Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal judge on Thursday to undo a magistrate judge's decision requiring the businessman to testify again before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, calling the subpoena overbroad and unconstitutional.
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TOP NEWS

Musk Fights Latest Subpoena Over $44B Twitter Purchase

By Bonnie Eslinger

Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal judge on Thursday to undo a magistrate judge's decision requiring the businessman to testify again before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, calling the subpoena overbroad and unconstitutional.

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Trump SPAC Investor Convicted Of Insider Trading

By Cara Salvatore

A Manhattan federal jury on Thursday convicted a Florida investment pro of securities fraud and conspiracy for allegedly exploiting confidential plans to take Donald Trump's media company Truth Social public in a $23 million insider trading case.

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Chancery Tosses Qualcomm Investor's Diversity Suit

By Leslie A. Pappas

A shareholder who sued Qualcomm Inc. for allegedly misleading the public and investors about its efforts to diversify its board has failed to show that the company didn't consider diverse candidates, Delaware's Court of Chancery said Thursday, dismissing the shareholder's case.

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Okla. Law Curbing Anti-Oil Pension Fund Investments Blocked

By Patrick Hoff

Oklahoma can't enforce a law prohibiting the state pension system from investing in companies that limit oil and gas industry assets, a state judge ruled, finding the retiree leading the suit is likely to succeed on arguments that the statute is vague and violates the state constitution.

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Attys Want $102M In Fees In Stock Loan Antitrust Deal

By Sydney Price

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC attorneys asked for $102 million in fees for settling claims from investors that major banks colluded to avoid modernizing the stock loan market, saying the long and complex nature of the case warrants the payout.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Lawmakers Say Shell, Eni, Nigeria Deals Need Second Look

By Caroline Simson

Two Democratic lawmakers urged the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen a foreign bribery case into an alleged $1.1 billion scheme in Nigeria perpetrated by oil giants Shell and Eni, saying a possible settlement in a related investor-state case could mean more corrupt deals are on the horizon.

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CIVIL ENFORCEMENT

Ex-Minor Leaguer Settles With SEC Over Del Taco Deal Tip Off

By Emilie Ruscoe

A former minor league baseball player has agreed to pay more than $58,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading allegations involving burger chain Jack in the Box's $575 million acquisition of its fellow chain Del Taco.

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SEC Sues 3 Penny Stock Firms Over Failure To Register

By Emilie Ruscoe

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against a Long Island man and his three companies, accusing them of violating registration provisions of federal securities law in connection with a $75 million penny stock scheme.

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SEC Says Bogus Billion-Dollar Co. Ran Stock Offering Fraud

By Katryna Perera

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused a man previously convicted of wire and tax fraud of conducting a fake stock offering on misrepresentations that he ran a diversified energy, health care, technology and real estate company that would net billions in revenue when in fact it tallied less than $15,000 in sales.

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WHITE COLLAR

Ex-Dental Device CEO Cops To $10.7M Investor Fraud

By Donald Morrison

The former CEO of a dental device company pled guilty Thursday to defrauding investors out of $10.7 million with false claims that his company received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval for a device he promised would take the place of X-rays.

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Ex-Pharma Exec Asks 1st Circ. To DQ Judge In Contempt Case

By Julie Manganis

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf cannot be impartial and must be disqualified from presiding over a criminal contempt trial against a former pharmaceutical executive accused of using an alias to flout a civil judgment, the defendant told the First Circuit in a Wednesday filing.

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DELAWARE

Investor Seeks Del. TRO To Block Treasure Hunter Co. Vote

By Jeff Montgomery

A marine treasure hunting and salvage company stockholder urged Delaware's Court of Chancery to block a June 3 shareholder meeting called by the company's founder and purported majority shareholder, arguing in part that most of Marine Exploration Inc.'s claimed shares are void.

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CRYPTO & FINTECH

CFTC Moves For Win Over Gemini's 'Misleading' Statements

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has told a New York federal judge there's no need to try claims that Gemini Trust Co. LLC misled the regulator on a bitcoin futures contract since discovery "confirmed" that the cryptocurrency exchange made "scores of materially false or misleading statements and omissions."

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Binance Fined $4.4M By Canadian Regulator

By Aislinn Keely

Canada's anti-money laundering watchdog levied a 6 million Canadian dollars ($4.38 million) fine against crypto exchange Binance after the firm allegedly failed to register as a money services business and didn't report thousands of large transactions on its platform.

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INVESTOR ACTIONS

Designer, Hotelier Sued For Allegedly Duping EB-5 Investors

By Rae Ann Varona

Chinese investors in a luxury California hotel for green cards lodged a potential class action Thursday against a prominent interior designer and her hotelier husband for allegedly duping backers into believing Marriott would manage the hotel.

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TRANSACTIONS

Hedge Fund Manager Says Partner Cut Him Out Of Company

By Spencer Brewer

A hedge fund manager accused his business partner in Texas state court of wrongfully cutting him out of a Dallas-based wealth management company, saying the partner tried to strong-arm him into transferring his ownership interest.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Dual-Track IPO-M&A Exit Strategies For Life Science Cos.

A dual-track process for life sciences companies offers a proven path to securing favorable deal terms for an exit, and strategic moves can include running a crossover financing round in the lead-up, say attorneys at McDermott.

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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes

Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

At-Large Suspect Charged With Murder Of Lewis Brisbois Atty

By Craig Clough

The Houston Police Department announced Thursday that it has charged a man in connection with the shooting death of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney Jeffrey Limmer, although the suspect remains at large. 

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Keller Rohrback's Derek Loeser

By Joyce Hanson

Derek Loeser's path to becoming one of the country's sharpest litigators, winning major cases against large corporations including Facebook and Wells Fargo, may very well have started at his family's dinner table when he was young.

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Fla. Justices Let More Law Grads Work Before Admission

By Madison Arnold

Certain graduates of accredited law schools can work for up to 18 months in Florida under the same restrictions as students from law school practice programs after the state Supreme Court ordered a rule change Thursday.

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9th Circ. Says Judge Defied Order To Revive Opioid Case

By Elliot Weld

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday again revived a nearly 7-year-old case against a California doctor for allegedly selling opioid prescriptions and ordered that the case be reassigned, saying the presiding judge had defied the plain language of a previous order to reinstate the indictment.

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Sen. Menendez's 2nd Bribery Trial: All You Need To Know

In the wake of a 2017 mistrial on bribery charges, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez reaffirmed his dedication to public service and vowed never to stop fighting for the people of New Jersey.

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Daniels Defiant As Trump Atty Attacks Hush Money Account

By Stewart Bishop, Rachel Scharf, and Frank Runyeon

Adult film star Stormy Daniels was defiant on Thursday in the face of a grueling cross-examination by counsel for Donald Trump in the Manhattan hush money trial, who sought to discredit her account of a 2006 sexual encounter with him at a celebrity golf tournament.

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Coverage Recap: Day 10 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Frank G. Runyeon

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day 10.

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3rd Circ. Rejects Hunter Biden Gun Appeal, Trial Set For June

By Hailey Konnath

The Third Circuit on Thursday refused to consider Hunter Biden's appeal of three Delaware federal court orders declining to dismiss felony firearm charges against him, an order issued the same day the lower court again refused to toss the indictment and scheduled the trial for June.

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3rd Circ. Judge Jordan To Retire In January 2025

By Christine DeRosa

Judge Kent A. Jordan will retire from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit next year after serving on that bench for nearly two decades, Law360 has learned.

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Biden Taps Housing Atty, 2 More For Tax Court

By Anna Scott Farrell

President Joe Biden nominated three attorneys Thursday to serve as judges on the U.S. Tax Court, including a housing attorney who specializes in federal low-income housing tax credits, a legislative counsel for the Joint Committee on Taxation and an IRS attorney.

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Sens. Press Colleagues For Public Defender Funding

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former public defender, led a letter Thursday to Senate appropriators calling for the federal public defender program to receive its full funding request for the upcoming fiscal year. 

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Oil Trader Sues BakerHostetler, Alleges Fake CIA Program Con

By Craig Clough

A Swiss-based oil trading company sanctioned last year by the United Kingdom for alleged ties to Russia has sued BakerHostetler in California court, alleging a con man posing as a CIA agent tried to steal control of the company as the law firm vouched for his legitimacy.

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Watchdog Seeks Texas Judge's Recusal In Noncompete Case

By Emily Sawicki

An industry watchdog is calling on U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker to step away from the U.S. Chamber's lawsuit in Texas federal court challenging the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's new noncompete rule, citing "ample financial conflicts" including his investments in Amazon, Apple and IBM, two of which are members of the Chamber.

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Texas Court Urged To Keep Alive Judge Romance Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

In a flurry of filings, a former shareholder in an engineering company has pushed a Texas federal court to reject bids to throw out his lawsuit over an ex-bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with a former Jackson Walker LLP attorney.

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Denver Firm Gets $1.4M Fee For Elijah McClain Settlement

By Rose Krebs

A Colorado appellate court Thursday partially reversed a lower court decision awarding roughly $3.1 million to a Denver firm for its work on behalf of Elijah McClain's family in connection with a $15 million federal litigation settlement, ruling that the firm is only entitled to about $1.4 million.

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Houston Firm Can't Escape Litigation Funder's $2M Loan Suit

By Catherine Marfin

A Houston-based law firm doesn't have to turn over financial documents to a litigation funder that has alleged the firm failed to pay back a more than $2 million debt, but it does have to continue litigating the underlying matter, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

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Attys Talk Stress, And Ways Forward, In NJ Wellness Push

By Jake Maher

At a panel sponsored by the New Jersey state judiciary on attorney mental health, current and former lawyers shared their experiences handling the stress of the legal profession.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Ahmad Zavitsanos

Baker & Hostetler

Bandas Law Firm

Baughman Kroup

Beck Redden

Bleichmar Fonti

Chasan Lamparello

Ciancio Ciancio

Cleary Gottlieb

Cohen Milstein

Cooch & Taylor

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Dalton & Associates PA

Duane Morris

Gibbons PC

Gibson Dunn

Hall Estill

Heyman Enerio

Hueston Hennigan

JFB Legal

Jackson Walker LLP

Katten Muchin

Keller Rohrback

Killmer Lane

Kirkland & Ellis

Lewis Brisbois

Liu Chen & Hoffman

McConnell Van Pelt

McDermott Will & Emery

McKool Smith

Morris James

Naidich Wurman

NechelesLaw

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Potter Anderson

Quinn Emanuel

Rathod Mohamedbhai

Rosen Saba

Rusty Hardin & Associates

Scott & Corley

Shapiro Arato

Skadden Arps

Stamoulis & Weinblatt

Sullivan & Cromwell

Sydow Firm

Winston & Strawn

​Bottini & Bottini

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

3M Co.

Abbott Laboratories

Alphabet Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

Apple Inc.

Bank of America Corp.

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Boston University

Brigham Young University

CSX Corp.

Colorado Rockies

Corporation Service Co.

Credit Suisse Group AG

Defender Association of Philadelphia

Del Taco Inc.

Electronic Privacy Information Center

Gemini Trust Co. LLC

Google LLC

International Business Machines Corp.

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Jack In The Box Inc.

Johnson Controls International PLC

Kashi Co.

LinkedIn Corp.

Louisiana State Bar Association

McAfee Inc.

McDermott International

McDonald's Corp.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Minor League Baseball

Morgan Stanley

New York University

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Paypal Holdings Inc.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Protect Democracy Project Inc.

Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board

QUALCOMM Inc.

Ryan LLC

Schneider Electric

Seattle Mariners

Shell PLC

Sotheby's

State Bar of California

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

The Florida Bar

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Neiman Marcus Group LLC

Trump Organization Inc.

Twitter Inc.

Washington Nationals

Wells Fargo & Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Central Intelligence Agency

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Dallas County, Texas

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Judicial Center

Federal Trade Commission

Florida Supreme Court

Food and Drug Administration

Internal Revenue Service

Joint Committee on Taxation

Los Angeles Superior Court

Manhattan District Attorney's Office

New Jersey Supreme Court

New York Attorney General's Office

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Tax Court