Analysis

Buckle Up: CFPB's High Court Win Will Thaw Frozen Docket

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is walking away from the U.S. Supreme Court with its funding and rulebook intact, a victory that caps off years of constitutional wrangling over how the agency was set up and will usher in a wave of activity that has financial services attorneys bracing for impact.

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Analysis

Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.

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Justices Say CFPB Is Constitutionally Funded

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutionally funded, rejecting a payday lender-backed challenge that threatened to incapacitate the agency and throw a wrench in the Biden administration's financial regulatory agenda.

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FDIC's Gruenberg Scolded By Senators Over Agency Culture

By Katryna Perera

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg on Thursday faced a second round of congressional reprimand from both sides of the political aisle over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal, but Senate Democrats seemed ready to let Gruenberg clean up the mess himself and continue his tenure.

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Judge Questions Colo.'s Power Over Out-Of-State Banks

By Thy Vo

A Colorado federal judge on Thursday asked U.S. banking regulators why the state should be able to cap interest rates for loans made to residents by out-of-state financial institutions, questioning why it was "consistent with federalism" to let an individual state have that far of a reach.

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Conn. Justices Snatch Debt Collection Practice Of Law Case

By Emily Sawicki

The Connecticut Supreme Court has opted to hear a case that questions whether the state's banking commissioner or its judicial branch has the power to regulate debt collection activities that occur under the purview of law firms, leapfrogging the case over the state's intermediate appellate court and into the state's highest court.

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2nd Circ. Backs Win For Big Banks In Forex-Rigging Suit

By Elliot Weld

The Second Circuit on Thursday backed a ruling in favor of a group of large banks accused of conspiring to manipulate the foreign currency exchange market in euros and dollars, agreeing with a lower court that the plaintiffs hadn't made qualifying transactions or shown how prices were distorted.

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Senate Passes Bill To Block SEC Crypto Accounting Guidance

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to send a bill overturning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial crypto accounting guidance to the president's desk, though without the necessary votes to override the White House's planned veto.

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African Tax Admins Promote Use Of Voluntary Disclosures

By Jack McLoone

Voluntary disclosure programs have been very effective when countries launch them in anticipation of complying with an international standard on automatic exchanges of financial account information, the African Tax Administration Forum said Thursday in guidance on the programs.

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Biden Admin Proposes To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana

By Sam Reisman

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that his administration has formally recommended relaxing restrictions on marijuana, marking the most significant federal policy shift on cannabis since the drug was criminalized more than 50 years ago.

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Ex-Credit Union Worker Gets 3 Years After Copping To Fraud

By Emilie Ruscoe

A former employee of Indiana-based Financial Center First Credit Union employee faces nearly three years in prison and owes over $2 million after pleading guilty to financial institution fraud in connection with claims he received $100,000 in kickbacks after using his position to help unidentified accomplices siphon millions away from account holders.

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Ga. Judge Cites 'Exemplary Life' In 3-Year PPP Fraud Sentence

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia woman convicted earlier this year of helping to launder the proceeds of a pandemic loan fraud scheme was hit with a three-year prison sentence on Thursday by a federal judge, who noted the woman has otherwise led an "exemplary life," warranting a sentence lower than what prosecutors had sought.

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Bitcoin ATM Operator Ran Illegal Money Transmitter, Jury Says

By Aislinn Keely

A New York state jury has convicted the operator of a network of bitcoin kiosks that allegedly catered to criminal activity of operating an unlicensed money transmitter and tax fraud, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

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Ex-Minn. Public Defender Gets Probation For Tax Fraud

By Asha Glover

A former Minneapolis chief public defender who argued that he should receive a lenient sentence after resigning in disgrace amid accusations that he failed to pay taxes for years on his private law firm was sentenced to three years probation by a Minnesota federal court.

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BofA Customers Get Final OK For $8M Deal In ACH Fee Suit

By Sydney Price

A North Carolina federal judge has granted final approval to an $8 million settlement for Bank of America customers who claim they were unfairly charged fees for Automated Clearing House transfers.

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MoneyLion Beats Investor Suit Over Reverse Stock Split

By Sydney Price

A New York federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by shareholders of digital finance platform MoneyLion, who allege the company and its directors approved a reverse stock split that stripped preferred shareholders of their rights, saying the investors should have known the consequences of the vote.

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Ex-Execs Accuse Truist Of Hijacking Control Of Mortgage Unit

By Hayley Fowler

Three former executives who spearheaded the real estate finance arm of Truist Financial Corp. before they left for a competitor are countersuing the bank for allegedly usurping control of the business, saying Truist then tried forcing them out to skirt paying severance.

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Colombian Consumer Lender Hits Ch. 11 To Trim $55M Of Debt

By Clara Geoghegan

Colombian consumer lending giant Credivalores-Crediservicios filed for bankruptcy in New York on Thursday, with a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan to cut $55 million from its balance sheet and emerge from bankruptcy next month.

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Haynes Boone Adds Sheppard Mullin RE Finance Pro In Calif.

By James Mills

Haynes and Boone LLP continues to grow its Orange County office, announcing Wednesday that a Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP real estate finance ace is joining the office in Costa Mesa, California, as a partner.

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Novel Applications May Fizzle After Fed Master Account Wins

Two recent federal court rulings that upheld decisions denying master account applications from two fintech-focused banks are noteworthy for depository institutions with novel charters that wish to have direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment channels and settle transactions in central bank money, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

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BCLP Sues St. Louis Over City Taxes On Partners' Income

By Kevin Penton

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is suing St. Louis, Missouri, after the Midwestern city accused the firm of being delinquent on nearly $275,000 in earnings taxes, contending the municipality unlawfully taxed partners who don't live in the city, according to its court filing.

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Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

By Ryan Boysen

The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

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'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross

By Frank G. Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.

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Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Stewart Bishop

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 ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.

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Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment

By Anna Scott Farrell

Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.

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Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

By Andrew Karpan

An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

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Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.

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Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

By Carla Baranauckas

Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

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Judge Calls Out 'Cancel Culture' In Prof's Suit Against Penn

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge said University of Pennsylvania leaders embraced "cancel culture" when they chastised an anthropology professor for handling remains from the 1985 MOVE house bombing in Philadelphia, allowing the professor's defamation case against the school to move forward.

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$2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'

By Bryan Koenig

Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."

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Roche Freedman Gets Split Ruling On Witnesses In Atty's Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A New York federal judge has issued a split decision on witness testimony in a dispute over the litigation boutique formerly called Roche Freedman.

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11th Circ. Tries To Untangle Aftermath Of Judge's Early Exit

By Ivan Moreno

An Eleventh Circuit panel on Thursday quizzed attorneys for rival breeders of disease-resistant shrimp about whether a $10 million trade-secrets jury verdict should be overturned after a federal magistrate judge presided over the trial's ending because a federal district judge had to catch a flight, with one of the panel judges saying the parties had been put "in a very difficult position."

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6th Circ. Still Won't Rethink Sanctions Against Trump Attys

By Henrik Nilsson

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday once again denied a bid from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys to reconsider sanctions issued against them after they challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan, holding that the attorneys must seek permission for future filings given their history of "meritless motions."

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