start over with a bit of a blank slate by more fundamentally remaking the PLA’s leadership structure.”
Experts assess the immediate consequences of the most recent corruption investigation will impact combat readiness.
GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images
Fewer experienced commanders could slow coordination across China’s military — a serious challenge for complex operations like a blockade or invasion of Taiwan.
Some PLA watchers argue Xi appears willing to accept those short-term costs if the result is a force that is more politically loyal and disciplined over time. The PLA Daily editorial framed the campaign as a net positive, arguing that “the more the People’s Army fights corruption, the stronger, purer, and more combat-capable it becomes.”
A senior Pentagon official previously speculated that the extensive corruption in China’s military was hindering its modernization.
Amid disruptions in the force, China may seek to send a signal that shake-ups aren’t affecting military readiness.
“You could actually see an uptick in the number of major exercises around Taiwan, but internally it could mask significant upheaval and disarray within the PLA,” Lyle Morris, a senior fellow for foreign policy and national security at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, told Business Insider.
China staged large joint exercises around Taiwan following earlier purge waves. Such actions could project readiness despite leadership turmoil.
The internal upheaval is likely having an effect, though, China watchers said.“It is hard to deny that this creates challenges for the PLA in the short term,” Hart said. “Any leader deciding on using force would want senior leaders and commanders in place who are loyal, experienced, and effective in their roles. The immense turnover within the PLA’s highest ranks complicates that.”
What do Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Addison Rae, and Blackpink’s Rosé have in common?
They’re all nominated for Grammy Awards this year, and they’ve all worked closely with the same vocal coach: Eric Vetro.
In an industry that runs on pomp and publicity, Vetro is the man behind the curtain shaping the voices of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Over the decades, his A-list roster has grown largely by word of mouth, with happy students across all genres recommending him to friends and coworkers.
In addition to counting many of today’s biggest pop stars like Grande, Katy Perry, and Carpenter as clients, he’s been involved in over 40 feature films, training actors like Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, and Jeremy Allen White to emulate musicians like Bob Dylan, Maria Callas, and Bruce Springsteen. He’s done his time coaching rock singers (Meat Loaf, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo), Broadway stars (Bette Midler, Kristin Chenoweth) and Oscar winners (Emma Stone, Renée Zellweger). He even got a shoutout in an Ariana Grande lyric in her 2019 single “Monopoly” (“I never track my vocals, so shout out to Eric Vetro / I love Eric Vetro, man”).
Vetro’s vocation may keep him in close proximity to the limelight, but he’s never wanted to step into it himself, preferring to play his coaching role with a proudly gentle touch. Being a vocal coach, he said, is as much about building confidence and managing his famous clients’ stress as it is about delicately giving feedback when they don’t hit the high notes.
“I’m pretty good at delivering a negative in a way that they know I’m only doing it because I care about them,” Vetro explained. “A lot of times I say to people, look, I’m going to be honest with you because I don’t want you to come back to me later and say, ‘You told me I was doing a great job, but I really wasn’t,’ or, ‘You said I sounded great on this song, but I really didn’t.'”
“Most of them are pretty open. They want to hear what can make them sound better,” he added. “I’m not really interested in working with someone who’s just phoning it in.”
Vetro himself certainly isn’t. His job has seen him huddled in public bathrooms with pop stars (for better acoustics, of course) and ferried to LAX at 6 a.m. to run vocal warmups with a client as soon as they deplaned. Once, he had a session with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the middle of a poison ivy patch while she was filming the 2000 musical “Geppetto.”
Despite the ever-frenzied logistics, Vetro said he loves his job now more than ever.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.
Ahead of the 2026 Grammys, Vetro spoke to Business Insider about what it’s like to teach, critique, and win affection from some of the biggest names in show business.
On managing the stresses and vulnerabilities of A-list stars while giving honest feedback
Ariana Grande performs at the 2024 Met Gala.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
You work with a lot of people on the cusp of something big — a movie, a tour, a performance. How much of your job is stress management?
Well, picture singing at the Grammys, which is live. So if they screw up, that’s not good. Or the Oscars. That’s live, so if they make a mistake, that’s not good.
So a lot of it is stress management. But I try to think of all the things that the person needs, and then I try to fulfill all of those needs in every session that we do.
I try to get them to really learn how to use their voice the best way they possibly can, how to warm up their voice the best way they possibly can, how to find the correct placement for the song that they’re going to be singing, or songs that they’re going to be singing. But also how to stay grounded, how to stay relaxed.
It’s kind of like a holistic approach. What they eat and drink is going to affect how they sound, how much sleep they get is going to affect how they sound, the environment they’re in. It might be very dry, so they need to have a humidifier going, or they might have to make sure they have a personal steamer with them, depending on how much hydration they get. It entails a lot of different things. So I just try to fit all of that in as much as I can.
What have you learned about what it’s like to be famous through working with some of your students?
I’ve learned it’s exhausting. It’s intrusive. It can be really fun and wonderful, but it also makes people much more self-conscious because they don’t want to get caught looking their worst. They don’t want to get caught tripping, looking foolish.
Sometimes they just want to be with their friends alone. And how often can you really do that? You might be in a city and go, “I just want to take a walk up and down this strip where there are some great stores,” or, “I’ve heard this is a really fun walking path.” Well, how can you just be yourself when people are taking pictures of you? And not just paparazzi now. It’s anybody.
Eric Vetro with Jeremy Allen White.
Courtesy of Eric Vetro
You necessarily see a vulnerable side of very famous people, because it’s vulnerable to sing in front of someone — especially if you’re tired, if you’re doing it a cappella, if your voice may be a little strained.
I do, but I get also a really sweet, wonderful side, people who are so appreciative. I don’t have any bad stories. I couldn’t sell a bad story about someone. I’ve had such great experiences with people — and most of them, when you really get to the heart of things, are pretty humble. Even the biggest stars are the most humble, and they aren’t arrogant about what they do.
A lot of people come across much more confident and assured on camera when they’re doing an interview, because that’s basically what’s expected of them. The fans want them to be that way. But in person, when we’re just alone, they’re really very sweet people who want to do the best job they can, who don’t want to disappoint. They don’t want to disappoint their family. They don’t want to disappoint their teams, and they don’t want to disappoint their fans. So they’re working really hard to do the best possible job they can.
I used to have this image in my head of a pyramid: all the bricks on the bottom of the pyramid represented agent, manager, labels, choreographers, vocal coaches, stylists, hair, makeup — all these people holding this one person up, whether it’s an actor or a music artist, at the top. That’s how I used to see it before I really worked in the “big time” or the professional realm.
Now I see it as completely opposite: The person who is the artist or the actor is at the bottom, holding up all of this. Because without that person, none of these people have jobs. So they have to be successful in order for all these people to have jobs, and people feel that. They feel the pressure of making sure their team is taken care of, making sure their team has work.
On Sabrina Carpenter’s work ethic and helping Timothée Chalamet sing like Bob Dylan
Eric Vetro with Rosé and Addison Rae.
Courtesy of Eric Vetro
I’m so glad Addison Rae is nominated for best new artist at the Grammys. Since she came from the TikTok world, what was something you focused on to develop her voice as someone who wasn’t known as a singer before?
My main focus with her was just to get her to understand her voice, so that she would know how to sound like she wanted to sound.
She was working with two excellent female songwriters. They all were on the same page with everything, and especially after I heard “Diet Pepsi,” I was like, “Oh, OK. I completely get what they’re going for.” So now, let me try to keep working with her to be able to have her voice sound the best it can — in that world, in that sound, in that genre, keeping that vibe.
Addison has a phenomenal personality, and she also has a very creative mind. I think if you watch any of the videos of her performing, you go, “Oh, this is very specific to her.” Addison has her own thing going on, and so I just wanted her to feel confident when she got onstage that she could sound like the album.
Timothée Chalamet is also nominated for a Grammy for the “A Complete Unknown” soundtrack. What’s the biggest difference between training someone who is trying to emulate a certain singer versus somebody who is singing as themselves?
I start out basically the same with both, just trying to teach them how best to use their voice, how to understand their voice, vocal exercises to strengthen their voice, to increase their range.
Then we start listening, and I try to get them to really listen: What are the characteristics that make this singer special? Is it the way they pronounce a word? Is it the way they attack a note? We start really discovering the essence of these singers that they’re going to emulate — not as a carbon copy, because a carbon copy then becomes an impersonation.
With Timothée Chalamet, it’s like, why did Bob Dylan sound a certain way? And then when you look at him, you go, oh, well, he had a certain posture about him. You can see maybe his leg twitching a little or tapping on the beat. Whereas Joan Baez was very aggressive in her tone. So I would say to Monica Barbaro, who was playing Joan Baez, why do you think it was so aggressive? Do you think it was just, that was her naturally? Or maybe she felt like she had to be a woman in a man’s world, especially in those days? Or is it because the subject matter she’s singing about is so powerful to her and so strong, and she wants to get it across?
So then you start thinking why they are singing a certain way. That’s a better way to capture the essence of them organically.
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”
Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures
If I’m working with a singer who just wants to sound like themselves, then I start by saying, what do you think is special about your voice? What do we want to bring out about it? Or what is it you want to sound like?
I usually ask, if someone is listening to you in a concert, what do you want them to walk away with? How would you want your voice to be described? That’s a huge question to ask. Sometimes they haven’t even thought about that, and they might think, oh, I want my voice to have a really warm tone, or I want to have a tone that they can relate to, so they can relate to what I’m singing about.
Another big nominee this year is Sabrina Carpenter. I know that you two have worked together for a long time. From the perspective of someone on the inside, what would you say is most notable about her growth over the last couple of years?
Sabrina worked so hard for so many years. She’s one of those performers that, kind of like Ariana, once they get on a roll, they know what they’re doing. Once they find their voice, find out how they want to sound, what they want their vibe to be, what they want their performances to look like and sound like, they just get on a roll, and then it’s almost like a freight train. It just goes.
Sabrina has really honed in on having the best possible time being authentically herself, and I think that that’s what’s so great. She takes episodes out of her own life and puts them into her music, and she’s been doing that for a long time, but I think she just keeps getting better and better and better at it.
That’s the thing about someone who’s continually doing it. Now, if they’re the type of person who takes big vacations, big chunks of time off in between, I don’t think you can have that momentum, but these girls don’t take time off. They’re constantly moving and doing things. You might not see what they’re doing because they’re prepping for something else or prepping for something for the future, but she’s working all the time. She is the least lazy person on the planet.
It sounds like a big part of your job is focused on longevity, making sure people keep their voices healthy through the craziness.
I focus a lot on that. I think that’s so important. I don’t want anyone to burn out, or miss a really great opportunity, or to sing incorrectly, then get a vocal nodule, then have vocal cord surgery, then lose several months out of their life. I try to avoid that at all costs.
I say this every year, so I think people probably go, “Yeah, right,” but I enjoy it more now than ever. I keep enjoying it more as I get older.
I feel like I’m more empathetic than I’ve ever been, because I really understand how difficult it is.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Some European airlines are facing significant delays as their flights from the Middle East make fuel stops after being rerouted around Iran.
Sunday’s Eurowings Flight 1153, from Dubai, made two stopovers on its way to Stuttgart, Germany.
It first flew for just over 6 hours to Thessaloniki, Greece, for a refuelling stop, data from Flightradar24 shows.
After about 50 minutes on the ground, it took off again for Germany. However, the 2-hour flight landed in Nuremberg around 1:30 a.m.
It appears that it was too late to land in Stuttgart due to nighttime flight restrictions.
Therefore, it wasn’t until the next morning that the plane made another 30-minute flight to reach its intended destination.
In all, it arrived in Stuttgart 11 hours after the usual direct flight from Dubai.
A Eurowings spokesperson told Business Insider that its owner, the Lufthansa Group, decided not to fly over Iranian or Iraqi airspace as a precautionary measure.
They added that the refueling stop was “due to a longer flight distance and stronger headwinds on the alternative route at the time.”
“In the event of such refueling, we inform our passengers accordingly before departure in Dubai,” they said.
It isn’t the only European airline that has made such adjustments.
A spokesperson for Wizz Air, another budget airline, told Reuters that some of its flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi would make “refuelling and crew change” stops in Cyprus or Thessaloniki.
Budget airlines are perhaps more susceptible to refueling stops because they typically operate only one type of airplane.
Their single-aisle jets are already near their maximum range for flights between the Middle East and Europe.
Meanwhile, the likes of British Airways and Air France are flying to Dubai with Boeing 777 or 787 jets. These twin-aisle airplanes have much larger fuel tanks, so any rerouting won’t require a fuel stop.
Over the past few days, flight-tracking data shows British Airways’ flight from Dubai to London has flown over Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq — taking around an hour longer than usual.
Earlier this month, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency warned airlines not to fly over Iran.
“The presence and potential use of weapons and air defense systems create a high risk for civilian flights,” it said in a statement, per Reuters. “There is a high probability of misidentification, against the backdrop of a possible American attack as well as the high alert status of Iran’s air defense systems.”
The 98th Academy Awards are coming up, and for prediction market bettors, tens of millions of dollars are on the line.
Since the nominees were announced on January 22, bettors on Polymarket and Kalshi have been wagering on which films, actors, directors, and more will claim the Oscar in each of the Academy’s 24 categories.
Prediction markets have experienced dramatic growth over the last year, drawing the attention of media companies, the ire of some state regulators, and the scrutiny of Washington lawmakers.
In January, Polymarket partnered with the Golden Globes, and bettors on the site ultimately correctly predicted the winner in 26 out of 28 categories.
The Oscars, hosted this year by Conan O’Brien, will air on Sunday, March 15, on ABC and Hulu.
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If bettors are correct, “Sinners” will take home four Oscars, while both “One Battle after Another” and “Frankenstein” are each set to win three.
Where the odds stand for each category, as of late January
Leonardo DiCaprio in “One Battle After Another.”
Warner Bros.
Best Picture — “One Battle After Another”
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is the odds-on favorite to win best picture, standing at 67% among bettors on both Polymarket and Kalshi.
The next most likely winner is Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” which each platform gives a roughly 24% chance.
Bettors have wagered more than $10 million on the Best Picture winner across the two platforms, the most of any category.
Best Director — Paul Thomas Anderson
The director of “One Battle After Another” is seen as the overwhelming favorite to win best director, with Kalshi and Polymarket pegging his chances of winning in the mid-to-high 80s.
Best Actor — Timothée Chalamet
Chalamet, the lead actor in “Marty Supreme,” is the favorite to win best actor. Both platforms put his odds in the mid-70s.
Best Actress — Jessie Buckley
According to bettors, Buckley — the lead actress in “Hamnet” — is overwhelmingly likely to win best actress, garnering 88-89% on both prediction markets.
Best Cinematography — “Sinners”
The supernatural horror film “Sinners” is the overwhelming favorite to win best cinematography, with bettors on both Kalshi and Polymarket giving the movie a roughly 66% chance of winning.
Best Production Design — “Frankenstein”
At more than 80%, bettors on both prediction market platforms give “Frankenstein” an overwhelming chance of winning the award for best production design.
Best Adapted Screenplay — “One Battle After Another”
In addition to best picture, “One Battle After Another” is seen as overwhelmingly likely to win best adapted screenplay. The movie currently has a 90% chance of winning on both platforms.
Damson Idris as Joshua Pearce and Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes in Apple Original Films’ “F1 The Movie.”
Apple
Best Sound — “F1”
Apple’s sports drama film F1 is the overwhelming favorite to win best sound, according to bettors.
Both platforms give the movie a better than 80% chance of winning.
Best Animated Short Film — “Butterfly”
Bettors are less certain who will win the award for best animated short film.
“Butterfly,” a 15-minute film by director Florence Miailhe, has a roughly 40% chance on both platforms.
But not far behind is “The Girl Who Cried Pearls,” a 17-minute short film, which bettors give between a 26% and 30% chance of winning.
Best Live Action Short Film — “Two People Exchanging Saliva”
The French-language short film “Two People Exchanging Saliva” narrowly leads among bettors, garnering a 57% chance of winning on Kalshi and a 34% chance on Polymarket.
Another major contender is “Friend of Dorothy,” a British short comedy drama film that has a 28% chance on Kalshi and a 22% chance on Polymarket.
Additionally, the musical short comedy film “The Singers” has a 24% chance on Polymarket and a 14% chance on Kalshi.
Best Film Editing — “One Battle After Another”
The film leads the odds for best film editing winner, with a roughly 60% chance on both platforms.
“Sinners” is leading in multiple categories, according to prediction markets.
Eli Adé
Best Original Score — “Sinners”
“Sinners” is the overwhelming favorite to win best original score, with bettors on both Kalshi and Polymarket giving the film a more than 85% chance of winning.
Best Original Song — “Golden”
“Golden,” the viral hit from the film “KPop Demon Hunters,” is the odds-on favorite to win best original song, with bettors on both platforms putting the odds of the track’s victory in the mid-to-high 80s.
Best Supporting Actor — Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård, who plays an estranged father in the Norwegian drama film “Sentimental Value,” is the favorite to win best supporting actor, sporting a roughly 64% chance on both Kalshi and Polymarket.
Best Supporting Actress — Teyana Taylor
Taylor, who portrays Perfidia Beverly Hills in “One Battle After Another,” is the overwhelming favorite to win best supporting actress on both platforms, hovering around 75%.
James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” holds a commanding lead for the Best Visual Effects Oscar on prediction markets.
Disney/20th Century Studios
Best Visual Effects — “Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Bettors believe that James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third installment in the “Avatar” series, is almost certain to win the award for best visual effects.
The movie’s chances of winning stand at more than 90% on both Kalshi and Polymarket.
Best Original Screenplay — “Sinners”
“Sinners” is the favorite to win best original screenplay, with more than 80% odds on both Kalshi and Polymarket.
Best Documentary Short Film — “All the Empty Rooms”
Bettors on both Kalshi and Polymarket give “All the Empty Rooms” a roughly 55% chance of winning the award for best documentary short film.
The movie follows a journalist and photographer as they memorialize the empty bedrooms of school shooting victims.
Best Documentary Feature Film — “The Perfect Neighbor”
“The Perfect Neighbor,” a documentary about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws, is the odds-on favorite to win best documentary feature film, with bettors on both platforms giving the film a roughly 68% chance.
Best International Feature Film — “Sentimental Value”
“Sentimental Value” is the favorite to win best international feature film, with bettors on Kalshi and Polymarket giving the film 67-70% odds of winning.
Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein.”
Netflix
Best Costume Design — “Frankenstein”
“Frankenstein” is the overwhelming favorite to win best custom design, sporting roughly 85% odds on both platforms.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling — “Frankenstein”
Similarly, “Frankenstein” is seen as a lock for best makeup and hairstyling, sporting probabilities in the high 80s on Kalshi and Polymarket.
Best Animated Feature Film — “KPop Demon Hunters”
“KPop Demon Hunters” is the prohibitive favorite to win best animated feature film, with a roughly 90% chance on both prediction markets.
Best Casting — “Sinners”
“Sinners” is seen as most likely to win best casting, with Kalshi and Polymarket bettors giving the film a 65% chance of winning.
In November 2012, Jeffrey Epstein emailed Elon Musk about sending a helicopter to whisk the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to his private island in the Caribbean.
“how many people will you be for the heli to island,” Epstein asked Musk in an email exchange, which was made public Friday by the Justice Department.
Musk said he’d need just two seats — for himself and his then-partner, Tallulah Riley.
“What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” Musk asked.
The emails, released Friday, were part of a cache of 3 million files the Justice Department released from its yearslong investigation into the convicted sex offender. They include several exchanges between Epstein, Musk, and their assistants.
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Responding to the revelations early Saturday on his social media platform, X, Musk said: “No one pushed harder than me to have the Epstein files released and I’m glad that has finally happened.
“I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express’, but was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.
“I don’t care about that, but what I do care about is that we at least attempt to prosecute those who committed serious crimes with Epstein, especially regarding heinous exploitation of underage girls.”
Epstein — who counted President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and various other prominent politicians and businessmen among his acquaintances — killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. He had registered as a pedophile in 2008, after pleading guilty to less severe sex offenses.
Shortly after Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, Musk said he had declined invitations to Epstein’s island in the US Virgin Islands and recounted only one meeting with him. Musk has not been accused of wrongdoing.
“Several years ago, I was at his house in Manhattan for about 30 minutes in the middle of the afternoon with Talulah [Riley], as she was curious about meeting this strange person for a novel she was writing,” he told Vanity Fair at the time. “We did not see anything inappropriate at all, apart from weird art. He tried repeatedly to get me to visit his island. I declined.”
Musk has since said in social media posts that he “refused” to visit Epstein’s island despite multiple attempts from Epstein.
The emails released Friday appear to show him planning to visit Epstein’s island at least twice.
In addition to the November 2012 planned visit, Musk indicated he would visit Epstein’s island in January 2014.
“Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays,” Musk wrote to Epstein in December 2013, referring to the British Virgin Islands. “Is there a good time to visit?”
Epstein said he’d be available for the first week of January.
“always space for you,” Epstein told Musk.
After some back-and-forth about their schedules, Musk appeared to confirm that he would visit Epstein on January 2 of 2014.
“When should we head to your island on the 2nd?” Musk wrote.
Epstein later canceled on Musk, according to another email. He said he looked forward to spending time with Musk with “just fun on the agenda.”
“I was really looking forward to finally spending some time together with just fun as the agenda,” Epstein wrote. “so i am very disappointed. Hopefully we can schedule another time in the near future.”
The emails show Epstein planning to meet Musk on other occasions as well.
“Shall we organize a lunch for Elon and Jeffrey to get together at SpaceX in the coming weeks?” Musk’s assistant wrote. “Elon is generally available at SpaceX on Mon, Thurs and Fri each week.”
It isn’t clear from the emails reviewed by Business Insider if that meeting took place. Musk has previously said that Epstein never “toured” SpaceX’s facilities.
In early March of that year, Epstein directly asked Musk about his availability.
“now its time for fun,” Epstein told Musk.
In the emails, Musk told Epstein he was busy with work at Tesla and SpaceX. Epstein suggested he get more sleep.
“benefit analysis would probably show , tesla doing better with you getting more sleep,” he said.
Musk disagreed.
“Normally I would agree, as I have found that my total daily productivity is optimal at around 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep.”
The two may have met later that spring. In another email exchange, dated April 2013, Epstein’s assistant said he planned to meet Musk at the Milken Institute economic conference.
The Justice Department emails also show Epstein inquiring with Musk about Solar City, a solar electricity company that was later acquired by Tesla. Epstein said in September 2012 that he wanted to use its services for his properties in the US Virgin Islands and New Mexico.
“is there any one at Solar City that my guys can talk to about electriying the caribean island?” Epstein asked. “or the new mexico ranch”
Bill Gates, through a spokesperson, issued a strongly worded denial Friday on the latest allegations to emerge about his relationship with disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The Department of Justice, as part of more than 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein, released on Friday, unsealed 2013 emails Epstein wrote to himself.
They appear to be notes he was drafting for a person named Boris, who worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to send to Bill Gates after a dispute.
One of the emails, with the subject line “bill,” suggests that Bill Gates had requested medication for a sexually transmitted disease to “surreptitiously” give to his now ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Another email said Boris had helped Bill Gates “get drugs,” and helped facilitate “illicit trysts” between the billionaire Microsoft founder and “Russian girls” as well as “married women.”
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The emails contain no corroboration of the claims.
“These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false,” a spokesperson for Bill Gates told Business Insider in a statement. “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
It’s unknown whether the emails’ text was ever sent to Gates, the founder of Microsoft, a global philanthropist, and once the richest man in the world. Since Epstein’s 2019 suicide at a federal jail, Gates has faced questions about the extent of their relationship.
In the past, Gates has said he attended several dinners with Epstein for philanthropic reasons and now regrets spending time with him.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that Melinda Gates began seeking divorce counsel in 2019, around the time news of Bill’s meetings with Epstein surfaced publicly. She told CBS in 2022 that her ex-husband’s ties to Epstein were a factor in their split.
Correction: January 31, 2026 — An earlier version of this story indicated that Gates’ philanthropic foundation issued a statement. It was made by a personal spokesperson.
