Capital Markets

  • June 13, 2024

    Biden Picks CFTC's Goldsmith Romero For FDIC Chair

    The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden will nominate Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democratic member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, for the top job at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

  • June 12, 2024

    Oppenheimer, Cybersecurity Co. Settle $12M SPAC Bill Spat

    Oppenheimer & Co. and an Israeli cybersecurity company have reached a settlement to end claims that the company refused to pay $12 million in fees for SPAC merger-related services the investment bank provided, according to a New York federal court filing made Wednesday.

  • June 12, 2024

    'Tiger-Wolf' Trader Cops To Wire Fraud For $700K Scheme

    A 26-year-old Charlotte man on Wednesday pled guilty to federal prosecutors' claims that he defrauded over 100 would-be investors in his purported hedge fund, Tiger-Wolf Capital LLC, spending much of their money on his own lavish lifestyle.

  • June 12, 2024

    1st Circ. Finds PREPA Bondholders Have $8.5B In Valid Liens

    The First Circuit said Wednesday that bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority have valid liens worth $8.5 billion on the revenue of the utility, reversing a lower court's ruling but leaving it up to the bankruptcy court to determine what effect that has on the restructuring plan.

  • June 12, 2024

    Wells Fargo Accused Of Mismanaging Forfeited 401(k) Funds

    A former Wells Fargo employee hit the San Francisco-based bank with a proposed class action in California federal court Tuesday, alleging Wells Fargo and its fiduciaries violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by using forfeited retirement funds to reduce its own contributions to other workers' 401(k)s.

  • June 12, 2024

    SPAC Dealmakers Expect Modest Pickup After Market Bottom

    Market professionals expect a slow pickup in deals involving special-purpose acquisition companies starting in the second half of 2024, predicting on Wednesday that a leaner market will emerge following the recent crash and imposition of tighter regulations.

  • June 12, 2024

    Directors Of Defunct Med Tech SPAC Seek Toss Of Del. Suit

    Directors of a special purpose acquisition company that merged with now-defunct medical technology company Better Therapeutics Inc. urged Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday to toss a shareholder's suit about the $15 million de-SPAC merger, saying it wasn't like other problematic SPAC deals.

  • June 12, 2024

    QuantumScape Shareholders Seek Initial OK For $47.5M Deal

    Investors of QuantumScape have asked a California federal judge to give the first green light to a $47.5 million settlement to end their class action suit, which alleged published articles revealed the company made false statements about the quality of its batteries and the tests it used to measure performance.

  • June 12, 2024

    Forte Biosciences Reaches $2M Deal To End Chancery Suit

    Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Forte Biosciences has reached a multipart, $2 million concession-plus-cash settlement in Delaware's Court of Chancery with a private investment fund that ran a board proxy contest after its calls to liquidate the business were met with poison pill pushback.

  • June 12, 2024

    Freshfields Adds Ex-Kirkland, Davis Polk Attys In New York

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP bolstered its corporate offerings in New York this week with M&A partner Joshua Ayal and capital markets partner Jacqueline Marino.

  • June 12, 2024

    Terraform To Settle With SEC For $4.5B After Fraud Trial

    Crypto firm Terraform Labs has agreed to a $4.47 billion settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after a Manhattan jury found the firm and its founder Do Kwon liable for fraud in April.

  • June 12, 2024

    GameStop Raises More Than $2.1B In Share Sale

    GameStop Corp. has raised over $2.1 billion as part of a share sale, with plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes such as future acquisitions or investments.

  • June 12, 2024

    Property Investor Special Opportunities Scraps IPO Plans

    Special Opportunities REIT said on Wednesday its planned listing on the London Stock Exchange's standard segment has failed after the U.K. property investor was unable to raise the minimum £250 million ($321 million) needed to proceed with the float.

  • June 11, 2024

    Martin Shkreli Told To Hand Over Wu-Tang Album

    A New York federal judge ordered Martin Shkreli on Tuesday to hand over any copies he might have of the Wu-Tang Clan's album he once bought before it was sold off by the federal government to settle a $7.3 million tab from Shkreli's criminal judgment on securities fraud.

  • June 11, 2024

    2nd Circ. Cites Macquarie In Booting Suit Over Go-Private Deal

    The Second Circuit refused to revive a proposed class action accusing a real estate services provider of artificially depressing share prices, applying apparently for the first time the U.S. Supreme Court's Macquarie decision on alleged failures to disclose certain information.

  • June 11, 2024

    SIFMA, Missouri Seek Early End To Anti-ESG Rules Suit

    The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and Missouri state officials have filed dueling summary judgment bids in SIFMA's suit over the state's anti-ESG rules for brokers and advisers, with SIFMA claiming the rules violate the First Amendment, and both sides painting the issue as a matter of states' rights versus federal preemption.

  • June 11, 2024

    Fed's New Internal Trading Policy Full Of Loopholes, Sens. Say

    Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have called on Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell to repeal what they say is a "failed approach" to addressing allegedly illicit trading by Fed officials, saying the long-awaited policy is riddled with loopholes, contains weak penalties and requires no transparency for officials who violate the trading rules.

  • June 11, 2024

    Hedge Fund Anson Settles With SEC Over Cannabis Shorts

    The American and Canadian entities overseeing hedge fund Anson Funds agreed on Tuesday to pay $2.25 million to end a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into their allegedly hidden relationship with an activist investment firm that shorted a pair of cannabis stocks.

  • June 11, 2024

    HashiCorp Hit With Investor Suit Over $6.4B Sale To IBM

    Software company HashiCorp Inc. and its board members face an investor suit seeking to halt an upcoming shareholder vote on a proposed $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp by tech giant IBM, alleging the deal would unfairly benefit company insiders and hasn't been properly detailed in required filings.

  • June 11, 2024

    Travelers Says No Coverage For Investment Bank's Bond Row

    A Travelers unit said it doesn't owe directors and officers coverage to an investment bank accused of misleading bondholders into investing in a sports complex development project, telling an Illinois federal court the policy bars coverage for claims arising from the bank's performance of services for a client.

  • June 11, 2024

    Ex-Kirkland Partner Gets Second Term As PCAOB Chair

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday it has selected onetime Kirkland litigation partner and former Obama administration counsel Erica Y. Williams for a second term as chairperson of its Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, keeping her heading up the board through October 2029.

  • June 11, 2024

    Slow IPO Recovery Expected To Accelerate In 2025

    More companies are preparing initial public offerings even as the pace of new listings has been slower than anticipated, experts said Tuesday, signaling that an IPO recovery is likely to accelerate next year after investors sort out November election results.

  • June 11, 2024

    FINRA Fines Brokerage TradeZero Over 'Finfluencer' Promos

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined broker-dealer TradeZero America Inc. $250,000 for allegedly failing to properly supervise its influencer partners, who promoted the firm on their social media accounts.

  • June 11, 2024

    Ga. Justices Disbar Atty For Unlawful Disbursement Of $2M

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday disbarred an attorney who disbursed approximately $2 million of a digital asset trading company's funds, which had been intended for a bitcoin sale that never went through, into personal accounts controlled by her and her sister. 

  • June 11, 2024

    Uniswap Taps Coinbase Atty To Be CLO As SEC Fight Looms

    The firm behind decentralized marketplace Uniswap has brought on a senior Coinbase attorney and seasoned litigator to helm its legal operations as it stares down a potential enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • The Questions Around Prometheum's SEC-Compliant Strategy

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    While the rest of the crypto industry has been engaged in a long-running battle to escape the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's jurisdiction, a once-obscure startup called Prometheum has instead embraced the SEC's view to become the first crypto special-purpose broker-dealer, but it's unclear whether it can turn its favored status into a workable business, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Reverse Merger Tips For Biotechs After SEC's Recent Actions

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    Several recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission developments could limit the viability of reverse mergers for biotech companies, and will require additional creativity and analysis for private companies looking to go public, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Black-Led VC Fund Case Could Hinge On Nature Of Grants

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    Organizations whose missions involve any manner of race-conscious funding should closely monitor arguments this week in American Alliance v. Fearless Fund, a case filed against a grant program that seeks to address the gap in venture capital funding for Black women-led businesses, which will examine whether grants are charitable under Civil Rights Act Section 1981 liability, say Kali Schellenberg and John Stapleton at LeVan Stapleton, and Kenneth Trujillo at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.

  • Ex-OpenSea Staffer Case May Clarify When Info Is Property

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    In considering the appeal of a former OpenSea manager’s wire fraud conviction in U.S. v. Chastain, the Second Circuit may soon provide guidance about whether economic information is traditional property in certain insider trading prosecutions — a theory of fraud that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly narrowed, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Takeaways From SEC's Aggressive Cybersecurity Moves

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's intensifying policy on cybersecurity and securities violations in the wake of a data breach — like its enforcement action against SolarWinds and its security officer — has emboldened shareholders to file related suits, creating a heightened threat to public companies, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial

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    Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.

  • How Merck Settlement Can Inform Cyberinsurance Approach

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    This month's settlement in Merck v. ACE spotlights how cyber exclusions have evolved since the significant decision in the case — allowing for insurance coverage despite the presence of a policy war exclusion — and where else corporate risk managers may look for coverage in case of a cyberattack, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success

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    Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.

  • Series

    Competing In Triathlons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing law and competing in long-distance triathlons can make work and life feel unbalanced at times, participating in the sport has revealed important lessons about versatility, self-care and perseverance that apply to the office as much as they do the racecourse, says Laura Heusel at Butler Snow.

  • Where Justices Stand On Chevron Doctrine Post-Argument

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    Following recent oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four justices appear to be in favor of overturning the long-standing Chevron deference, and three justices seem ready to uphold it, which means the ultimate decision may rest on Chief Justice John Roberts' vote, say Wayne D'Angelo and Zachary Lee at Kelley Drye.

  • Perspectives

    6 Practice Pointers For Pro Bono Immigration Practice

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    An attorney taking on their first pro bono immigration matter may find the law and procedures beguiling, but understanding key deadlines, the significance of individual immigration judges' rules and specialized aspects of the practice can help avoid common missteps, says Steven Malm at Haynes Boone.

  • Lessons From Country Singer's Personal Service Saga

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    Recent reports that country singer Luke Combs won a judgment against a Florida woman who didn’t receive notice of the counterfeit suit against her should serve as a reminder for attorneys on best practices for effectuating service by electronic means, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Unpacking PCAOB's Sanctions Against China-Based Auditors

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    Following the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's first major enforcement actions against audit firms located in China and Hong Kong for violating quality control standards, China-based U.S. issuers should be prepared for more rigorous audits in the upcoming cycle, and for continuing strict scrutiny from the regulator, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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