Fintech

February 26, 2025
2nd Circ. Won't Revive Federal Claims In Uniswap Crypto Suit

The Second Circuit affirmed Wednesday that Uniswap Labs and its venture capital backers can't be held liable under federal securities law for the sale of so-called scam tokens on the decentralized Uniswap exchange, but directed the New York federal judge who tossed the buyers' suit to take another look at their state law claims.
February 26, 2025
GOP-Led House Panel Pushes Easier Rules On Capital Raising

A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee invited input Wednesday on a slew of deregulatory bills that seek to ease rules governing private and public securities offerings, drawing plaudits from the Republican majority and mixed responses from Democrats.
February 26, 2025
Banks' Fight Over CFPB Open Banking Rule Put On Pause

A Kentucky federal judge agreed Tuesday to pause a banking industry challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's open banking rule, giving the agency's new leadership time to review what it wants to do with the Biden-era measure.
February 26, 2025
JPMorgan Paying For Lawyers On Both Sides Of Javice Trial

JPMorgan Chase, the bank allegedly duped by Frank founder Charlie Javice into paying $175 million for her education startup, is paying legal fees for defense counsel as well as for lawyers representing prosecution witnesses, according to statements in court Wednesday.
February 26, 2025
Bradley Arant Hires SEC Enforcement Trial Atty In DC

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired a government investigations partner in Washington, D.C., with more than a decade of experience at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prosecuting and probing a range of fraud.
February 25, 2025
FBI Came For Abramoff Asking About Russian Spy-Linked Pal

Disgraced lobbyist and government witness Jack Abramoff told jurors Tuesday during his cross-examination at the fraud trial of a cryptocurrency company founder he worked for that the FBI initially approached him in 2018 with questions about his connection to a conservative operative once linked to a Russian agent.
February 25, 2025
Binance Can't Evade Terror Victims' Suit, But It's Trimmed

The New York federal judge overseeing Hamas attack survivors' claims against Binance and its former CEO said on Tuesday that the defendants can't dodge the suit claiming they aided terrorist groups on a jurisdictional basis, but said some of the plaintiffs are not closely related enough to the victims to bring claims under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
February 25, 2025
GreenSky Loan Class Action Certified In Calif. Court

A California federal judge has granted class certification to consumers suing GreenSky Inc. over alleged unlawful loan transaction fees, finding that expert analysis showed merchants likely passed these fees onto borrowers, but also granted summary judgment to the lending company on claims related to performance fees over the lack of evidence that consumers had to pay them.
February 25, 2025
Trump Admin Says 'There Will Continue To Be A CFPB'

The Trump administration denied late Monday that it is planning to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, telling a D.C. federal judge that it had closed the agency's headquarters and benched employees instead partly due to their own "disruptive protests."
February 25, 2025
Block Considers NY Settlement Over Money-Laundering Curbs

Block Inc., the parent company of the peer-to-peer mobile payments platform Cash App and payments platform Square, is working to resolve allegations from New York state's financial regulator touching on its compliance with money-laundering restrictions, the company says.
February 25, 2025
Horse-Racing Co.'s 'Unregistered' NFTs Cost Gains, Suit Says

A nonfungible token project that once allowed users to invest in virtual versions of real-life racehorses is caught in a proposed class action from an investor who alleges that "Game of Silks" failed to register its tokens as securities and disclose key information to buyers before it collapsed.
February 25, 2025
Another Crypto Co. Says SEC Inquiry Ends Without Action

Decentralized finance platform Uniswap Labs announced Tuesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its multi-year investigation into the firm, marking the latest crypto business to claim the regulator is walking away without taking action.
February 25, 2025
Dem Commissioner To Leave CFTC Upon New Chair's Arrival

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Christy Goldsmith Romero said Tuesday afternoon that she plans to exit the agency as soon as Congress confirms the appointment of a new chair, likely leaving the financial markets regulator with only a single Democrat overseeing its activities.
February 25, 2025
SEC's Small Biz Panel Seeks Relief For Venture Funds

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission advisory group is recommending the agency ease rules to allow qualifying venture funds to attract more investors without registering with the SEC, hoping to bolster capital available to small businesses.
February 25, 2025
Referral Co. Barred From $5.54B Swipe Fee MDL Settlement

A New York federal judge has blocked a referral partner of a claims filing service from any role in the $5.54 billion settlement of long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees, after the referral partner allegedly improperly used class member information to submit claims.
February 24, 2025
FDIC Scraps 10th Circ. Brief Backing Colo.'s Opt-Out Law

In a pivot, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Monday withdrew a Tenth Circuit brief that had supported Colorado in industry litigation against the state's "opt-out" law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending.
February 24, 2025
Lobbyist Abramoff Testifies At Fraud Trial Against Crypto CEO

Disgraced Washington, D.C., power broker Jack Abramoff told jurors on Monday that he participated in a conspiracy with the founder of an "anti-money laundering" cryptocurrency company accused of bilking investors out of $5 million, testifying remotely due to a recent cancer diagnosis.
February 24, 2025
Patent Eligibility Appeals 'Will Not Go Away,' Justices Told

Another plea to hear a patent eligibility case has been lodged at the U.S. Supreme Court, this time in an amicus brief from the owner of two invalidated patents covering medical machinery that warned "the problem will not go away. The problem will get worse and worse."
February 24, 2025
SEC Crypto Task Force Wants Input, Commissioner Says

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce urged firms to bring their input to her Crypto Task Force in a Friday statement that outlined a series of questions the group is grappling with, including the taxonomy of tokens.
February 24, 2025
Robinhood, OpenSea Say SEC Closed Crypto Inquiries

Robinhood said Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "has officially closed" an investigation into its cryptocurrency arm without any enforcement action, joining a growing number of crypto matters the SEC has dropped or paused under the new Trump administration.
February 24, 2025
Tax Software Co. Says Rival Is The Real Trade Secrets Thief

Corporate-focused tax preparation software company Avalara, accused by Vertex Inc. of poaching workers to steal trade secrets, has asked to file counterclaims, arguing Vertex has actually done the illegal poaching.
February 24, 2025
SEC Could Loosen Income Limits On Startup Investments

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting chairman said Monday that the agency is looking at a number of changes aimed at freeing up capital for investment, including the possibility of allowing lower- and middle-income Americans to invest in private, early-stage companies.
February 24, 2025
Crypto Exchange OKX To Pay $504M For Allowing Illicit Deeds

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX on Monday agreed to pay $504 million in a deal with New York federal prosecutors who said the company ran afoul of U.S. anti-money laundering rules and allowed its platform to be used for more than $5 billion worth of suspicious transactions.
February 24, 2025
Venable Litigator Jumps To Steptoe In California

Steptoe LLP continues growing its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Venable LLP commercial trial lawyer as a partner in its Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.
February 21, 2025
CFPB's Data Security In Spotlight After Agency Goes Dark

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's de facto shutdown following the arrival of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is raising concerns that sensitive data inside the agency could be exposed or exploited. Experts say financial institutions should take note.

Expert Analysis

Series

NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

In 2024's final quarter, the New York State Department of Financial Services published guidance on mitigating the rising cybersecurity risks of artificial intelligence and remote technology workers with North Korean ties, and the state attorney general launched an antitrust investigation into Capital One's proposed Discover merger, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
Series

Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.
Takeaways From SEC's Mixed Results In '24 Crypto Litigation

Though the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new leadership seems likely to create a more favorable cryptocurrency regulatory environment, it must also confront the consequences of, and lingering questions raised by, the SEC's 2024 policy of investigating and charging cryptocurrency trading platforms for operating unregistered exchanges, say attorneys at Dechert.
Series

In The CFPB Playbook: A Sprint To The Finish Line

The fourth quarter of 2024 was an impressive demonstration of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ability to regulate, enforce and supervise, even on borrowed time following the election results, and we should expect the current bureau to run nonstop until Jan. 20, say attorneys at Covington.
7 Pitfalls To Watch In Tech Referral Fee Programs

The recent attempt by FluidStack to recover $10 million in referral fees allegedly promised by software vendor Denvr Dataworks should alert potential participants in so-called partnership programs to seven signs that a proposed technology referral agreement may not equally benefit all sides, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.
Predicting What's Next For SEC By Looking At Past Dissents

While Paul Atkins' nomination to be the next chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken center stage, an analysis of Republican Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda's past votes and dissents provides a preview of where enforcement may shift in the new administration, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
What 2024's Noncompete Turmoil Means For Banks In 2025

A look back at the most significant legal challenges to the enforceability of various restrictive covenants like noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements in 2024 can help financial institutions address the use of these critical tools this year, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
New Year, New Risks: 8 Top Cyber Issues For Finance In 2025

As financial institutions forge ahead in 2025, they must strike a delicate balance between embracing technological innovation and guarding against its darker threats, which this year could include everything from supply chain vulnerabilities to deepfakes, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
5th Circ.'s Nasdaq Ruling Another Piece In DEI Policy Puzzle

The Fifth Circuit's recent en banc opinion vacating Nasdaq's board diversity listing rule wades into the hotly debated topic of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at a time when many public companies are navigating the attention that DEI commitments are drawing from activists and shareholders, say attorneys at Debevoise.
Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
Lessons From The SEC's 2024 Crackdown On AI Washing

AI washing was the subject of increased scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024 following a surge in the commercial adoption of generative artificial intelligence technologies in 2023, highlighting the importance of transparency, accuracy and accountability when communicating about AI, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
The Securities Litigation Trends That Will Matter Most In 2025

2025 is shaping up to be a significant year for securities litigation, as plaintiffs and defendants alike navigate shifting standards for omission theories of liability, class certification, risk disclosure claims and more, say attorneys at Willkie.
Predicting The Lasting Changes CFPB May Face In 2025

President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming Republican-controlled Congress' likely attempts to reshape the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could significantly alter its rulemaking, supervisory and enforcement abilities for years to come, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.