Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Fintech
-
June 07, 2024
Connecticut Man Ran Illegal $1M Crypto Exchange, Feds Say
A 55-year-old Connecticut man is accused of ignoring warnings and operating an unlicensed exchange that charged fees for converting more than $1 million in cash, checks and money orders into cryptocurrency without a required license from the state banking commissioner, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
-
June 07, 2024
Coinbase, Kraken Profit Off Crypto Scams, Suit Says
Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase Inc. and Kraken face a pair of lawsuits filed by a former customer who accused them of using their platforms to attract scammers and victims to make a profit by taking operating fees.
-
June 07, 2024
GOP Sens. Look To Sanction ICC Over Netanyahu Warrant
Following the House's passage of a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Senate Republicans are pushing for their chamber to follow the House's lead.
-
June 07, 2024
Emboldened SEC Spells Double Trouble For Defense Bar
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division has taken an increasingly aggressive stance in recent years thanks in part to an influx of federal prosecutors joining the agency and court decisions that have gradually become more permissive on parallel civil and criminal investigations, defense lawyers say.
-
June 07, 2024
Ex-Director In NYC Mayor's Office Charged With Bank Fraud
A former director in the New York City Mayor's Office during the Bill de Blasio administration has been indicted on charges that he schemed to defraud over a dozen banks out of about $10 million using illegitimate fraud reports to induce reimbursements.
-
June 06, 2024
Treasury Eyes AI As OCC Chief Calls For More 'Accountability'
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday launched an inquiry into the rollout of artificial intelligence in financial services, a move that came as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's acting chief cautioned that a Wall Street "nightmare" scenario involving the technology "seems uncomfortably plausible."
-
June 06, 2024
Fintech Lender Ran 'Bait & Switch' With Borrowers, Suit Says
Fintech company Figure Lending LLC faces a proposed class action alleging its home equity lines of credit are actually intentionally mislabeled home equity loans with higher interest rates and fees.
-
June 06, 2024
NY AG Says $1B Crypto Pyramid Scheme Targeted Immigrants
The New York Attorney General's Office on Thursday accused a digital assets trading firm, its founders and an affiliated crypto mining firm of running a billion-dollar pyramid scheme that defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors, many of whom are members of Haitian and other immigrant communities.
-
June 06, 2024
Kwok's 'Whole Movement Is A Scam,' Ex-Fundraiser Tells Jury
A former top deputy in exiled Chinese billionaire Ho Wan Kwok's anti-Chinese Communist Party movement testified in Manhattan federal court this week that she raised millions of investor dollars out of a deep belief in the cause, but has since realized the entire enterprise was a "scam."
-
June 06, 2024
'Brussels Effect' Of EU's AI Act Is Uncertain, Legal Pros Say
BigLaw attorneys advising international clients on the European Union's AI Act tell Law360 there are significant uncertainties over vague terms in the 458-page statute, how its steep eight-figure fines will be enforced, and whether it will set a new standard globally as part of the "Brussels effect."
-
June 06, 2024
Aquiline Secures More Than $3.4B Across 2 New Funds
Financial services-focused private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners LP on Thursday announced that it garnered more than $3.4 billion of capital across its two latest funds, a financial services-focused private equity fund and a continuation fund.
-
June 06, 2024
Latham Leads Robinhood In $200M Buy Of Crypto Exchange
Robinhood said on Thursday that it will buy cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for approximately $200 million, as the electronic trading platform looks to scale up its global services for digital assets.
-
June 05, 2024
Tokenizing Real Assets Touches Crypto Concerns, Reps Say
Putting stocks and other real-world assets on the blockchain is markedly different from issuing cryptocurrencies, but federal lawmakers on Wednesday showed that the debate about how to regulate so-called tokenization is decidedly similar when it comes to weighing its potential efficiencies against threats to privacy and consumer protection.
-
June 05, 2024
Bank Group Takes Fight Over FDIC Fee Letter To 8th Circ.
A Minnesota bank industry group is appealing its federal district court loss in litigation over Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guidance proscribing non-sufficient funds fees, or NSF fees, the organization said Wednesday.
-
June 05, 2024
Nigeria Holding US Binance Exec Hostage, Lawmakers Say
The White House's hostage negotiator should begin seeking the release of a top executive at cryptocurrency exchange Binance whom the Nigerian government is holding personally liable for tax evasion charges against the company, the House Foreign Affairs Committee's chairman has said.
-
June 05, 2024
NY Judge Says Block, Intuit Are Part Of Visa Antitrust Deal
Intuit and the company behind Square payment technology may be blocked from most swipe-fee antitrust claims against Visa and Mastercard under a newly unsealed New York federal court decision holding that the companies can't have opted out of a merchant settlement because they were never part of that class.
-
June 05, 2024
Feds Sue To Recover $5.3M Stolen From Union In Email Scam
Boston federal prosecutors said Wednesday they are helping a union recover about $5.3 million stolen through a complex business email compromise scheme.
-
June 05, 2024
Attys Get Third Of $1.4M Webster Bank Breach Deal
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday granted final approval to a $1.4 million settlement, including $476,000 in fees for class counsel, in a suit from a class of account holders that sought to hold Webster Bank and its fraud detection services provider liable for a ransomware attack.
-
June 05, 2024
CFPB Opens Door To Open Banking 'Standard Setters'
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made more progress Wednesday in its efforts to lay the groundwork for open banking in the U.S., adopting a mechanism that will allow "open" and "balanced" organizations to begin setting official, industry-wide technical standards for financial data sharing.
-
June 04, 2024
Fintech Execs Face Another Suit Over CEO's Stock Ownership
Insiders at blockchain-based financial services company Future FinTech Group Inc. were hit with a shareholder derivative suit on Tuesday alleging they concealed that the company's CEO had inflated stock prices, which was revealed to the public when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against him.
-
June 04, 2024
CFPB Seeks Traffic Cop For Parallel Small-Biz Data Rule Suits
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday asked a Kentucky federal judge to stay an industry lawsuit challenging the agency's small-business lender reporting requirements, saying a largely identical challenge filed earlier in Texas should take precedence.
-
June 04, 2024
NBA-Tied NFT Co. To Pay $4M Over Buyers' Securities Claim
A New York federal judge on Tuesday gave initial approval to a proposed $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 digital assets as unregistered securities.
-
June 04, 2024
FTX Seeks Ch. 11 Stay On Competing Asset Claims
Defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to put the brakes on multidistrict litigation targeting former company insiders, arguing that those claims rightfully belong to the bankruptcy estate and that any property recovered should instead go to creditors.
-
June 04, 2024
'Miles Guo Stole My Money': NY Jury Hears Of Alleged Fraud
A former supporter of exiled Chinese billionaire Miles Guo testified in Manhattan federal court Tuesday that the purported billionaire conned her into investing more than $100,000 in the media company he founded alongside former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, describing Guo's interrelated business ventures as a "mafia."
-
June 04, 2024
CFPB Cautions Firms Against Contractual 'Fine Print Tactic'
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday warned banks and other financial services firms against trying to "trick" consumers with unenforceable waivers in their customer contracts, saying their use of certain contractual terms and conditions can open them up to supervisory or enforcement action.
Expert Analysis
-
Bank-Fintech Partnerships Can Thrive Despite A Tough 2023
Many banking-as-a-service players experienced regulatory enforcement activities in 2023, including consent orders and more targeted, detailed guidance aimed at bank-fintech partnerships, and while it seems this trend will continue in 2024, savvy banks can use the turmoil of last year as a guide for how to better manage the risks inherent in partnerships, says Justin Steffen at Barack Ferrazzano.
-
A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come
The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
-
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers On Alert
Recent government actions against FTX and other crypto companies have put a laser focus on corporate compliance failures, with added pressure on compliance officers — making the need for personal risk assessment particularly acute given today's novel anti-money laundering issues, say Poppy Alexander at Constantine Cannon and Caleb Hayes-Deats at MoloLamken.
-
Cannabis Banking Bill Uncertainty May Actually Be A Blessing
The passage of a cannabis banking law is alluring, but little will be lost if the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act — facing stiff competition from other congressional priorities — gets tabled because the bill ultimately does little to meaningfully propel the industry toward full legalization, says Michael Rosenblum at Thompson Coburn.
-
Series
ESG Around The World: South Africa
While South Africa has yet to mandate the reporting of nonfinancial and environmental, social, and corporate governance issues, policy documents and recent legislative developments are likely to have a material impact in the country's transition to a low-carbon economy and in meeting its international obligations, say Glynn Kent at Eversheds Sutherland.
-
Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
As 2023 came to an end, we continued to see developments in California that are certain to have an impact on the financial services industry in 2024, including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's request for comments on the state's new digital asset law and the state's continued enforcement actions against debt collectors, say Jennifer Olivestone and Juan Azel at Winston & Strawn.
-
4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year
As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
-
Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Rulemaking Rush Before Election Year
In this quarterly Consumer Financial Protection Bureau activity recap by former bureau personnel, attorneys at McGuireWoods explain the regulator's recent push to finalize new rules about data aggregators, digital payment apps and more before the election-year Congressional Review Act window opens.
-
Securities Question Stands After Contradicting Crypto Rulings
The debate about the regulation of crypto-assets came to a head in 2023 when two New York federal judges came to opposite conclusions about whether crypto-assets were securities by using the Howey test, highlighting the uncertainty facing the crypto industry as it seeks to resolve definitional questions, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
-
What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like
As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
-
4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News
Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.
-
Compliance Risk After SEC Warning Against 'AI Washing'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has begun looking into the way public companies disclose how they use artificial intelligence to investors and it is likely to become an enforcement priority, meaning companies and their compliance programs should take steps now to avoid regulatory sanctions and shareholder lawsuits, say attorneys at Bracewell.
-
Series
Texas Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
Among the most noteworthy developments in the Texas banking sphere in the last quarter of 2023 were the Texas Department of Banking's extension of the state banking commissioner's authority, a recommendation to implement an updated ransomware self-assessment tool, and ongoing litigation in the state involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, says Patrick Hanchey at Alston & Bird.
-
SDNY Ruling Highlights Fed's Broad Master Account Power
In denying a Puerto Rican bank’s recent motion for injunction against the New York Fed, a New York federal court went beyond the specifics of the case in holding that financial institutions have no statutory right to a master account with a Federal Reserve bank, emphasizing the Fed’s unilateral discretion in these matters, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
-
Cybersecurity Issues For Financial Industry To Track In 2024
In 2024 financial institutions will confront new federal, state and industry regulations around cybersecurity that require additional procedures, enhanced proactive security measures, and timely disclosure of security incidents, say Alex Koskey and Matt White at Baker Donelson.