Metro Mining (MMI:AU) has announced 2025 Half Year Results
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Genetics is the study of genes, their variations and hereditary characteristics, as well as how these traits are passed on through generations. So what is genetics investing?
When it comes to genetics investing, companies in this niche of the life science sector are mostly focused on four submarkets: DNA sequencing, genetic testing, gene therapy and genomics, which includes gene editing.
This life sciences submarket has gained much attention from investors over the past several years. It has provided a launching pad for a number of biotech firms developing and commercializing novel treatments and drugs addressing a wide range of diseases with unmet needs.
For those looking to dive into the genetics sector, there are numerous investment opportunities to consider. Investing in gene stocks is the most common route, but there are risks due to the market’s volatility, especially when it comes to wins or losses with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are another popular option for gaining exposure to the industry, and come with less risk than investing in a single stock.
In this article
What are the key areas of the genetics sector?
Before diving into investment opportunities in the genetics market, it’s important to understand the industry and the key areas of genetics mentioned above.
What investors should know about the genetics market
In the biotech sector, gene therapy is one of the more advanced treatment options, and gene therapy pipeline candidates are robust in late-stage clinical trials.
In terms of what will — and already has — disrupted the genetics industry, CRISPR gene-editing technology has been on the rise for quite some time. It uses short repeating DNA sequences with “spacers” dividing them to treat genetic diseases.
While the use of the technology is still in its early stages, in the coming years it’s expected to have a big impact on how genetic diseases are treated, and there are a range of clinical trials underway involving CRISPR technology. So far, the only FDA approved CRISPR-based medicine is Casgevy, developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) and CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP). It was originally approved in late 2023 for the treatment of sickle cell disease.
The prominence of gene therapies in the life science sector was a major theme at the 2025 JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January 2025. Peter Marks, then-director of the FDA’s Center for Biological Evaluation and Research, told attendees that his agency is aiming to accelerate approvals for gene therapies.
In 2024, the FDA expanded approvals for CRISPR-based Casgevy to beta-thalassemia, and it also approved Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) Beqvez and PTC Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:PTC) Kebilidi.
Despite experiencing a challenging year in 2024, there is still a lot of optimism in the gene therapy sector. Also speaking at the January conference, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine president Tim Hunt said he believes 10 new cell and gene therapy treatments could reach blockbuster status by 2030.
“No one’s saying there aren’t headwinds, but we are seeing important signs of growth,” he added.
Looking at DNA sequencing, this market is driven by advances in biotech, the increasing prevalence of cancer and rising demand for precision medicine, as well as higher investment in research and development. DNA sequencing has become a vital component of this growth and has played a key role in remodeling molecular biology and genomics research.
Genetic testing is another segment of the genetics industry that is growing at a fast pace. Unsurprisingly, technological breakthroughs have had a huge impact on genetic testing, and so has the fact that governments and regulatory bodies are turning their attention to this market in order to regulate and raise awareness to treat diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia.
Biotech and pharmaceutical companies are also expressing interest in this sector, which is expected to further fuel genetics sector growth in the coming years. Mergers and acquisitions activity is also expected to increase as companies seek to expand their product portfolios new candidates and technologies.
As can be seen, the genetics industry is vast and complex, but is also ripe with investment opportunities.
How to invest in gene stocks
Investors looking to invest in the field of genetics through stocks have many options, from large-cap biotech companies to pure-play gene therapy, gene editing and genetic testing stocks.
See the list below for genetics companies to consider, and check out the linked stock lists for more options.
Large-cap gene stocks
There are a number of large-cap biotech companies that have significant focuses on the field of genomics. Here are a few to consider:
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)
A global leader in biotech, Amgen uses advanced human genetics to develop and manufacture therapeutics targeting a variety of diseases with unmet medical needs. The company’s subsidiary deCODE Genetics is researching how human genetic diversity influences disease.
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)
Research-based global biopharmaceutical company AbbVie that addresses several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology and gastroenterology. AbbVie is collaborating with ADARx Pharmaceuticals to develop siRNA therapeutics, viewed as a promising genetic medicine approach for silencing disease-causing genes.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals creates medicines for a wide variety of diseases. The Regeneron Genetics Center is conducting one of the world’s largest genetics sequencing efforts in collaboration with health organizations around the world.
Gene editing (CRISPR) stocks
There are a variety of options for investors looking to buy in on the field of gene editing stocks, including:
CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)
CRISPR Therapeutics and its partner Vertex Pharmaceuticals co-developed drug Casgevy, a CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited cell therapy. Casgevy is the first ever treatment based on CRISPR technology to be approved for the US market, as well as by the European Medicines Agency and Health Canada.
Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA)
Intellia Therapeutics is a gene editing biotech company developing drugs for patients with genetic and autoimmune diseases. The company’s drug pipeline includes late-stage clinical programs for therapies targeting hereditary angioedema and transthyretin amyloidosis.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the other half of the team behind Casgevy. It also offers exposure to other sectors of genomics, with approved treatments for cystic fibrosis and a pipeline of genetic and cell therapies. Its investigational VX-880 islet cell replacement therapy could restore insulin production in patients with type 1 diabetes.
Gene therapy stocks
Gene therapy stocks and stem cell stocks are also popular choices for genetics investing. Here are a few to get you started:
Novartis (NYSE:NVS)
Switzerland-based Novartis is focused on treatments for a wide range of diseases, including cancers, malaria, leprosy and sickle cell disease. Novartis is developing adeno-associated-virus (AAV)-based and CRISPR-based gene therapies. Its Kymriah treatment was the first CAR-T cell therapy to be approved by the FDA, and the agency also approved its AAV-based therapy Zolgensma.
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)
Global biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences is advancing breakthrough medicines to prevent and treat serious diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer. Its cell-based gene medicine for blood cancer, the CAR T-cell therapy Yescarta, was the second gene therapy approved by FDA.
uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE)
Genomic medicine company uniQure develops and markets gene therapy products for patients with severe genetic diseases. The company’s AAV-based gene therapy platform targets liver-directed and central nervous system disorders.
Genetic testing stocks
For those interested in genetic testing stocks, these three stocks provide a snapshot on different ways to get exposure to the sector:
Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS)
Exact Sciences focuses on molecular diagnostic tests. The company has developed a molecular screening technology platform called Cologuard that detects a range of cancers, including breast cancer and colorectal cancer.
Fulgent Genetics (NASDAQ:FLGT)
A leader in clinical diagnostic genetic sequencing, Fulgent Genetics is a full-service genomics testing company. Its proprietary technology platform, Picture Genetics, allows for the identification of personal DNA health markers in individual patients.
Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN)
Illumina develops, manufactures and markets life science tools and integrated systems that enable the implementation of genomic solutions for the healthcare sector. Its focus is on oncology testing, genetic disease testing, reproductive health and research.
How to invest in genomics ETFs
For those who would prefer to invest in the genetics industry overall rather than buying shares in an individual gene stock, investing in genomics ETFs is the way to go. Here are some available ETFs that offer exposure to companies in the biotech and genetics sectors to start you off:
ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARCA:ARKG)
This ETF tracks firms focused on CRISPR technology, targeted therapeutics, bioinformatics, molecular diagnostics, stem cells and agricultural biology. Its holdings include CRISPR Therapeutics and Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH).
Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ:GNOM)
The Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF invests in stocks that are involved in genomic science, which includes gene computational genomics and biotechnology. Its holdings include Illumina and Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA).
iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF (ARCA:IDNA)
The iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF focuses on companies involved with genomics, immunology and bioengineering. Its holdings include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX).
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
This post appeared first on investingnews.com
Elon Musk’s Neuralink has captured the public’s attention and imagination with its futuristic vision of connecting the human brain to computers.
A July 2024 report by IDTechEx projects that the overall brain computer interface (BCI) market could reach a market value of over US$1.6 billion by 2045.
‘We anticipate that the market for non-invasive solutions will grow before the commercialization of invasive solutions from players such as Neuralink,’ stated the research firm’s Senior Technology Analyst Dr. Tess Skyrme. ‘However, the long-term opportunity within the assistive technology market is more likely to be captured by the likes of Elon Musk.’
As Neuralink continues to make strides, investors are wondering how to get a piece of the action by investing in the neurotechnology venture.
Because it is privately held, Neuralink stock isn’t accessible to the average person — but that doesn’t mean its impossible to get exposure to this future-looking medical research company. Read on to learn how to participate in the growth of this exciting business.
In this article
What is Neuralink?
Neuralink is a neurotechnology startup that was founded in 2016 by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Musk and a team of eight scientists and engineers in 2016.
It was first reported on in 2017, and two years later, in June 2019, the company held and streamed its public launch event to showcase the technology it is developing: an innovative brain-computer interface.
Instead of using traditional electrodes, which according to a company whitepaper can be bulky and damaging to brain tissue, Neuralink’s BCI uses “ultra-thin threads” that are implanted into the brain using a robotic device that resembles a sewing machine. Once implanted, the electrodes develop a BCI, stimulating the brain and monitoring activity, and the threads connect to a custom-designed chip that can read data from groups of neurons.
Potential uses of BCI technology include helping paralyzed individuals regain control of their limbs and restoring vision. Musk told his audience during Neuralink’s 2019 launch event that this technology could have a wide range of applications in medicine, such as restoring sensory and motor function in people with spinal cord injuries or neurological disorders. Additionally, an early goal of development is translating neuron signals into computer commands, which would allow humans to control devices like computers and smartphones with their brainwaves.
Musk has claimed that BCI could even facilitate direct communication between humans and machines, although some members of the neuroscientific community are skeptical. Other experts have suggested that Neuralink’s work is not necessarily novel — as Dr. Jason Shepherd, an associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Utah, told Business Insider in 2020, “All the technology that he showed has been already developed in some way or form. Essentially what they’ve done is just package it into a nice little form that then sends data wirelessly.”
Other experts in the field have ethical concerns about how Neuralink is conducting its clinical trials and the broader implications of disregarding established standards.
“If you decide to play with fire in a house, you increase the risk threshold not only of yourself but of the whole house,” Marcello Ienca, a professor of ethics of AI and neuroscience at Technical University of Munich, told Forbes. “My fear is that Neuralink’s disregard for the ethical aspects of their technology may cause a backfire effect for the entire neurotechnology community.”
How much is Neuralink worth?
Neuralink was reportedly valued at around US$9 billion in May 2025, but as a privately held business, much of its financial information is kept under wraps. That said, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents containing information about its funding rounds provide some insight.
The earliest came in 2017, when the company raised US$27 million out of a planned US$100 million in a Series A funding round. In April 2019, SEC filings show the company acquired US$39 million out of a planned US$51 million in a Series B funding round. A limited amount of information has been made available to the public, and the identities of the investors have not been publicly disclosed. However, some news outlets have speculated that funding could have come from a combination of venture capitalists, or from Musk himself and the Neuralink team.
In 2021, Neuralink received what was then its largest amount of money to date, raising US$205 million in a funding round led by tech investment firm Vy Capital. Other participants included Google Ventures, the venture capital arm of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL); OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Paradigm and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN); and Ken Howery, co-founder of PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Founders Fund.
In May 2023, as Neuralink faced public backlash over accusations of animal mistreatment, it received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to run the first human trial of its brain implant. Just months later, in August, Neuralink closed a US$280 million funding round led by Founders Fund. The filing was amended in November 2023 to reflect an additional US$43 million, bringing the total to US$323 million.
Most recently, the company announced the closure of a US$650 million Series E funding round in June 2025.
Is Neuralink approved for human trials?
In May 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Neuralink clearance to run the first human trials of its brain implant, and Health Canada approved Neuralink brain-computer implant clinical trials in November 2024.
During the company’s summer update meeting in July 2025, it was revealed that a total of nine human clinical trial participants have received the Neuralink implant. A subsequent study was launched in Great Britain in July 2025, and the company said it will soon begin a trial to help restore sight to the blind in the United Arab Emirates.
Neuralink has so far made the most progress with its US clinical trial. The company opened a patient registry in early 2023 that allowed people who had at least one of a qualifying list of conditions to volunteer for upcoming clinical trials.
The first study, dubbed PRIME — Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface — is specifically focused on patients with cervical spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has an estimated primary completion date of January 2026 and is estimated to be fully completed by January 2031.
Musk said in January 2024 that the brain chip being used for testing is named Telepathy. It is about the size of a coin, and each one is equipped with over 1,000 electrodes 20 times finer than human hair that fan out into the cerebral cortex. The first operation was performed on January 29, 2025. Musk shared the results on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that the patient was “recovering well” and that “initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
The next update came during a Spaces event on X on February 19, 2024, during which Musk stated that the patient had recovered and was able to move a computer cursor using thought. In mid-May, Neuralink’s first patient, Noland Arbaugh, who is quadriplegic, shared his experiences in his first 100 days with the Neuralink brainchip.
According to Arbaugh at the time, despite some setbacks, he believed his trial to be a success. One of the largest benefits was that the Link allowed him to operate his computer and other devices lying down, while he needed assistance for setup and repositioning with prior devices. This gives him more freedom to live on his own time, he explained. Additionally, it offers greater control than other devices he has used.
‘The games I can play now are leaps and bounds better than previous ones,’ Arbaugh said. ‘I’m beating my friends in games that as a quadriplegic I should not be beating them in.’
Reuters reported in May 2024 that Neuralink would enroll another three patients in its clinical trial. The company has since implanted a brain chip into two additional patients, one who became paralyzed following a spinal cord injury from a diving accident and another who lost use of his limbs to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The company issued an update on their progress in February 2025, with all three patients touting positive changes following the procedure.
How to invest in Neuralink?
With Neuralink continuing to move forward, how can investors get a piece of this up-and-coming technology?
As mentioned, the firm has yet to go public, so purchasing Neuralink stock is not an option for many investors. The vast majority of Neuralink’s funding has come from venture capitalists and a handful of billion-dollar companies.
However, there are still ways for investors to potentially profit from Neuralink’s growth before it goes public. For example, investing in publicly traded companies that have invested in Neuralink can provide an indirect stake. Many of the company’s investors are venture capital firms or private individuals, but some of these firms, such as Google Ventures, are subsidiaries of publicly traded companies. By investing in Alphabet, individuals can indirectly benefit from its investment in Neuralink, as any profit from the investment could potentially flow back to Alphabet.
This indirect approach can be a viable strategy for individuals who want to gain exposure to Neuralink without waiting for the company to go public. Coinbase is another company that offers indirect exposure to Neuralink’s growth; the enterprise is owned by Ehrsam, whose venture capital fund Paradigm has invested in Neuralink.
Those who qualify as accredited investors could also potentially invest in a Neuralink funding round. According to the SEC, an accredited investor must have a net worth of at least US$1 million, not including the value of their primary residence, or an annual income of at least US$200,000 for individuals and US$300,000 for married couples. There must also be a reasonable expectation of the same level of income in the year of filing.
Individuals can also qualify as accredited investors if they are investment professionals in good standing. In that case, the SEC’s guidelines indicate that they need to hold either a general securities representative license, an investment advisor representative license or a private securities offerings representative license.
Entities like banks, insurance companies or investment firms with total assets of at least US$5 million may also qualify as accredited investors. Certain types of entities, such as private business companies and small business investment companies, may be exempt from the standard asset value requirements for accredited investor status.
It’s also worth noting that Neuralink is just one of several companies currently working on developing BCI technology. According to research by IDTechEx, companies working to develop invasive brain-computer interface solutions have amassed nearly US$1.5 billion in funding.
One competitor is Synchron, a company with similar ambitions that has received funding from the likes of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. On February 1, 2024, Synchron acquired a minority stake in German manufacturer Acquandas. This acquisition secures exclusive access to Acquandas’ advanced metal layering technology, which is a critical component for Synchron’s device, the Synchron Switch.
Synchron launched a patient registry in April 2024 to prepare for an upcoming large-scale brain implant trial required to apply for US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) medical device approval. In July, the company announced that one of the patients implanted with the Synchron BCI was able to use his direct thoughts to control the cursor on the Apple Vision Pro. A year later, Synchron publicly demonstrated the first-ever use of a thought-controlled iPad, using Apple’s BCI Human Interface Device (BCI HID) input protocol that allows a person to control the device with just their thoughts.
Earlier this year Synchron announced a partnership blending NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Holoscan platform with its BCI technology. “Synchron’s vision is to scale neurotechnology to empower humans to connect to the world, and the NVIDIA Holoscan platform provides the ideal foundation,” Synchron CEO and Founder Tom Oxley stated.
The company has since revealed that its implantable BCI is now powered by Chiral AI, a proprietary foundation model of cognition that is trained directly on neural data. This allows its system to move from simple intent recognition to more advanced, self-learning cognitive AI.
Precision Neuroscience is another company working in the brain-computer interface field, although it is also private. Founded by one of Neuralink’s co-founders, the BCI company is currently testing its Layer 7 Cortical Interface, which is a thin, flexible film that sits on a brain’s gray matter instead of being implanted in it, making it less invasive.
Precision Neuroscience recently set a record for the highest number of electrodes used to detect a person’s thoughts at 4,096 when they combined four of their interfaces on one brain. The company completed a funding round of US$102 million in December 2024.
In April 2025, Precision Neuroscience received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its Layer 7 Cortical Interface, authorizing it for commercial use for up to 30 days. This clearance allows the company to use its technology for intraoperative brain mapping and to build a large repository of neural data.
A newer market entrant, Merge Labs, is set to receive funding at a US$850 million valuation from OpenAI. Sam Altman will reportedly be a co-founder, according to a report from The Financial Times.
Although the field is nascent, the potential for BCI to impact various industries such as robotics, medicine and biotech has generated a growing amount of interest and excitement. Additionally, heightened interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has led to more research and exploration in related fields, and has attracted increased investment in fields benefiting from AI advancements, including robotics and medicine.
AI is also being used as a tool to help discover new insights and make moves that might not have been possible without its use. Scientists in California have even developed a brain implant capable of decoding and vocalising inner speech.
Finally, one of the simplest ways to gain exposure to Neuralink would be through an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in companies related to BCI technology. While there isn’t an ETF that exclusively focuses on BCIs, there are funds that offer exposure to related themes. One example is the iShares Healthcare Innovation ETF (LSE:HEAL,OTC Pink:BLKIF). This fund consists of companies that are developing new and innovative healthcare technologies.
Two other options are the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ:BOTZ), which includes companies that are involved in the development of robotics and AI, and the ARK Innovation ETF (ARCA:ARKK), which focuses on disruptive technologies across multiple industries, including healthcare and robotics.
As with any investment decision, it’s important to perform due diligence on available options, including comparing ETFs, to ensure they align with one’s investment goals.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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Carbonxt Group (CG1:AU) has announced FY25 Results Announcement
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Cardiex Limited (CDX:AU) has announced Appendix 4E
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Cardiex Limited (CDX:AU) has announced FY25 Preliminary Results Summary and Company Update
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Flowers, succulents and Formula One race cars helped fuel a 12% revenue bump for Lego during the first half of the year.
The company reported a record 34.6 billion Danish kroner, or $5.4 billion, in revenue as part of its biannual earnings report on Wednesday. Operating profit rose 10% year over year to 9 billion Danish kroner, or $1.4 billion, the company said.
“It’s the best first half ever,” Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told CNBC. “It’s a record on revenue, a record on operating profit, it’s a record on net profit. … So, we are very happy.”
The brick maker launched 314 new sets during the first six months of the year, another record high. Lego has steadily added new product to its portfolio, branching out into home decor with wall art sets. It has also added new license partners and released sets tied to animated children’s program “Bluey” and fan-favorite anime “One Piece.”
Up next is a multiyear partnership with Pokemon, due to hit shelves in 2026.
“You can always find something that you really like, the pop culture you’re into or the passion point you have,” Christiansen said. “That works really well.”
In expanding its catalog of product, Lego has also grown its consumer base. Gateways into the brand such as its line of botanicals — plants, flower bouquets and succulents — and its ongoing partnership with Epic Games — which brings Lego to the digital space and elements from the popular video game Fortnite into the physical world — have encouraged newcomers into the brick-building space, Christiansen said.
“Then they figure out what it is and what it does for them, how it kind of allows them to express themselves, but also de-stress and focus on stuff in a different way,” he said. “So botanicals sets turn out to be good at recruiting new consumers into the brand, and then as soon as they build their botanical set, they may move on to building something else.”
Lego opened 24 new stores globally during the first six months of the year. The company has been opening more physical retail locations in areas that, unlike the U.K. and the U.S., did not grow up with the iconic colored bricks. This includes countries such as China and India.
Having brick-and-mortar places where kids and adults can get their hands on Legos and see the available sets has previously helped bolster sales.
This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
The Trump administration’s latest allegations of mortgage fraud have raised questions about a long-standing housing issue known as owner-occupancy mortgage fraud. But that type of fraud can be difficult to prove, experts say.
President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Monday night that he was removing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. He cited allegations made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that Cook committed mortgage fraud by claiming homes in two different states as her primary residence at the same time.
Cook’s attorney on Tuesday said Cook will file a lawsuit to challenge her removal.
“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement.
The Justice Department has also recently targeted Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James with similar mortgage fraud allegations.
Here are the key things to know about owner-occupancy mortgage fraud, according to experts.
The main reason a borrower could be motivated to claim a primary residence on a mortgage application is to get a lower interest rate for that home.
Typically, mortgages for a primary residence have lower interest rates and homeowner’s insurance costs, said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.
Mortgage interest rates are generally 0.5% to 1% higher for investment properties than for primary homes, according to Bankrate. Homeowners also typically pay about 25% more for insurance as a landlord compared with a standard homeowners policy, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Owner-occupied means “you’re going to live there the majority of the time,” Gumbinger said. But there are limited exceptions, including for military service, parents providing housing for a disabled adult child or children providing housing for parents, according to Fannie Mae.
If a homeowner changes primary residences, they need to inform their mortgage lender that the original property is no longer owner-occupied, Gumbinger said.
There are also federal and state tax benefits for primary residences, according to Albert Campo, a certified public accountant and president of Campo Financial Group in Manalapan, New Jersey.
For example, when an owner sells a home and makes a profit, they can take a capital gains exemption worth up to $250,000 for single filers or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly, as long as they meet certain IRS rules, including owner occupancy for two of the past five years.
For tax purposes, a homeowner can have only one primary residence at a time.
When a taxpayer owns more than one home, proving which one is the primary residence is “always based on facts and circumstances,” Campo said. For example, a primary residence is typically where an owner spends most of their time, votes, files their tax returns and receives mail, he said.
A 2023 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that more than 22,000 “fraudulent borrowers” misrepresented their owner-occupancy status, out of 584,499 loans originated from 2005 to 2017. The data was based on a subsample from more than 15 million loans originated during this period.
Typically, the fraudulent borrowers took out larger loans and had higher mortgage default rates, the authors found.
However, this type of fraud may be “difficult to detect until long after the mortgage has been originated,” the authors wrote.
“There is a difference between the court of law and the court of public opinion,” Jonathan Kanter, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a former assistant attorney general, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week when asked about Cook. “In the court of law, this is small ball and very difficult to prove.”
“You’d have to establish not only that she filled out the form incorrectly, but she had the specific intent to deceive, to defraud banks, as opposed to just making a mistake,” he said.
During fiscal year 2024, 38 mortgage fraud offenders were sentenced in the federal system, according to the United States Sentencing Commission’s interactive data analyzer. That number is up slightly from 34 offenders in 2023, but down from 426 offenders in 2015, the earliest date in that tool’s dataset. The U.S. Sentencing Commission data does not break out the types of mortgage fraud.
This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
The Trump administration’s latest allegations of mortgage fraud have raised questions about a long-standing housing issue known as owner-occupancy mortgage fraud. But that type of fraud can be difficult to prove, experts say.
President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Monday night that he was removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. He cited allegations made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that Cook committed mortgage fraud by claiming homes in two different states as her primary residence at the same time.
Cook’s attorney on Tuesday said Cook will file a lawsuit to challenge her removal.
“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement.
The Department of Justice has also recently targeted Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James with similar mortgage fraud allegations.
Here are the key things to know about owner-occupancy mortgage fraud, according to experts.
The main reason a borrower could be motivated to claim a primary residence on a mortgage application is to get a lower interest rate for that home.
Typically, mortgages for a primary residence have lower interest rates and homeowner’s insurance costs, said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage website HSH.
Mortgage interest rates are generally 0.5% to 1% higher for investment properties than for primary homes, according to Bankrate. Homeowners also typically pay about 25% more for insurance as a landlord compared with a standard homeowners policy, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Owner-occupied means “you’re going to live there the majority of the time,” Gumbinger said. But there are limited exceptions, including for military service, parents providing housing for a disabled adult child or children providing housing for parents, according to Fannie Mae.
If a homeowner changes primary residences, they need to inform their mortgage lender that the original property is no longer owner-occupied, Gumbinger said.
There are also federal and state tax benefits for primary residences, according to Albert Campo, a certified public accountant and president of Campo Financial Group in Manalapan, New Jersey.
For example, when an owner sells a home and makes a profit, they can take a capital gains exemption worth up to $250,000 for single filers or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly, as long as they meet certain IRS rules, including owner occupancy for two of the past five years.
For tax purposes, a homeowner can have only one primary residence at a time.
When a taxpayer owns more than one home, proving which one is the primary residence is “always based on facts and circumstances,” Campo said. For example, a primary residence is typically where an owner spends most of their time, votes, files their tax returns and receives mail, he said.
A 2023 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that more than 22,000 “fraudulent borrowers” misrepresented their owner-occupancy status, out of 584,499 loans originated from 2005 to 2017. The data was based on a subsample from more than 15 million loans originated during this period.
Typically, the fraudulent borrowers took out larger loans and had higher mortgage default rates, the authors found.
However, this type of fraud may be “difficult to detect until long after the mortgage has been originated,” the authors wrote.
“There is a difference between the court of law and the court of public opinion,” Jonathan Kanter, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a former assistant attorney general, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week when asked about Cook. “In the court of law, this is small ball and very difficult to prove.”
“You’d have to establish not only that she filled out the form incorrectly, but she had the specific intent to deceive, to defraud banks, as opposed to just making a mistake,” he said.
During fiscal year 2024, 38 mortgage fraud offenders were sentenced in the federal system, according to the United States Sentencing Commission’s interactive data analyzer. That number is up slightly from 34 offenders in 2023, but down from 426 offenders in 2015, the earliest date in that tool’s dataset. The U.S. Sentencing Commission data does not break out the types of mortgage fraud.
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THE SANTA ROSA PLATEAU ECOLOGICAL RESERVE, Calif. — The scientist traipses to a pond wearing rubber boots but he doesn’t enter the water. Instead, Brad Hollingsworth squats next to its swampy edge and retrieves a recording device the size of a deck of cards. He then opens it up and removes a tiny memory card containing 18 hours of sound.
Back at his office at the San Diego Natural History Museum, the herpetologist — an expert in reptiles and amphibians — uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data on the card. Within three minutes, he knows a host of animals visit the pond — where native red-legged frogs were reintroduced after largely disappearing in Southern California. There were owl hoots, woodpecker pecks, coyote howls and tree frog ribbits. But no croaking from the invasive bullfrog, which has decimated the native red-legged frog population over the past century.
It was another good day in his efforts to increase the population of the red-legged frog and restore an ecosystem spanning the U.S.-Mexico border. The efforts come as the Trump administration builds more walls along the border, raising concerns about the impact on wildlife.
At 2 to 5 inches long, red-legged frogs are the largest native frogs in the West and once were found in abundance up and down the California coast and into Baja California in Mexico.
The species is widely believed to be the star of Mark Twain’s 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” and their crimson hind legs were eaten during the Gold Rush. But as the red-legged frog declined in numbers, the bullfrog — with its even bigger hind legs — was introduced to menus during California’s booming growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports on an international effort to bring back a type of frog.
The red-legged frog population was decimated by the insatiable appetite of the bullfrogs and the disease the non-native species brought in, but also because it lost much of its habitat to drought and human development in the shape of homes, dams and more.
Hollingsworth couldn’t estimate the number of red-legged frogs that remain but said they have disappeared from 95% of their historical range in Southern California.
Robert Fisher of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative Program searched for the frog for decades across 250 miles from Los Angeles to the border. He found just one in 2001 and none after that.
Scientists using DNA from red-legged frogs captured in Southern California before their disappearance discovered they were more genetically similar to the population in Mexico than any still in California.
In 2006, Fisher, Hollingsworth and others visited Baja where they had heard of a small population of red-legged frogs. Anny Peralta, then a student of Hollingsworth at San Diego State University, joined them. They found about 20 frogs, and Peralta was inspired to dedicate her life to their recovery.
Peralta and her husband established the nonprofit Fauna del Noroeste in Ensenada, Mexico, which aims to promote the proper management of natural resources. In 2018, they started building ponds in Mexico to boost the frog population that would later provide eggs to repopulate the species across the border.
But just as they were preparing to relocate the egg masses, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Peralta and the U.S. scientists scrambled to secure permits for the unusual cargo and a pilot to fly the two coolers of eggs closer to the border. The rest of their journey north was by road, after the eggs passed a U.S. border guard inspection.
Over the past five years, Hollingsworth and his team have searched for sounds to prove their efforts to repopulate ponds in Southern California worked.
On Jan. 30, he heard the quiet, distinct grunting of the red-legged frog’s breeding call in an audio flagged by AI.
“It felt like a big burden off my shoulder because we were thinking the project might be failing,” Hollingsworth said. “And then the next couple nights we started hearing more and more and more, and more, and more.”
Over the next two months, two males were heard belting it out on microphone 11 at one of the ponds. In March, right below the microphone, the first egg masse was found, showing they had not only hatched from the eggs brought from Mexico but had gone on to produce their own eggs in the United States.
Conservationists are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to monitor animals on the brink of extinction, track the breeding of reintroduced species and collect data on the impact of climate change and other threats.
Herpetologists are building on the AI-powered tools already used to analyze datasets of bird sounds, hoping that it might help build audio landscapes to identify amphibians and track their behavior and breeding patterns, said Zachary Principe of The Nature Conservancy, which is working with the museum on the red-legged frog project. The tools could also help scientists analyze tens of thousands of audio files collected at universities, museums and other institutions.
Scientists working to restore the red-legged frog population in Southern California hope to soon be provided with satellite technology that will send audio recordings to their phones in real time, so they can act immediately if any predators — in particular bullfrogs — are detected.
It could also help track the movement of the frogs, which can be difficult to find in the wild, especially because cold-blooded creatures cannot be detected using thermal imagery.
The AI analysis of the pond audio has saved time for Hollingsworth and the others, who previously had to painstakingly listen to countless hours of audio files to detect the calls of the red-legged frog — which resembles the sound of a thumb being rubbed on a balloon — over the cacophony of other animals.
“There’s tree frogs calling, there’s cows mooing, a road nearby with a motorcycle zooming back and forth,” Hollingsworth said of the ponds’ audio landscape. “There’s owls, there’s ducks splashing, just all this noise”
The red-legged frog is the latest species to see success from binational cooperation along the near-2,000-mile border spanning California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Over the years, Mexican gray wolves have returned to their historic range in the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico, while the California Condor now soars over skies from Baja to Northern California.
Based off the latest count, scientists estimate more than 100 adult red-legged frogs are in the Southern California ponds, and tadpoles were spotted at a new site.
The team plans to continue transporting egg masses from Baja, where the population has jumped from 20 to as many as 400 adult frogs, with the hope of building thriving populations on both sides of the border. Already the sites are seeing fewer mosquitos that can carry diseases like dengue and Zika.
A restoration pond in Baja that Peralta’s organization built recently teemed with froglets, their tiny eyes bobbing on its aquatic fern-covered surface. They could, one day, lay eggs for relocation to the U.S.
“They don’t know about borders or visas or passports,” Peralta said of the frogs. “This is just their habitat, and these populations need to reconnect. I think this shows that we can restore this ecosystem.”
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