13-301, 13-302, 13-303, 13-304, 13-701, 13-702, 13-703, 13-801, 13-804, 13-811,
13-2313, and 13-2314.
COUNT 7
FORGERY, A CLASS FOUR FELONY
From on or about November 3, 2020 and continuing through on or about
January 6, 2021, with intent to defraud, KELLI WARD (001), TYLER BOWYER
(002), NANCY COTTLE (003), JACOB HOFFMAN (004), ANTHONY KERN (005),
JAMES LAMON (006), ROBERT MONTGOMERY (007), SAMUEL MOORHEAD
(008), LORRAINE PELLEGRINO (009), GREGORY SAFSTEN (010), MICHAEL WARD
(011),
falsely made, completed or altered a written instrument and/or
offered or presented, whether accepted or not, a forged instrument or one that
contained false information, to wit: one of two certificates of votes for President
Donald J. Trump and Vice President Michael Pence, filed by the Arizona
Republican electors with the Archivist of the United States, involving, but not
limited to, the acts described in Section II, in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13-2002(A)(1) &
(A)(3), 13-301, 13-302, 13-303, 13-304, 13-701, 13-702, 13-703, 13-801, 13-804,
13-811, 13-2313, and 13-2314.
10
110

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Investor tolerance for extravagant corporate spending on artificial intelligence is showing signs of fatigue. Meta shareholders were willing to back Mark Zuckerberg’s AI ambitions when the company’s digital advertising business was humming, costs elsewhere were coming down and cash was being handed back. They are more circumspect now that revenue growth is slowing and costs are rising.

Meta has drawn praise for the technological prowess of its generative AI projects. Unlike some of its Silicon Valley peers, these are being developed in-house. This month the company announced its first designed chip for running AI models and the latest version of its generative AI model, Llama 3.

As with the company’s virtual reality metaverse plan, however, AI is a multibillion-dollar project with no clear timeline for revenues. Meta says it will raise spending this year by up to $10bn to cover infrastructure costs. While it does not break out AI spend in the same way that it does for the metaverse, costs are reflected in capex. Last year, capex fell to $28bn. This year, Meta expects annual capex to reach up to $40bn, $3bn more than first expected. This would equal 25 per cent of forecast annual revenue. Next year, the total will be higher still.

Even with billions of dollars pouring in it is still not clear what sort of AI company Meta is building. It is not selling the chips it designs or the generative AI model it builds, which is open source. Revenue still comes from the company’s digital advertising business with a small sideline in VR headsets.

Meta has been integrating generative AI into products such as Instagram and Facebook in an attempt to boost engagement. But it has not provided details on any increase in the time users spend staring at these apps on their phones. Third-party estimates, including a study by non-profit Common Sense Media, suggest it will need to boost engagement by hours each day to catch up to TikTok. A US ban on the addictive video app could benefit Meta, which has a rival product in Instagram Reels. But this potential outcome is years, and a legal fight, away.

Meta has funds to spend. In the last quarter, operating profit rose 91 per cent. Buybacks and dividends are not in danger of being withdrawn. Still, it is difficult to predict how much Meta plans to spend on AI. Zuckerberg attempted to quell concerns by comparing the project to previous investments in Reels or Stories. But these were far smaller. The scale of the company’s AI ambitions is only just starting to emerge.

elaine.moore@ft.com

An ailing West Virginia man confessed on his deathbed to killing a mother and her 10-year-old child nearly a quarter century ago and led investigators to their bodies.

Larry Webb, 82, said he shot and killed both Susan Carter, 41, and her daughter Natasha “Alex” Carter in August 2000 and then buried their bodies in a shallow grave in the woods on his property, WSAZ reported.

The remains of the mom and daughter were discovered on Webb’s Beckley property Monday — roughly six hours after their killer died at Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County in what police called “a bit of a poetic ending.”

Webb said that he had gotten into an argument with Susan Carter, who was living in his home with her daughter, over money and shot her. He said he was missing cash and believed that she had taken it and spent it, Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield said.

After fatally shooting Susan, Webb said he “knew he had ruined his life forever,” investigators said, according to WSAZ.

He then shot little Alex dead so that there were no witnesses.

“Once he had killed both individuals, he had stored them in the basement of the home where he cried himself to sleep that night. And then over the course of the next two nights, dug a shallow grave in the woods on his property,” Hatfield said, according to Fox News.

Webb was previously indicted for Alex’s death in October 2023 and was placed in custody earlier this month after the FBI took back up the cold case in 2021, according to the local news station.

Investigators searched his home last year and found a bullet embedded in the wall of what was the girl’s bedroom, the station reported. The bullet was tested for DNA, which confirmed that blood on it belonged to the 10-year-old girl.

Webb reportedly confessed to the murders in a “come to Jesus” moment on his deathbed during the first week of April, West Virginia state police said, according to Fox.

Alex’s father, Rick Lafferty, who was in a custody battle with Susan over their daughter at the time of her death, said he was thankful to investigators for finally closing the case.

“Kind of a sad day, but also a happy day, because I can bring my baby home,” he said at a press conference announcing the findings.