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Fintech
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October 28, 2024
$4M Settlement Over NBA-Themed NFTs Gets Final OK
A New York federal judge on Monday granted final approval to a $4 million settlement between the firm behind NBA-focused non-fungible tokens and a class of purchasers who accused the digital assets company of selling the tokens as unregistered securities, and awarded roughly a third of the settlement fund in attorney fees.
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October 28, 2024
Cleary Adds Northern Calif. Deputy Criminal Chief As Partner
The deputy chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California has joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP's Bay Area office as a partner in the Americas litigation practice, the firm said Monday.
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October 25, 2024
Alibaba Agrees To $433.5M Deal In Nearly 4-Year Investor Suit
Alibaba Group has agreed to shell out $433.5 million to resolve a proposed class of investors' allegations it made misstatements about its exclusivity practices and the planned $34 billion initial public offering of a fintech affiliate, the Chinese e-commerce company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.
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October 25, 2024
Crypto Rapidly Transforming IRS Criminal Cases, Agent Says
Cryptocurrency is altering the size of many criminal cases that federal law enforcement agencies are handling, an Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator told the UCLA Tax Controversy Conference, commenting that over the past three years the agency broke its record for asset seizures three times.
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October 25, 2024
Sports Co. Says SEC's $4M Damages Bid Spells Disaster
A multimillion-dollar securities fraud judgment against two companies linked to a virtual sports trading platform would be disastrous for the already-struggling organizations, their attorney argued before a D.C. federal judge Friday.
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October 25, 2024
'Open AI' TM Owner Asks 9th Circ. To Nix Injunction
A man accused by OpenAI of preventing the ChatGPT-maker from registering its name as a trademark urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to vacate an injunction blocking him from using the "Open AI" mark while his case is pending, arguing he's the mark's senior holder and calling the injunction "extraordinary and unprecedented."
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October 25, 2024
FTX Reaches $228M Deal With Crypto Co. Bybit
The FTX bankruptcy estate reached a deal worth about $228 million to resolve its lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Bybit and the firm's investment arm, Mirana Corp., that alleged they unfairly jumped the line to withdraw funds during FTX's meltdown in late 2022 and held the estate's own funds hostage.
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October 25, 2024
SEC's Crypto Mining Case Belongs In 10th Circ., Court Hears
A Utah man accused of defrauding crypto mining investors out of $18 million is hoping for an opportunity to have his case heard before the Tenth Circuit, arguing that the mining equipment is not a security and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should be forced to drop the suit.
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October 25, 2024
Pa. House Advances State Bill To Protect Crypto Payments
Pennsylvania's House of Representatives advanced a bill that would codify businesses' and individuals' ability to accept digital assets as payment, maintain personal control over their digital assets and protect them from additional taxes when paying in crypto.
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October 24, 2024
Bank Groups Appeal Loss In Suit Over CFPB Small Biz Rules
Lender trade groups that sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over its reporting requirements for small businesses have appealed to the Fifth Circuit after a Texas federal judge granted the bureau's request for summary judgment in August.
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October 24, 2024
FINRA Says Its Regs Apply To Metaverse, Seeks Comments
Broker-dealers and other firms that are weighing incorporating the metaverse into their business operations should be mindful of how Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rules apply to such activities and reach out with any concerns about regulatory ambiguities, the regulator said Thursday.
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October 24, 2024
CFPB Cautions Over 'Unchecked Surveillance' Of Workers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it is taking action to protect consumers from "unchecked surveillance" in the labor force, issuing guidance that warns companies to get consent from workers when using algorithmic hiring scores or other outside profiling data for employment purposes.
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October 24, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms Dismissal Of Crypto Theft Coverage
The Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling that an individual's homeowners policy didn't cover his loss of $170,000 in cryptocurrency to an alleged scam, agreeing with a Virginia federal court that the loss didn't constitute a "direct physical loss."
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October 24, 2024
Feds Ask To Adjourn Trial For Crypto Maven After He Flees
Prosecutors asked a Brooklyn federal judge to push back the trial date for a German cryptocurrency firm founder who they said tampered with his ankle monitor and absconded while out on bail on investor fraud charges.
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October 24, 2024
FINRA Fines Broker Over Securities Lending Algorithm Issues
Interactive Brokers LLC has agreed to a $475,000 fine from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to resolve alleged issues with its securities lending algorithm that resulted in the firm returning borrowed shares to customers when it should not have and for allegedly allowing an unregistered person to work on the algorithm's software development.
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October 24, 2024
Nigeria Frees Binance Exec Detained Over Money Laundering
Nigeria's government released a top executive at cryptocurrency exchange Binance whom the government had been holding liable for money laundering charges against the company, the U.S. government and the exchange's CEO said Thursday.
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October 24, 2024
Feds Want Leniency For Key Witness At Bankman-Fried Trial
Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge for leniency when sentencing a former FTX executive who they said provided "substantial" assistance and testimony in the successful prosecution of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange's founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
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October 24, 2024
Crowe & Dunlevy Hires Oklahoma City IP Law Professor
Crowe & Dunlevy has picked up a politically ambitious intellectual property professor from Oklahoma City University School of Law who has previously worked as a litigator for nonpracticing entities and as a patent examiner.
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October 23, 2024
Crypto Co. Tron, Founder Can't Shake Investor Suit Over ICO
Blockchain firm Tron Foundation and its founder Justin Sun on Wednesday partially lost their bid to dismiss a shareholder suit alleging they sold unregistered tokens in a 2017 initial coin offering, with a New York federal judge ruling the claims have enough of a connection to New York to proceed.
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October 23, 2024
Co. Misleads Claimants About Visa Mastercard MDL, Attys Say
Class counsel for plaintiffs in long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees asked a New York federal judge to demand explanations from a third-party company over misleading statements it allegedly made regarding the claims-submission process for recovering settlement payments.
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October 23, 2024
SEC Says Kraken Can't Get Quick Appeal Of Dismissal Denial
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said cryptocurrency exchange Kraken shouldn't get a quick review of its failed bid to dismiss the regulator's registration suit because the firm's "reinterpretation" of how securities laws apply to digital assets has been broadly rejected by district courts.
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October 23, 2024
Patent Owner Fed Up With Fed. Circ's 1-Word Decisions
A patent owner has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit's one-word decision affirming summary judgment in favor of TD Ameritrade in a high-stakes patent fight, saying the appellate court is routinely and summarily affirming orders that ignore factual disputes in patent cases, without explanation.
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October 23, 2024
CFPB's Chopra Touts Open Banking Rule After Industry Rips It
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra on Wednesday promoted his agency's new open banking rule to a fintech audience amid stiff opposition from banks, saying "incumbents" can't be allowed to box out the competition that expanded financial data-sharing will enable.
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October 23, 2024
NY AG Probes Capital One's Planned $35B Discover Merger
New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined federal regulators in investigating Capital One Financial Corp.'s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services, according to a Wednesday subpoena petition alleging the deal might violate Empire State antitrust laws.
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October 23, 2024
Ex-SEC Atty, Fintech GC Joins Stradling's Securities Team
Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC has added a former fintech general counsel and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, reinforcing the firm's offerings for companies facing enforcement investigations or grappling with other compliance issues.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
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Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion
Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.
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How Transaction Lookbacks Can Guide Fintech Companies
As transaction lookbacks continue to be a key focus of enforcement actions, newer financial institutions like fintech companies should know they can benefit from proactively investigating their potential failure to identify suspicious activity, creating a compliance road map and building trust with regulators in the process, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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Roundup
A Day In The In-House Life
As more attorneys make the jump to fintech companies, and the regulatory landscape continues to shift, this Expert Analysis series follows in-house fintech counsel on an average workday as they grapple with everything from regulatory challenges and product launches to work-life balance and lunch orders.
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Series
A Day In The In-House Life: Narmi GC Talks Peak Productivity
On a work-from-home day in August, Narmi general counsel Amy Pardee chronicles a typical day in her life in which she organizes her time to tackle everything from advising on products and contract negotiations to volunteering and catching up on the New York Times crossword.
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Opinion
CFPB's AI Stance Backslides On Innovation Issues
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent response to a Treasury Department's request for information about artificial intelligence in the financial services sector uses alarmist rhetoric about the technology's risks, ceding an opportunity to help shape this important discussion, says Mike Silver at Husch Blackwell.
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How Ripple Final Judgment Fits In Broader Crypto Landscape
The Southern District of New York's recent $125 million civil penalty levied in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple will have a broad impact on the crypto industry as it was the first to hold that blind sales of digital assets are not securities, even if deemed securities in other circumstances, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.
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The Bank Preemption Ripple Effects After Cantero, Flagstar
The importance of federal preemption for financial institutions will only increase as technology-driven innovations evolve, which is why the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cantero v. Bank of America and vacatur of Kivett v. Flagstar Bank have real modern-day significance for national banks, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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Series
Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer
My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.