President Trump last week commuted the seven-year prison sentence of private equity investor David Gentile, who served only 12 days behind bars.

The big picture: Trump isn't pardoning Gentile for his crimes, which included wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

• Instead he's arguing that Gentile isn't deserving of prison time or major fines, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming that Gentile's trial was a "weaponization of justice" by former President Biden.

Catch up quick: Gentile was CEO of GPB Capital, a private equity firm that primarily acquired auto dealerships and waste-hauling businesses.

• It raised around $1.8 billion for a series of funds between 2013 and 2018. Most, if not all, of that money came from individual investors.
• The pitch was that GPB would seek to provide 8% annual distributions via cash-flows from the underlying businesses, plus via any portfolio company sales.
• But it didn't work. The cash-flows proved insufficient, and GPB eventually began paying out distributions from new investor capital. Prosecutors called it a Ponzi scheme, and also alleged that GPB had fudged performance data when soliciting investors.

Timeline: GPB was raided by the FBI in early 2019, during President Trump's first term. Gentile and two associates were indicted in 2021, with both DOJ and the SEC filing suit.

• One of those associates became a witness for the prosecution while the other remains in prison without a commutation (at least so far).
• Gentile was represented by Matthew Menchel, a onetime DOJ prosecutor in Florida who helped negotiate the notorious plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein.
• The jury took less than five hours to convict, while the judge gave just less than half of the 15-year sentence recommended by prosecutors.
• GPB entered receivership in 2023, with some investors claiming they lost their life savings.

The intrigue: Leavitt argued that GPB had warned investors in 2015 that their capital could be used to pay distributions, which is one year earlier than the DOJ and SEC claim one of the private placement memorandum was amended to include that possibility.

• A White House official shared with Axios a trial exhibit number that is said to include that 2015 disclosure, but we've been unable to locate that exhibit on the docket. The official didn't follow up with more information.
• Attorney Matthew Menchel didn't respond to a request for comment.

The bottom line: The White House hasn't offered an explanation for why Biden would have "weaponized" DOJ aganst Gentile — again, GPB was raided during Trump 1.0 — nor why there wasn't a similar commutation for his co-defendant.

Anthropic hired law firm Wilson Sonsini to begin work on an IPO that may come as soon as 2026, per The Financial Times.

Why it's the BFD: This could be the largest IPO ever for a U.S. company, and a validation test for venture capital's AI spending spree.

Yes, but: Hiring a law firm is just the first step, and Anthropic hasn't yet held advanced talks with potential underwriters.

Elsewhere: Anthropic yesterday acquired Bun, a Javascript runtime backed by Kleiner Perkins, and said that its Claude Code product is now generating $1b in ARR.

The bottom line: "[Anthropic's] investors are enthusiastic about an IPO, arguing that Anthropic can seize the initiative from its larger rival OpenAI by listing first." — George Hammond, FT

• Eon, a New York-based cloud backup platform, raised $300m in Series D funding at a $4b post-money valuation from insiders Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Greenoaks, and Bond. axios.link/4pJ6vq8

• Mujin, a Tokyo-based automation tech company, raised $233m in Series D funding. NTT Group and Qatar Investment Authority led, joined by Mitsubishi HC Capital Realty Co. and Salesforce Ventures. axios.link/3KCe7vJ

🚑 Curative, an Austin, Texas-based health insurance startup, raised $150m in Series B funding at a $1.28b post-money valuation. Upside Vision Fund led, joined by JAM Fund, Galaxy Digital, Duquesne Family Office, DCVC, and Martin Varsavsky. axios.link/48skTMy

🚑 Angle Health, an health insurance startup, raised $134m in equity and debt led by Portage, per Fortune. axios.link/4pcxgDx

• Axiado, a San Jose, Calif.-based chipmaker, raised $100m led by Maverick Silicon. axios.link/44HGcIM

• PermitFlow, a New York-based AI platform for construction, raised $54m in Series B funding. Accel led, joined by Kleiner Perkins, Felicis, Initialized Capital, Altos Ventures, and YC. axios.link/440jvzp

• Titan OS, a Spanish developer of smart TV operating systems, raised €50m in Series A funding. Highland Europe led, joined by Mangrove Capital Partners. axios.link/49XFlaF

• Gradial, a Seattle-based agentic marketing startup, raised $35m in Series B funding. VMG Partners led, joined by insiders Madrona and Pruven Capital. axios.link/48vlkpd

• Simular, a developer of AI agents for macOS and Windows, raised $21.5m in Series A funding. Felicis led, joined by NVentures and insider South Park Commons. axios.link/49Rp6fd

• Bitstack, a Paris-based bitcoin savings app, raised $15m in Series A funding. 13books Capital led, joined by AG2R La Mondiale, Plug and Play Ventures, Serena, Stillmark, and YC. axios.link/48tQD3X

• Unlimited Industries, an SF-based data center construction design automation platform, raised $12m from a16z and CIV, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4pGDhIr

• Phind, an AI answer engine that can visualize search results, raised $10.4m from YC, A Capital, SV Angel, Bessemer Venture Partners, per Axios Pro. axios.link/44AFzAM

🚑 Junevity, an SF-based biotech initially focused on Type 2 diabetes, raised $10m in seed extension funding led by Goldcrest Capital and Godfrey Capital, per Axios Pro. axios.link/44MJKtk

🚑 Empathy Health Technologies, a Bentonville, Ark., maker of a relapse prevention tool called Sober Sidekick, raised $7.6m led by HealthX Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3MfGHDJ

• Summit Commercial Solutions, a Canadian commercial insurance brokerage, raised $7.5m in Series A funding. IA Capital led, joined by Sorathia Holdings and Greenlight Re Innovations. axios.link/444fkCN

• BuiltAI, a London-based financial modelling platform for commercial real estate investment, raised $6m in seed funding. Work-Bench led, joined by Lerer Hippeau, Timber Grove Ventures, and Emerald Pine. axios.link/44AoRl4

• Orq.ai, an Amsterdam-based enterprise AI agent management startup, raised €5m in seed funding led by seed + speed Ventures and Galion.exe. axios.link/3KjYI3b

• Donna, a Belgium-based AI assistant for field sales teams, raised $4.8m in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led, joined by Pitchdrive, Fortino Capital, WeLoveFounders, Syndicate One, New School, and Everywhere Ventures. axios.link/4iz4rig

• Quickture, an LA-based AI video editing platform, raised $1.9m in pre-seed funding. Kickstart Ventures led, joined by Forward VC and Arts Alliance Fund. axios.link/49U21IO

• Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in Comrod, a Norwegian provider of tactical communications and power solutions for the defense industry. axios.link/3Kvpgyj

• CVC Capital Partners agreed to buy the baggage screening business of Smiths Group (LSE: SMIN) for $2.6b. axios.link/4pOSKGE

• Equality Asset Management invested in Boston-based connected world platform Connectbase, to support the acquisition of Cloud Age, a telecom invoice automation and spend management SaaS. axios.link/4iEp7FK

• Franchise Equity Partners agreed to acquire IMO Car Wash, a U.K.-based car wash business with 720 locations, from Driven Brands (Nasdaq: DRVN) for €406m. axios.link/48tJgcN

• GES, a Truelink Capital portfolio company, acquired 2Heads, a London-based creative agency for brands. axios.link/48oIrmV

• Industrial Growth Partners acquired Marki Microwave, a Morgan Hill, Calif., developer of RF and mmWave technology. axios.link/4anjDwH

🔥 Investcorp acquired Guardian Fire Services, a Nashville-based provider of fire and life safety service, from Northern Lakes Capital. axios.link/4ao7DLu

• Peterson Farms, a Shelby, Mich.-based fruit producer backed by Mubadala, acquired Country Pure Foods, an Akron, Ohio-based juice and plant-based beverage provider, from Blue Point Capital. axios.link/4rwPOjo

• Tenpin Entertainment, a Trive Capital portfolio company, acquired Fairgame, an indoors entertainment brand. axios.link/3XvynlC

• Trident invested in The LunchMaster, a Hayward, Calif.-based contract foodservice provider backed by SagePath Capital. axios.link/442iNla

• Unity Partners acquired Yardmaster (Columbus, Ohio), Big Lakes Lawncare (Detroit) and Kunco Landscape (Erie, Pa.), forming a Midwest-focused landscaping business. axios.link/3McSsLi

• Bitcoin Infrastructure Acquisition, a digital asset SPAC, raised $200m in its IPO. axios.link/4lNQcpO

• Bending Spoons, an Italian holding company that buys and seeks to revitalize legacy tech brands.acquired Eventbrite (NYSE: EB) for around $500m, or $4.50 per share. Bending Spoons most recently was valued at $11.7b in a $710m funding round led by T. Rowe Price. axios.link/4asDSJn

• Kraken, valued by VCs at $15b, agreed to acquire Backed Finance, a Swiss tokenization platform that had raised around $18m from Gnosis Chain, Stake Capital, Blue Bay Venture, Cyber Fund, Mindset Ventures, Veris Ventures, EXOR Seeds, Blockchain Founders Fund, and Nonce Classic. axios.link/4rFOXNF

• Marvell Technology (Nasdaq: MRVL) agreed to buy Celestial AI for $3.25b in cash and stock. Celestial is a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of optical interconnect solutions that raised nearly $600m from Fidelity, USIT, AMD Ventures, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Temasek, Tiger Global, IAG Capital Partners, Samsung Catalyst, Smart Global Holdings, Porsche, Engine Ventures, M-Ventures, and Tyche Partners. axios.link/49NNZZ8

⚡ Windjammer Capital Investors sold Paragon Energy Solutions, a Ft. Worth, Texas-based provider of engineered solutions for nuclear power plants and small modular reactors, to Mirion Technologies (NYSE: MIR). axios.link/4pclLvP

• The Baldwin Group (Nasdaq: BWIN) agreed to buy rival rival insurance broker CAC Group for $1.03b in cash and stock. axios.link/3Xx8guA

• Holcim (Swiss: HOLN) bought two U.K. companies focused on recycled building materials, Thames Materials and A&S Recycling, plus an undisclosed one in France. axios.link/4rxkh0P

• Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) offered to buy the 82% stake it doesn't already hold in Guinea-focused gold miner Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) at an enterprise value of more than A$2b. axios.link/3McsvLL

• Schroders (LSE: SDR) is weighing a sale of financial planning business Benchmark, per Reuters. axios.link/4out5Ss

🚑 WindRose Health Investors raised $2.6b for its seventh fund. axios.link/4iCmiVp

• Lance Carr joined advisory firm Portage Point Partners as a managing director and head of valuations. He previously was with Houlihan Lokey. axios.link/4rpwogm

• StepStone Group promoted partner Lindsay Creedon to head of private equity, succeeding CEO Scott Hart (who will remain on the PE investment committee). axios.link/3XwuXPK

• Caroline Theodoridis rejoined First Reserve as director of capital formation and IR. She previously was with iCapital. axios.link/4pg50Qo

Leslie Whittet, a longtime executive with the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), has died after being hit by a truck while walking her dog.

• I first got to know Leslie during her six years as executive director of ACG Boston, where she organized its monthly breakfasts. She was a generous and knowledgeable resource for me, having just returned to Boston after years away, and her presence was greatly missed when she headed to Chicago to oversee chapter operations.
• Most recently she was chief experience officer for the Risk and Insurance Management Society, living in New Mexico.

Rest in peace Leslie.

HSBC is steering some clients toward emerging markets for cheaper, more diversified AI exposure, Axios' Madison Mills reports.

• She notes: "The basket of emerging markets AI stocks screened by HSBC trades at 18xforward earnings. The S&P 500 trades at 25x forward earnings."