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Capital Markets
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September 20, 2024
Judge Won't Toss Fraud Suit Against Crypto-Forex Co. Execs
A Florida judge decided that the CEO and a founding shareholder of purported foreign exchange currency broker FxWinning Ltd. have sufficient ties to Florida to keep them among the defendants of a suit alleging the business and its operators perpetrated a multimillion-dollar fraud.
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September 20, 2024
NFT Buyers Bring Securities Suit Against Crypto Co. OpenSea
Two Florida users of OpenSea hit the nonfungible token marketplace with a proposed securities class action claiming the assets the users bought on the platform are unregistered investment contracts in light of recent court decisions and regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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September 20, 2024
IPO Trio Looks To Raise $536M Combined As Autumn Begins
Three companies spanning the energy, healthcare and life sciences industries are preparing initial public offerings that could raise $536 million combined in the coming week, guided by six law firms, signaling an upturn in IPOs as autumn begins.
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September 20, 2024
Agriculture Tech Biz's $147M SPAC Merger Is Scrapped
Miami-headquartered special purpose acquisition company Agrinam Acquisition Corp. and Boston-based agricultural technology company Freight Farms Inc. have nixed their merger plans that would have seen Freight Farms go public at a market capitalization of around $147 million.
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September 20, 2024
Fed's Surprise Rate Cut Gives M&A Markets Needed Relief
Mergers and acquisitions activity is inextricably linked to borrowing costs, which means the Federal Reserve's larger than expected half-point interest rate cut could provide just the type of relief dealmakers need for a significant rebound, attorneys say.
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September 20, 2024
US Chamber Warns Del. Justices On TC Energy Case Fallout
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned Delaware's Supreme Court Friday of "detrimental and expensive consequences" from an unprecedented, $199 million damages ruling against TransCanada Corp. last year for aiding seller fiduciary breaches in its $13 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Corp.
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September 20, 2024
2 SEC Commissioners Object To Whistleblower Award Secrecy
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioners Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce have objected to the agency's recent decision to hand out a total of $122 million in two awards to four whistleblowers and issued a statement taking issue with the regulator's policy of saying little to nothing about why the rewards are issued.
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September 20, 2024
Silvergate Wants Activist Investor's Board Seat Play Blocked
The parent company of Silvergate Bank, a defunct bank that catered to the cryptocurrency industry, has asked the judge in its Delaware bankruptcy case to help head off what it described as an activist investor's effort to score a seat on the debtor's board so he can try to secure a payout for shareholders who are set to receive nothing under a Chapter 11 plan.
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September 19, 2024
CFTC Warns Of 'Profound' Harm In Election Betting Appeal
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission fought Thursday to prevent an online trading platform from offering betting on election outcomes while the agency appeals a trial court ruling that allowed the futures contracts to go live, warning the D.C. Circuit that the "high-stakes" event contracts threaten serious harm to election integrity.
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September 19, 2024
Crypto Exchange Must Refund Bitcoins, But In 2013 Dollars
A New York judge held Thursday that bygone cryptocurrency exchange Bitfloor improperly failed to return more than 200 of its customers' bitcoins upon shutting down in 2013, but said damages will be limited to the dollar value of the digital assets over a decade ago.
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September 19, 2024
Judge Gives Dow Jones Win In Article Thievery Case
A Texas federal judge has handed a win to publisher Dow Jones & Co. in a copyright infringement suit accusing an investment manager of wrongfully copying and distributing thousands of news articles from The Wall Street Journal.
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September 19, 2024
Halted DOL Fiduciary Regs Could Open Lane For SEC Action
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission might need to help clear up confusion about fiduciary investment advice standards in the wake of two Texas judges halting new retirement security regulations from the Labor Department, members of an SEC investor advisory committee said Thursday.
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September 19, 2024
No Coverage For Santander Shareholder Suit, Allianz Says
Allianz told a Massachusetts federal court that it doesn't owe coverage to Santander Holdings for an underlying class action brought by shareholders over the company's $2.5 billion deal to take its consumer finance entity private, arguing that multiple exclusions bar coverage for claims arising from the transaction.
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September 19, 2024
Weil Continues Building Funds Group With Ex-Goodwin Atty
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP announced the fourth addition to its private funds group over the past several months, welcoming a former Goodwin Procter LLP partner to its New York office.
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September 19, 2024
Feds Oppose Overturning Guilty Verdict For Crypto Trader
Federal prosecutors told a New York federal judge that the crypto trader convicted of fraudulently draining more than $100 million from platform Mango Markets is wrongly attempting to recast factual issues as legal questions in his bid for acquittal.
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September 19, 2024
Pink Floyd, NFL And PE Take Limelight In Latest Deal Rumors
Sony Music could be on the verge of paying roughly $500 million for the rights to music recorded by Pink Floyd, and NFL teams including the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers are exploring options to sell stakes to private equity firms. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
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September 18, 2024
SEC Says Unregistered DeFi Project Pooled $1B In Crypto
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced settlements with the business and co-founders behind decentralized finance, or DeFi, project Rari Capital Inc. on Wednesday after the regulator accused the project of misleading investors and acting as an unregistered broker.
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September 18, 2024
PureCycle Investors Seek Final OK Of $12M Settlement
Investors in plastic recycling company PureCycle have asked a Florida federal judge to grant final approval to a $12 million deal to end a proposed class action alleging the company misled shareholders about its technology, financial projections and access to raw materials, roughly two years after the court temporarily tossed it for being imprecise.
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September 18, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Upholds Oxy's $38M Win Over Wells Fargo Bank
A split Fifth Circuit panel upheld a $38 million judgment against Wells Fargo in a published opinion Wednesday, affirming that the bank breached its trustee duties by failing to timely sell Occidental Petroleum Corp. stock and is judicially estopped from arguing that the trust agreement was not a contract.
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September 18, 2024
SEC Must Clarify Murky Crypto Rules, Ex-Officials Tell House
Two former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials who now represent crypto businesses told House lawmakers Wednesday that the agency's insistence on analyzing the economic realities of every crypto transaction in lieu of clear rulemaking has put the sector and its attorneys in unworkable situations.
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September 18, 2024
FTX Auditor Prager Metis Settles SEC Charges For Negligence
The former auditor of Sam Bankman-Fried's defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX agreed Tuesday to pay $1.95 million to resolve allegations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of misconduct in FTX audits and, in a separate case, violations of auditor independence rules.
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September 18, 2024
Loper Bright Undercuts SEC Climate Rule, Fracking Cos. Say
Two fracking companies suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its climate disclosure rules have again urged the Eighth Circuit to vacate the measures, offering a diverging interpretation of how the U.S. Supreme Court's decision axing Chevron deference should apply.
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September 18, 2024
SEC Files Its 1st Suits Over 'Pig Butchering' Crypto Scams
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed two first-of-their-kind suits against a series of entities and individuals behind a pair of so-called pig butchering schemes that allegedly solicited investments in fake crypto platforms by gaining people's trust over social media only to scam them out of nearly $3 million.
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September 18, 2024
Fed's Powell Sees Final Basel Rule Less Than 1 Year Away
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that a revamped version of the Basel III endgame capital rules for big banks could be finalized before next summer, adding that the federal banking agencies will be "moving together" as the controversial rulemaking project enters its next phase.
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September 18, 2024
SEC Settles Latest Covington Info Theft Case For $33K
A New Jersey man will pay a $33,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading on confidential merger tips that his cousin stole from a Covington & Burling LLP lawyer, according to a settlement filed in New York federal court on Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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What To Know As CFPB Late Fee Rule Hangs In Limbo
Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final credit card late fee rule faces an uncertain future due to litigation involving injunctions, emergency petitions and now a venue dispute, card issuers must understand how to navigate the interim period and what to do if the rule takes effect, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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A Deep Dive Into The Evolving World Of ESG Ratings
Attorneys at Mintz discuss the salience of environmental, social and governance ratings in corporate circles in recent years, and consider certain methodologies underlying their calculation for professionals, as well as issues concerning the ESG ratings and products themselves.
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What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms
The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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Unlocking Blockchain Opportunities Amid Legal Uncertainty
Dozens of laws and legal precedents will come into the fore as Web3, metaverse and non-fungible tokens gain momentum, so organizations need to design their programs with a broader view of potential exposures — and opportunities, say Teresa Goody Guillén and Robert Musiala at BakerHostetler and Steve McNew at FTI Consulting.
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Adopting 7 Principles May Improve Voluntary Carbon Markets
The Biden administration's recently issued joint policy statement on improving the integrity of voluntary carbon markets may help companies using carbon credits to offset their emissions withstand scrutiny by government agencies, the public and investors, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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What The NYSE Proposed Delisting Rule Could Mean For Cos.
The New York Stock Exchange's recently proposed rule would provide the exchange with discretionary authority to commence delisting proceedings for a company substantially shifting its primary business focus, raising concerns for NYSE-listed companies over the exact definition of the exchange's proposed "substantially different" standard, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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Debate Over CFPB Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.
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Key Takeaways From 2024 Accountants' Liability Conference
At the recent annual Accountants' Liability Conference, regulators provided important commentary on new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board rulemaking and standard-setting initiatives, and emphasized regulatory priorities ranging from the tone at the top to alternative practice structures, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule
A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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Parsing Controversial Del. General Corporation Law Proposals
In response to issues raised in three recent high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery decisions, many amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law were quickly proposed that, if enacted, would bring significant changes likely to be hotly debated — and litigated — for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps
The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.