Seattle’s “Mini-Madoff” escapes the slammer

 It’s a daring tale of fraud, greed, and leisurely walking… [The Hustle]( Mon, Dec 11 Brought to you by [Felix Gray]( safety glasses for the modern workplace. Whale, whale, whale… The world’s top companies rely on a few big fish In 2016, a measly 20% of US businesses’ customers accounted for [more than half the money]( brought in by 854 of the 1k largest companies. And it’s all thanks to “whales.” If you’re on a sales team (or if you’ve talked to someone who is), there’s a good chance you’ve heard the term “whale” come up in conversation. For those of you who just smiled and nodded, here’s what the fuss is about -- and for all you Captain Ahabs: stay tuned, we’ve got some “fish facts” that might surprise you. First, what’s a whale? Whales are the small subset of big-spenders that account for the majority of a company’s revenue. Companies from Walmart to Uber fall into what we’ll call the [80/20 ground beef ground rule]( the average customer in the top 20% spends around 8x as much as the customers in the bottom 80%. That means, at the end of the year, the pressure’s on for sales teams to reel in their annual “big kahuna” contracts, so they don’t have to scramble to net a bunch of small fish. Certain industries rely more on buyers making a big splash Consumer insights firm Second Measure found that in ~300 of their top 1k companies, the top 10% brought in the majority of revenue, spending 15x more than the bottom 90%. Industries like luxury goods and gaming [are particularly prone]( to dependence on a few heavy-hitters. Case in point: Farmville creator Zynga’s top 1% of customers spent over $4k apiece, compared to almost every other customer, who spent an average $87. Subscription models like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify and all have super steady spreads (probably because you can’t exactly “ball out” on an unlimited streaming subscription). There are pros and cons to both models: On the one hand, the Hulus of the world might not be hit as hard by the loss of a few top customers -- but they’re also not gonna get that big sales bump when they land a mega-client. And sometimes ya gotta risk it to get the biscuit. Call me Ishmael  ‘Grinch Bots’ are looking to steal Christmas by jacking up toy prices For years, bots have been scamming consumers by buying up large amounts of tickets to [concerts]( and plays and reselling them for inflated prices. Now, these “Grinch Bots” have moved on to toys. Many popular, hot ticket holiday toys are being bought and sold by bots on [third-party sites]( like Amazon and eBay at huge markups, leaving many of them out-of-stock through big retailers like Toys “R” Us, Walmart, and Target. Here are some of the heavy hitters According to [Business Insider]( a selection of this year’s most in-demand gifts are going for up to 162x their list price: - Fingerlings: These Teletubby-monkeys are being sold by third-parties for up to $1k -- a 6,660% increase over their list price of $14.99. - Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition: Originally retailing at $79.99, these collectibles are largely sold out at Best Buy and GameStop. But don’t worry, you can get them from a “cyber scalper” for north of $13k. - L.O.L Surprise! Doll: Originally priced at $9.99, parents late to the game may be purchasing these things for up to $500 on Amazon and eBay. Luckily, some powerful people are standing up to Grinch Bots Last holiday season, the [Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act]( which “cracked down” on the use of bots in the concert ticket industry, was approved by Congress. Now the dude who sponsored the bill, NY Democratic Senator, Chuck Schumer, is trying to amend the bill to include toys. “Grinch bots cannot be allowed to steal Christmas, or dollars, from the wallets of New Yorkers,” he wrote in a [statement]( before presumably slamming his fist on the table and retreating back into his Whoville vacation home. [You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch Bot](  Seattle’s “Mini Madoff” escapes prison Washington native Frederick Darren Berg bamboozled investors out of more than [$100m]( in a Ponzi scheme -- and he just escaped from federal prison. Officials say Berg, known in the biz as “Mini Madoff,” simply “walked away” from the minimum-security work camp in Atwater, California. Neat! A little background on Mr. White Collar In 2012, FDB was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud. Between[2001 and 2009]( he stole over $100m from 800+ (mainly senior citizen) “investors” in his company Meridian Group -- as part of one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest-ever Ponzi schemes. His purchases included two Lear Jets, yachts (yes, plural), and multiple million-dollar properties in Washington state and California -- where he was ultimately arrested in [2011](. And then, last Wednesday… he just walked away?? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?!? In true Catch Me If You Can fashion, deputies are left scratching their heads. He was discovered missing at around [3:30 pm]( last Wednesday from a 130-inmate, minimum security facility -- Berg is reportedly the 3rd inmate to escape from Atwater prison this year. In other words, if you’re gonna do time in the slammer, make it Atwater. [Truly a NOT-shank redemption](  China is rebranding its rural towns… one sex shop at a time Yucheng, China is a placid little town, known mostly for its grapes and turtle ponds. But recently, government officials there came up with an [interesting ploy]( to boost the local economy: they signed a $1.5B USD private contract to turn the locale into a “Happy Town” full of sex toy shops, adult-only hotels, a sex exhibition center, and what is life anymore?? It’s part of a larger initiative to make China “charming” As reported by the South China Morning Post, Yucheng is one of approximately 1k cities across the country that the central government [plans to revamp]( as part of President Xi Jinping’s vision of making China “a beautiful country” by 2050. The plan calls for rural towns to partner with private developers or businesses, come up with a gimmick or “theme” that revolves around a particular industry, and “rebrand” themselves into strange cultural hubs within 3 years. But China’s really trying to address its inequality problem Rapid urbanization in China has come with an unsavory [byproduct]( the growing gap between the rich and poor is largely divided along urban/rural lines, and underdeveloped areas have been left in economic ruin. Rural Chinese residents make less than a third of those in cities, and many don’t have basic resources like sewage or clean water. The “charming towns” plan is (purportedly) an effort to bridge the gap and restore industry to these areas. And in Yucheng’s case, that industry just happens to be dildos. [Sex sells](   monday morning review The Hustle just hit 500,000+ subscribers Look what you did, you little jerks… you got us to 500k subscribers last week. Good work! The Hustle launched in fall 2015 as a [blog]( that covered business and tech news. But, after a few months, we had an idea: screw the inefficiencies of a website… what if we were email only? So, on April 19th, 2016, we relaunched as an email-first business news company. Not to get all sappy, but lots of people laughed when we did that. They told us, “you’re just a newsletter, you won’t ever be very big.” But here’s the thing: lately, many web-based media companies are [failing]( Why? Because Facebook is constantly changing their algorithms, leaving traffic-hungry publishers with huge editorial staffs up sh*t creek, forcing them to cover stupid stuff for the sake of pageviews. Email, on the other hand, is incredibly efficient. Our 4-person editorial staff hits send, and all of you beautiful people get The Hustle. We don’t play clickbait games and aren’t beholden to anyone… we just give you the goods. So, for the next 500k subscribers, we’re sticking to our guns: giving you bullsh*t free news that you need to kick a*s throughout the day. Thanks for making this happen. Long live The Hustle. -- Sam, CEO of The Hustle PS: We’re doing a bit of press around our growth and a few other exciting things we have coming up. Want to cover us? Email me: sam@thehustle.co. This edition of The Hustle was brought to you by Felix Gray taps OG astronomer for new frames Before Isaac Newton dropped apples, the world had Johannes Kepler. The German astronomer discovered the laws of planetary motion and in 2009, he was immortalized with the launch of the Kepler telescope -- AKA the most badass satellite since Sputnik. Kepler is the unknown hero of modern physics. And now, Felix Gray is doing their part to give credit where credit is due. The new Kepler frames from [Felix Gray]( blend superior style with the same blue-light busting lenses we’ve become addicted to. Easy on the eyes, in more ways than one The Kepler frames are just what the eye doc ordered. And the best part? You’ll be doing your beloved eyes a world of good. Staring at a computer screen all day can seriously damage your eyes, but glasses from [Felix Gray]( filters your PC’s blue light to keep it from frying your retinas. So, before you go spending all that Christmas dough on relatives you see bi-annually, gift your own eyes some protection. Shop the Kepler frames [at the Felix Gray site](. Then consider your holiday shopping, won.  0 [SHARE THE HUSTLE]( REFERRALS Lindsey Quinn MANAGING EDITOR Zack Crockett WRITER Wes Schlagenhauf WRITER Sam "All I want for Xmas is a bitcoin" Parr EDITORIAL EAVESDROPPER Stan Whaleback JUMP STARTING EXPERT [SUBSCRIBE]( [JOBS]( [ADVERTISE]( [EVENTS]( You opted in by signing up, attending an event, or through divine intervention. [771 CLEMENTINA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, UNITED STATES]( • [415.506.7210](tel:+1-415-506-7210) Never wanna hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](