From a mansion in a San Diego suburb, Michelle Mack allegedly oversaw a retail theft ring that stole $8 million in cosmetics from stores such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora, which she then sold on Amazon.

In December, police arrested the 53-year-old along with her husband, Kenneth, taking the pair into custody on their sprawling property, according to footage taken by CNBC and published this week. Their teen daughters watched nearby, the outlet reported.

The couple was arrested along with seven people who allegedly participated in the thefts after an investigation by state and federal agencies and teams from Sephora and Ulta Beauty, the California attorney general’s office announced in a statement last month.

“Organised retail crime has significant financial and safety implications for businesses, retailers and consumers,” said Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general. “Today, we are addressing an audacious instance of organised retail theft and making it clear that such criminal activity will not be accepted in California.”

The arrest comes as lawmakers and officials have pledged to crack down on retail theft. Major companies from Walgreens to Ulta to Walmart have said thefts are rising and cutting their profits while high-profile “smash and grab” robberies in California have made headlines nationwide. But the actual extent of the impact is unclear and some experts have suggested retailers may be exaggerating the effects.

Walgreens reported that thefts surged in 2022, even forcing it to close some stores in San Francisco, but later indicated it may have overstated the problem. In December, the National Retail Federation, a powerful lobbying group, retracted a claim that half of the industry’s $94.5 billion inventory losses in 2021 was due “organised retail crime”.

The scale of Mack’s alleged crime ring appears to be substantial with participants allegedly paid to steal items from stores in 21 counties from Sacramento to Los Angeles. The arrests followed an investigation by the California department of justice, California highway patrol, Department of Homeland Security, US Postal Inspection Service and representatives from Sephora and Ulta, the attorney general’s office said.

Mack allegedly operated the ring from her 4,500-sq-ft home, which had a vineyard and chapel that she and her husband rented out for weddings. She is accused of recruiting women to go to retail stores and “commit bulk thefts of specific high-demand makeup product” that she would sell on her Amazon store.

Her store sold goods at almost 50 percent less than retail price and brought in almost $2 million in 2022.

Authorities found large amounts of still-packaged makeup “organised and prepped for shipping” at Mack’s home, according to the complaint. With assistance from Ulta Beauty and Sephora, they recovered an estimated $400,000 in products from residences.

Mack and her husband have pleaded not guilty.

By Dani Anguiano

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France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a bill seeking penalties on ultra-fast fashion products, sold by companies like China’s Shein, aimed at helping to offset their environmental impact.

The bill calls for gradually increasing penalties of up to 10 euros per individual item of clothing by 2030, as well for a ban on advertising for such products.

All voting lawmakers unanimously approved the bill, which will head to the senate before it can become law.

The popularity of fashion retailers Shein and Temu - which scale up orders based on demand thanks to ultra-flexible supply chains - have disrupted the retail sector while established players like Zara and H&M continue to largely rely on predicting shoppers’ preferences.

Shein said in a statement to Reuters that the clothes it produces meet an existing demand, which allows its rate of unsold garments to remain consistently in low single digits, whereas traditional players can have up to 40 percent waste.

It added that the only impact of the bill would be to “worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.”

The bill comes as the French environmental ministry said it would propose a European Union ban on exports of used clothes, in a bid to tackle the worsening problem of textile waste.

By Mimosa Spencer and Corentin Chappron; Editing by GV De Clercq

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British Vogue’s new head of editorial contnet Chioma Nnadi unveiled her first issue on Thursday, starring British actress and singer FKA Twigs.

The cover, shot by Johnny Dufort, features Twigs, wearing Loewe, atop a black taxi cab, with additional images shot in British landmarks and locations, including a red phone box. The shoot was styled by Dazed magazine editor-in-chief Ib Kamara. Nnadi herself wrote the accompanying cover story, a profile of the musician.

Nnadi joined the Condé Nast title November 2023, succeeding Edward Enninful. She previously served as editor of Vogue.com in the US.

”I knew my first cover star needed to be someone who defined that inimitable spirit,” said Nnadi in her editor’s letter. “FKA Twigs is an artist who represents the ideal of the modern British eccentric: she is a shape-shifter who rejects conformity and takes real joy in clothes.”

The issue will be available via digital download and will be on newsstands beginning March 19.

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Alibaba’s AliExpress could face a hefty fine after the European Commission on Thursday opened an investigation into dissemination of potentially illegal and pornographic materials, the third such probe after social media platform X and TikTok.

The move comes under powers granted to the EU executive from the Digital Services Act which requires companies to do more to tackle illegal and harmful products on their platforms and followed a request for information sent to AliExpress last November.

Commission officials told reporters they were concerned about the potential dissemination of illegal products such as fake medicines, non-compliant food, and ineffective dietary supplements on AliExpress

They are also looking into possible hidden links where non-compliant products can be sold in a way that is not transparent to users and the role of influencers in this matter.

“We have not found yet at this stage that AliExpress is not compliant. We are simply suspecting we have elements that they are not compliant with. This is not a finding of a breach,” one of the officials said.

AliExpress said it respected all applicable rules and regulations in the markets where it operates.

“We have been working with, and will continue to work with, the relevant authorities on making sure we comply with applicable standards and will continue to ensure that we will be able to meet the requirements of the DSA,” the company said

“AliExpress is committed to creating a safe and compliant marketplace for all consumers.”

So-called VLOPs like AliExpress - or very large online platforms - are companies with more than 45 million users in Europe that are subject to the toughest DSA rules. Violations can lead to fines of up to 6 percent of global annual turnover.

The Commission on Thursday also sent requests for information to Microsoft’s Bing, Google Search, Meta Platforms’ Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, ByteDance’s TikTok and Elon Musk’s X over their use of generative artificial intelligence.

Commission officials said they want to know whether the companies conduct risk assessments and have risk mitigation measures to tackle potentially harmful generative AI content.

“We are of course concerned with the harmful category, whether it is deep fake news or election-relevant deep fakes that seek to manipulate the public environment,” the officials said.

The companies have until April 3 to reply to questions related to the protection of elections and April 24 on other matters.

The growing popularity of generative AI systems such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s chatbot Gemini has fuelled concerns about misinformation and fake news.

The Commission also sent a request for information to Microsoft’s Linkedin over the potential use of personal data for targeted advertising following a complaint from civil society organisations, giving it an April 5 deadline to respond.

The probes into X and TikTok are ongoing.

By Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mark Potter

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