Jared Kushner approved the creation of a shell company that spent almost half of the Trump campaign's $1.26 billion war chest, source says

Hello everyone! Welcome to this weekly roundup of Business Insider stories from co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.

Read on for details on a shell company Jared Kushner helped create for the Trump campaign, the inside track of Amazon's plans to provide medical care to workers at major companies, and the untold story of Ghislaine Maxwell's secret husband.

Hello!

2020 is showing no signs of slowing down. Here's the latest:

• STIMULUS: Congress could vote on a $900 billion stimulus package today after lawmakers broke a stalemate on Fed lending. You can get all the latest stimulus news right here throughout today and next week.
• CYBER WARFARE: President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly considering financial sanctions and coordinated cyberattacks against Russia in response to the SolarWinds attack. President Trump on Saturday said "everything is well under control" and shifted the focus from Russia to China, contradicting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
• MARTIAL LAW: President Donald Trump in a White House meeting Friday touted the idea of imposing martial law to overturn the election result, according to multiple reports.
• UK IN LOCKDOWN: Fears around a new variant of COVID-19 have prompted multiple countries to cancel flights from the UK.

This will be the last edition of Insider Weekly this year. Thank you for reading, have a great holiday season, and see you in 2021.

Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company

From Tom LoBianco and Dave Levinthal:

Jared Kushner approved the creation of a shell company that spent almost half of the Trump campaign's $1.26 billion war chest, a person familiar with the operation told Insider exclusively.

Kushner directed Lara Trump, Vice President Mike Pence's nephew John Pence, and Trump campaign Chief Financial Officer Sean Dollman to serve on the shell company's board, the person told Insider.

American Made Media Consultants became the source of consternation for President Donald Trump's campaign staff, who were kept in the dark about its operations.

Despite its $617 million spending through AMMC, the Trump campaign publicly disclosed little information about the company, including how it used the money.

Read the story in full here:

• Jared Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash, a source says

Also read:

• Lawmakers ask FBI and Federal Election Commission to investigate Jared Kushner-backed Trump campaign company after Insider's reporting

Amazon's healthcare dreams

From Blake Dodge:

Amazon, the $1.6 trillion retail and technology behemoth, is plotting a major move to disrupt healthcare, building on its multiyear push into the pharmacy industry.

Amazon is planning to provide online and in-person primary care to workers at other companies, five people familiar with the matter told Business Insider. Two of them have direct knowledge of Amazon's plans. The people asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

It's still early in Amazon's healthcare push, and the company has a long way to go before it can influence the highly regulated healthcare industry and win over employers who in many cases are also competitors.

Read the full story, which moved markets, right here:

• Amazon wants to provide medical care to workers at major companies. Here's an inside look at Amazon Care.

Also read:

• Jeff Bezos is back in the trenches at Amazon. Insiders describe working with a more deeply involved CEO.
• Jeff Bezos and Amazon execs have discussed launching a rival to Shopify, whose meteoric rise has increasingly intruded on the online giant's turf
  

Ghislaine Maxwell's secret husband

From Becky Peterson:

Scott Borgerson's life was turned upside down by the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime romantic partner who is accused of child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein.

Business Insider spoke with Borgerson and 15 people close to the couple and reviewed public documents to understand how Borgerson's life and career intersected with Maxwell.

He secretly married Maxwell in 2016, at which point his professional network expanded to include big-name investors like Google's Eric Schmidt and the billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.

Borgerson left his company CargoMetrics in July after Maxwell's arrest when the board of directors found out he lied about their relationship.

Borgerson, who is deeply religious, is still trying to figure out what this means for his life, he told Business Insider. Whatever he does next, he said, he wants it to be in the service of God.

Read the full story here:

• The untold story of Ghislaine Maxwell's secret husband, Scott Borgerson

Also read:

• There are 1,510 people in Jeffrey Epstein's little black book. Now you can search them all for the first time.

ICYMI: Fannie Mae plots a release from government control

From Sean Czarnecki, Alex Morrell, and Rebecca Ungarino:

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae is angling to pull off an 11th-hour exit of government conservatorship before Donald Trump leaves the White House.

The effort is considered a long shot, but senior leaders at the agency have directed employees to be prepared to work over the holidays if a decision is reached on the matter.

Employees were notified last week an announcement regarding the release could come over the holiday season and could include "questions that need to be answered quickly."

Read the full story here:

• Fannie Mae is asking key employees to be prepared to work through the holidays as the mortgage giant plots a potential 11th-hour release from government control

BONUS: Startups set to boom

Berber Jin and Aaron Holmes asked investors at top venture capital firms to name the startups that will boom in 2021.

Each VC was asked to name two startups: one that they invested in; and one where they have no financial ties or any other interest, but believe will do well. Check out the full list here:

• 81 startups that will boom in 2021, according to the startup experts

Here are some headlines from the past week that you might have missed.

- Matt

Inside a failed attempt to reinvent the IPO process with Airbnb and DoorDash

Tony Hsieh suffered a 'psychotic break' on a bus trip in late June. It led loved ones to attempt interventions and paved the way for his Zappos resignation.

JPMorgan unveils its 50 'most compelling' stock picks to buy for 2021 - and details why each one will be a top performer

The top 25 talent managers for YouTube creators who help clients navigate an ever-changing industry and build lasting businesses

The 46 top climate-tech startups to watch in 2021, according to VCs

Former Pornhub moderators describe lax rules while being ordered to watch up to 1,200 videos per day: 'Our job was to find weird excuses to keep videos on our sites'

Ad giant Dentsu is going through a massive culling of its agencies - here's what we know about the winners and losers

95% of McDonald's franchisees vote to cut all 'non-essential' contact with corporate in protest over millions in new costs