Justin Combs, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Son, Accused of Orchestrating Gang Rape

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Ex Says She Fainted After Reading Cassie Ventura’s Lawsuit

Jane said during her testimony that parts of Ventura’s November 2023 lawsuit—which was ultimately settled—mirrored her own experience with Combs.

“I almost fainted, in fact, I think I did,” she told jurors as she cried. “There was three specific  pages that was just a harrowing reference to what I was experiencing.” 

Jane, who took part in “hotel nights, “said that it felt like she was reading “her own story.” It led to her confronting Combs via text messages.

“I feel like I am reading my own sexual trauma,” she wrote after Ventura’s lawsuit, in screenshots shown in evidence. “I am sick. It’s exactly word for word, drug-filled days and nights. You knew this was coming. You gaslit me, you made me go crazy.”

“I am disgusted, I felt forced to perform back to back,” the messages continued. “You made me feel crazy about the sex trauma I was feeling. I feel very violated. This was sexual exploitation.”

Combs subsequently called Jane and recorded the conversation without her knowledge that was entered into evidence, in which he told her that they “did these things together” and that “this is when” he needed her “to be there.”

Jane, who didn’t know she was being recorded, told Combs that she was “sick” to her stomach after reading Ventura’s documents.

Rep. Al Inexperienced Takes To The Home Flooring And Delivers A Warning To Trump

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Rep. Al Green (D-TX) continues to increase the pressure on Donald Trump over his actions involving Iran.

On Wednesday, Rep. Green took to the House floor and delivered a warning to Trump.

Green said:

 I rise today, Mr. Speaker, with a very special message, an admonition. A pre-warning for the most powerful man in the universe. I’m told the President Of The United States of America, Mr. Speaker, there is talk of having to go back into Iran. There is talk of the job not having been done as expected.

I make no comments about whether he should or shouldn’t go. But I do comment on the Constitution, and I do say to the most powerful man in the universe, Mr. President, if you go back into Iran and you do not get the consent of Congress or appropriately notice Congress, Mr. President, I will bring articles of impeachment against you.

Again, Mr. President, no one person. Should have the authority to take 300 million plus people to war on its own volition. The Congress of the United States must be engaged in this process. Mr. President is pretty simple. Either you will respect the Constitution of the United States of America, or you’ll expect Al Green.

Video:

Rep. Green has already shown that he is willing to personally and directly take on Donald Trump.

Have a good time the truce — but it surely would not promise peace

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One en route to the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 24, 2025.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran appears to be holding. In yesterday’s newsletter, we talked about how a blitzkrieg of missile-led diplomacy seemed to help de-escalate tensions.

The flipside of that strange path to a truce is that missiles are, well, fundamentally weapons. Mere hours after both countries agreed to the ceasefire, Israel said its longtime rival had fired missiles into its borders — an accusation which Tehran denied — and was preparing to “respond forcefully.” Probably with more missiles.

U.S. President Donald Trump — who reportedly brokered the ceasefire with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani — expressed frustration with those developments.

“I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either but I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning,” Trump told a reporter pool en route to the NATO summit in the Netherlands.

His admonishments seemed to work. There is now a fragile armistice between the two countries.

Oil prices fell and U.S. stocks jumped.

Reuters uploaded a photo of Israeli residents playing frisbee at the beach on June 24. Flights at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport are resuming, and Iran’s airspace is partially open, according to flight monitoring firm FlightRadar24, CNBC reported at around 3 a.m. Singapore time.

Three hours after that update, NBC News, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported that an initial assessment from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency found the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites on Saturday left “core pieces … still intact.”

Trump pushed backed on those accusations Tuesday night, writing that “THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”

And so it goes.

What you need to know today

Israel-Iran ceasefire holds, for now
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, announced by Trump on Monday, appears to be holding. Israel on Tuesday said it would honor the ceasefire so long as Iran does the same. Earlier in the day, both countries accused each other of violating the truce, and said they were ready to retaliate, prompting Trump to say he’s “not happy” with them. Stay updated on the Israel-Iran conflict with CNBC’s live blog here.

Markets jump as traders bet on truce
U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday on expectations that the Israel-Iran ceasefire would hold. The S&P 500 gained 1.11% to put it just 0.9% away from its 52-week high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.19% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.43%. The Nasdaq-100 rose 1.53% to close at an all-time high. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday. China’s CSI 300 advanced 0.63% at 1:50 p.m. Singapore time. Tech stocks, such as NetEase and Tencent, were up on news that Beijing approved a large number of games in June.

Oil pares losses
Oil prices regained some ground during Asia trading hours Wednesday. Both U.S. crude oil and global benchmark Brent rose around 1.5%. On Tuesday stateside, oil prices tumbled roughly 6%. Earlier in the day, Trump said China can keep buying oil from Iran, in what seemed like a sign that the U.S. may soften its pressure campaign against Tehran.

Powell says Fed is ‘well positioned to wait’
At a U.S. congressional hearing Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy was still strong. But he noted that inflation is still above the central bank’s target of 2%, and the Fed has an “obligation” to prevent tariffs from becoming “an ongoing inflation problem.” In combination, those considerations make the Fed “well positioned to wait” before making a decision on interest rates.

Don’t make trade political: Chinese premier
“Globalization will not be reversed,” Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday through an official English translation at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in China, often dubbed “Summer Davos.” Li urged all sides not to turn trade into a political or security issue, and said engaging in the international economy is a way of “reshaping the rules and order.”

[PRO] Not ‘bullish enough’ on rally: HSBC
The S&P 500′s rally off its April lows has brought it back to roughly 1% off its record high in a very short time. It’s an advance that has perplexed many investors, who worry that another pullback is on the horizon. But Max Kettner, chief multi-asset strategist at HSBC, said he worries he’s not “bullish enough” on the current rally.

And finally…

Renminbi notes next to U.S. dollar notes at a Kasikornbank in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 26, 2023.

Athit Perawongmetha | Reuters

China doubles down on promoting yuan as confidence in U.S. dollar takes a beating

China is devising more ways for foreign institutions to use the yuan, as international confidence in the U.S. dollar falters.

In a sign of growing resolve in Beijing to lure the world away from the dollar, People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng announced plans last week to set up a center for digital yuan internationalization in Shanghai and promote the trading of yuan foreign exchange futures. Beijing has already rolled out a digital version of its currency to replace some cash and coins in circulation.

— Lee Ying Shan and Evelyn Cheng

Trump’s tax invoice might finish ‘SALT’ workaround for some companies

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the media after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump’s agenda at the Capitol on May 22, 2025.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

As Senate Republicans debate trillions of tax breaks advanced by the House, some business owners could be blocked from part of the proposed windfall, policy experts say.

If enacted as written, the House GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would raise the federal deduction limit for state and local taxes, known as SALT, to $40,000. That would phase out once income exceeds $500,000.

The bill would also boost a tax break for pass-through businesses, known as the qualified business income, or QBI, deduction, to 23%. But the measure would end a popular state-level SALT cap workaround for certain pass-through business owners.  

More from Personal Finance:
How child tax credit could change as Senate debates Trump’s mega-bill
How tax cuts in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ could change in the Senate
Republicans’ plan for student loans would mean ‘indentured servitude’: expert

Here’s what to know about the proposed change and who could be impacted.

SALT deduction cap ‘workaround’

Enacted via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017, there’s currently a $10,000 limit on the SALT deduction for filers who itemize tax breaks. This cap will expire after 2025 without changes from Congress. The SALT deduction was unlimited before TCJA, but the so-called alternative minimum tax reduced the benefit for some higher earners.

The cap has been a pain point in high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California because residents can’t deduct more than $10,000 for SALT, which includes income, property and sales taxes.  

However, most states now have a “workaround” to bypass the federal SALT deduction limit for pass-through business owners, explained Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation.

As of May 9, some 36 states and one locality, New York City, have enacted a workaround — the pass-through entity, or PTE, level tax — since the 2017 TCJA limitation, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA.

While each state has different rules, the strategy generally involves paying individual state and local taxes through a pass-through business to sidestep the $10,000 cap, Watson said. Owners can then deduct their share of SALT paid.

How the SALT workaround could change

Certain white-collar professionals — doctors, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and others — known as a “specified service trade or business,” or SSTB, can’t claim the qualified business income deduction once income exceeds certain limits.

As advanced, the House bill would block SSTBs from using the SALT deduction workaround, which would be “substantial” for those impacted, Watson said.

Meanwhile, some non-SSTB pass-through businesses would have two benefits under the House-approved bill. Depending on income, they could qualify for the bigger 23% QBI deduction. They could also still claim an unlimited SALT deduction via the PTE workaround, experts say.

The revised provision has faced some pushback among certain organizations.

“This loophole is likely expensive, and lawmakers and the public should demand a clear accounting of the fiscal cost to bless workarounds for this favored group,” New York University Tax Law Center deputy director Mike Kaercher said in a statement after the revised House bill text was released in late May. 

Some industry groups, such as AICPA, have urged the Senate to maintain the SALT deduction workaround for SSTBs.

If the House bill is enacted as written, SSTBs would be “unfairly economically disadvantaged” by existing as a certain type of business, AICPA wrote in a May 29 letter to the Senate.

Since many SSTBs can’t organize as a C corporation, there’s “no option to escape the harsh results of the SSTB distinction,” which could limit these professionals’ SALT deduction, AICPA wrote.

FDA plans to hurry up some drug opinions

FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland November 4, 2009. 

Jason Reed | Reuters

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed a dramatic expansion of its power to speed up drug reviews. 

The agency on Tuesday announced a new national priority voucher plan that aims to cut drug review times to one-to-two months for companies it says are supporting “U.S. national interests.” 

Currently, the FDA has a deadline of 10 months after a company files a drug application to make an approval decision. That review period is shortened to six months if a company has been granted a priority review.

“The ultimate goal is to bring more cures and meaningful treatments to the American public,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a release. The new voucher program is different from the FDA’s existing efforts to speed up review processes. 

The plan is designed for companies to submit “the lion’s share” of a drug application to the agency even before they have final results from a pivotal clinical trial, a process that Makary said would reduce inefficiencies. 

The FDA may also grant an accelerated approval to products in the new voucher program, which will include “enhanced” communication with companies while their application is under review. The agency said it may extend the review period if the application is particularly complex or if there is insufficient information to support it. 

In the first year of the program, the FDA plans to give a limited number of vouchers to companies aligned with what it called “national health priorities.” That includes addressing a health crisis in the U.S., delivering “more innovative cures” to Americans, addressing unmet public health needs and “increasing domestic drug manufacturing as a national security issue.” 

The criteria come as the Trump administration encourages the pharmaceutical industry to reshore drug manufacturing through executive orders and potential tariffs on medicines imported into the U.S.  

In a note on Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said the criteria are broad but appear to be positive for the pharmaceutical industry. The program could be more effective than tariffs at encouraging drugmakers to bring their manufacturing to the U.S. 

But questions remain about the risks of speeding up drug reviews to as little as 30 days – the fastest the FDA has ever done. Another potential concern is whether the vouchers will be offered to political allies of the Trump administration, which could include companies that the FDA staff would normally scrutinize. 

We’ll be looking out for more information on the new plan, so stay tuned. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care tech: Headspace launches direct-to-consumer offering, unlocking fresh revenue stream 

Virtual mental health startup Headspace announced a new direct-to-consumer therapy service this week called Therapy by Headspace. 

It’s new territory for the company, which has spent the last decade selling its product to employers and health plans. The new service is available to more than 90 million Americans through Headspace’s 45 in-network partnerships with insurers, including UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield. 

“Headspace now can be your mental health companion, be there for the everyday, whether you need help with sleep, stress, anxiety or you need access to a therapist,” Headspace CEO Tom Pickett told CNBC in New York City on Wednesday. “We’ve got it all, and we’ve got it in an insurance-backed way, so that we can hopefully make this really inexpensive for you.”

Pickett, who took on the chief executive role in August, said the new Therapy by Headspace service is part of his vision to round out the company’s consumer offerings.  

Therapy by Headspace users can access one-on-one video sessions with licensed therapists, and most covered members will pay between $0 and $35 per session. If a user’s insurance does not cover the offering, they have the option to pay $149 per session out of pocket. Headspace said it plans to add more in-network partners over time. 

Users will also get three months of access to the sleep, meditation and stress exercises on the Headspace app, as well as Ebb, an artificial intelligence chatbot that can converse and direct people to the best available content. Over time, Ebb will also help generate personalized care plans for each member, Headspace said.  

“We have not been fully serving the audience that we have, and so launching therapy to consumers made a lot of sense,” Pickett said.

Headspace, founded in 2010, has raised a total of more than $350 million from investors like Khosla Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Cigna Ventures, according to PitchBook. 

Pickett said Headspace is “running neutral” and in “a very healthy economic position right now.” In the near term, the company isn’t looking to raise more capital, and is instead focused on building out its offerings and inking new partnerships. 

“The ultimate goal is really to become the ‘Easy Button’ in mental health,” Pickett said.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

Supreme Court docket rejects toy firm problem

A person walks past the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from two toy companies to expedite their challenge to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The ruling from the nation’s high court means that the Trump administration now has the standard 30-day window to file its response to the challenge.

Two small family-owned companies, Learning Resources and hand2mind, argued that Trump lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his April 2 tariffs.

The companies earlier this week asked the Supreme Court to expedite consideration of their challenge and bypass a federal appeals court.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

“In light of the tariffs’ massive impact on virtually every business and consumer across the nation, and the unremitting whiplash caused by the unfettered tariffing power the president claims, challenges to the IEEPA tariffs cannot await the normal appellate process,” the companies argued in their request.

Rick Woldenberg, the chairman and CEO of Learning Resource and hand2mind, told CNBC that the Friday Supreme Court decision “was a disappointment but honestly just another twist in the road.”

“You want to win every motion but sometimes you don’t,” he said, adding that, “ultimately this showdown will be at the Supreme Court.”

Trump declared a national economic emergency under the IEEPA to justify implementing his tariffs without first getting congressional approval, a strategy that has drawn legal challenges from businesses and individuals questioning his authority

The U.S. Court of International Trade last month temporarily blocked Trump’s tariffs, saying that the IEEPA, which became law in 1977, does not authorize a president to implement universal duties on imports.

But a federal appeals court earlier this month allowed Trump’s tariffs to remain in effect until it hears arguments on that case at the end of next month.

— CNBC’s Lori Ann Wallace contributed reporting.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Social Media Loses It Over Steamy Meet & Greet Pic

Roomies, Chris Brown’s meet-and-greets are back! He just kicked off his ‘Breezy Bowl tour and whew the VIP sessions are hitting a whole new level now. A female fan recently uploaded a photo she took with the R&B singer at his Breezy Bowl, showing the pair seated in an intimate position. But fans are saying sis got her money’s worth considering what she allegedly spent to even meet her fave, to begin with. Let’s get into it!

RELATED: Issa Update! Chris Brown Enters His Plea In London Nightclub Assault Case Amid ‘Breezy Bowl’ Tour

Chris Brown Fan Gets Ultimate VIP Treatment At Meet-And-Greet

On Friday, June 20, Nicola Paparazzo set the internet ablaze when she dropped the photo from her meet and greet with Chris Brown at his Manchester show. Y’all, this wasn’t your average fan pic though! In the snap, Nicola is perched comfortably on Breezy’s lap, with one of his hand’s wrapped around her waist, and the other grazing her neck. And get into the eye contact… intense right?

In her caption, Nicola also mentioned that Chris didn’t just pose for pics; he gifted her a custom drawing on her body, which she turned into a tattoo the next day.

Nicola gushed, “Was amazing to meet you @chrisbrownofficial thank you for being so nice and for taking the extra time to draw my little cartoon dude for me.” She also shouted out @shopchrisbrownofficial for the VIP treatment, a raffle t-shirt, and a big cuddle on her way out. Sis was living her best life, and fans are not mad at it!

Social Media Reacts To The Viral Meet And Greet Pic

In the comment section of Nicola’s post, fans were living for her snap with Chris. And with the meet-and-greets reportedly costing $1,200, social media says she did what she was supposed to do. Peep some of the reactions below…

@breezygotjuice wrote, “She said we goin spicy with it 😈😈😍😍😍🔥🔥”

@courteneycloete wrote, “🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 the haters are going to have a field day with that meet and greet photo 🤣”

@vintagecouture wrote, “Literally my pose idea for when I hopefully meet him one day. Girl you slayed this!!! 😩❤️‍🔥🫠”

@lolzlori wrote, “The tattoo is so fun! You made the most out of your experience + got him gifts 🫶”

@jollycallum wrote, “so how do you recover from this???? 😂👏 amazinggggg”

@jeanndiaries wrote, “🔥🔥🔥 I want to see the video of getting into this and how you instructed him😂😍”

@aimeebella_official wrote, “Holy s***!! Better than I could have imagined!! Get it girl!! 🔥❤️”

@hayleyapril_ wrote, “This may be the best 1, I ever did see. Yeah well done Girl 😂🔥👏🏼👏🏼”

@lastnamebreezyyy wrote, “Yessssss 😍😍😍😍😍😍 girl you killed thisss omg 🥵🔥🔥🔥”

Chris Brown Previously Went Viral Over THIS Moment On His Tour

Breezy’s no stranger to putting on a show. His performance of ‘Take You Down’ is proof of just that! During his Hamburg stop recently, the Virginia native brought a lucky fan on stage, sat her on a red velvet seat, and serenaded her with a lifetime of memories.

With his dancers were hyping it up, Chris got real close, mimicking some steamy moves that had her giggling and the crowd screaming. Fans have been eating this moment up on social media, with some hoping CB will call them up on stage and give them the same one on one treatment in their city. See the viral clip below.

RELATED: Chris Brown Reveals Surprising “Fun Fact,” Leaving Some Internet Users Planning Their Next “Scavenger Hunt”

What Do You Think Roomies?

Transport insurance coverage prices leap within the Center East

A large commercial ship floats off the coast in Bushehr, Iran, on January 15, 2025. Bushehr is Iran’s first nuclear seaport.

Amir | Afp | Getty Images

Israel and Iran’s escalating conflict has significantly driven up the cost of insurance for ships sailing through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

Marine insurers are now charging 0.2% of the value of a ship for journeys into the Gulf, according to data from the world’s largest insurance broker Marsh McLennan, up from 0.125% prior to Israel’s surprise attack on Iran last week.

There has also been an uptick in war risk insurance rates for the Red Sea, Marsh said, while cover relating to ports in Israel has more than tripled to 0.7%.

The length of time quotes are valid for has been cut to 24 hours from most leaders, Marsh said, down from 48 hours previously.

The scramble to reassess shipping insurance costs reflects the deteriorating security environment in the Middle East, with Israel and Iran continuing to exchange fresh air attacks over recent days.

The conflict between the two powers has ratcheted up concerns of a broader conflict, with many closely monitoring the prospect of U.S. intervention.

“Given that the situation is currently contained within the region, risks are still being placed to enable cargo to flow through these areas,” Marcus Baker, global head of marine, cargo and logistics at Marsh, told CNBC by email.

Some shipowners have recently opted to steer clear of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, reaffirming a sense of industry unease amid the conflict.

Jakob Larsen, head of security at Bimco, which represents global shipowners, said earlier this week that the escalating conflict was causing concerns in the shipowner community and prompting a “modest drop” in the number of ships sailing through the area.

Situated between Iran and Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. It is recognized as one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints.

The inability of oil to traverse through the Strait of Hormuz, even temporarily, can ratchet up global energy prices, raise shipping costs and create significant supply delays.

Lakers homeowners Buss household promote majority stake at $10 billion valuation

Owner Jeanie Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jay Mohr prior to game one of a first round NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 19, 2025.

Keith Birmingham | MediaNews Group | Pasadena Star-News | Getty Images

The Buss family has agreed to sell a majority stake of the Los Angeles Lakers to businessman Mark Walter in a deal that values the team at $10 billion, according to people with knowledge of the terms.

The sale would mark a new record for NBA valuations. The Crypto.com Arena, where the Lakers play, is owned by AEG and is not included in the deal.

CNBC’s most recent Official NBA Team Valuations ranked the Lakers as third in the league in terms of value, at $7 billion.

“Mark Walter is entering into an agreement to acquire additional interests in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” a representative for Walter said in a statement to CNBC.

The Lakers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As part of the deal, Jeanie Buss will retain a minority stake in the team she has owned since her family purchased the franchise in 1979 for $67.5 million. She will also retain her governor seat.

Walter is CEO and co-founder of Guggenheim Partners and is not new to sports ownership. He is also the majority owner of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, WNBA’s Sparks and Cadillac’s forthcoming Formula 1 team. He also owns the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Former Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who is also a business partner of Walter’s, praised the transaction in a post on X.

“Job well done to my sister Jeanie Buss for striking an incredible deal and picking the right person to carry on the Lakers legacy and tradition of winning,” Johnson said. “Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the best caretaker of the Laker brand.”

NBA valuations have skyrocketed since the league completed its most recent media rights agreement, valued at $77 billion over 11 years.

In March, the Boston Celtics sold for a then-record of $6.1 billion to private equity executive Bill Chisholm.

The Celtics and Lakers are arguably two of the most marquee franchises in the NBA.

In February, the Lakers acquired Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic to team up with LeBron James.

The Lakers finished the 2025 season as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record.

The Lakers have won 11 NBA titles since the Buss family took over, the most of any NBA franchise during that period.

— CNBC’s Michael Ozanian contributed to this report.

Pfizer, Merck, J&J, others face scrutiny over tax loophole extension

The Johnson & Johnson logo displayed on a monitor.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Two Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday pressed five of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies about their low tax bills and whether they support extending massive tax cuts for the industry in the GOP reconciliation bill.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., accuse Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie and Amgen of paying little to no federal taxes for profit earned in 2024 and years prior, despite generating tens of billions of dollars annually from their drugs.

In separate letters to each company on Tuesday, the lawmakers allege that the pharmaceutical companies all avoided paying U.S. tax bills by shifting their profits to offshore subsidiaries in jurisdictions with much lower tax rates, such as Ireland and Bermuda. That practice was enabled by a provision in President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which aimed to curb corporate tax avoidance but instead created new incentives for U.S. multinational companies to move profits and operations overseas. 

In the letters, Warren and Schakowsky said the practice illustrates “just one of the ways in which our tax code has been skewed to benefit wealthy pharmaceutical corporations, enabling them to profit off Americans, charging them the highest drug prices in the world, without paying their fair share of taxes.”

They pressed drugmakers about whether the thousands of dollars they have spent lobbying Congress went toward efforts to maintain that tax loophole in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which the Republican-led House passed in late May. J&J, for example, spent more than $150,000 lobbying on international tax issues in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, according to the letter to the company, which cites data compiled by OpenSecrets. 

If enacted as currently written, the multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package would make many provisions in Trump’s 2017 tax act permanent. The current iteration also contains historic spending cuts to programs for low-income Americans, including Medicaid health coverage. 

The bill now sits in the Senate, where Republicans could choose to drop or revise many of the provisions pushed by hard-line House Republicans who sought to slash spending in tandem with the tax cuts. But any Democratic push to eliminate the offshore tax loophole would be an uphill battle, as Republicans hold a majority in the upper chamber. 

Even so, Democrats have tried to build public opposition to parts of the legislation as the GOP attempts to balance competing party interests to pass it. Both parties have targeted pharmaceutical companies for years.

“It’d be a slap in the face for Congress to expand tax loopholes for Big Pharma companies that are making billions in profit while overcharging Americans,” Warren said in a statement to CNBC. “These companies need to be held accountable for prioritizing their profits over people.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capitol to voice opposition to the Senate Republicans’ budget resolution on April 3, 2025.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

The letters to drugmakers cited a March analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations – an independent, nonpartisan think tank – suggesting that reforming the offshore tax loophole would raise at least $100 billion over 10 years. 

The letters also include questions about each company’s role in lobbying for an extension of the tax breaks and their estimated federal tax liabilities. The lawmakers asked each drugmaker to respond by July 1.

In a statement, a J&J spokesperson said the company looks forward to “clarifying” its “significant U.S. tax contributions and cooperatively responding to Senator Warren and Representative Schakowsky’s letter.”

Spokespeople for Pfizer, Merck, J&J, AbbVie and Amgen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letters. 

It’s not the first time lawmakers have scrutinized pharmaceutical companies for their tax practices. 

A March report accused Pfizer of pulling off what Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called “the largest tax-dodging scheme” in pharmaceutical industry history. The report accused the company of using a tactic called “round-tripping” to avoid paying any U.S. income tax on $20 billion in domestic drug sales in 2019.

An investigation by Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee concluded that Pfizer used the tax loophole to funnel profits through offshore subsidiaries in tax havens like Ireland and Puerto Rico, despite selling to U.S. patients. But the company said it paid $12.8 billion in U.S. taxes over four years, and says documents to back that up have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The letters on Tuesday come as the Trump administration considers imposing tariffs on pharmaceuticals into the U.S. in a bid to reshore manufacturing. Trump has complained that Ireland has successfully convinced drugmakers to open manufacturing operations there by offering low tax rates.

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