Banking, Fintech Groups Clash Over OCC Trust Rule Update

By Aislinn Keely

Banking groups have warned the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that it's overstepping its authority with a proposal to update the scope of national trust company operations, while fintech groups that the rule change would ostensibly benefit have applauded the measure.

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Bannon, Epshteyn Sued Over 'Let's Go Brandon' Coin Promos

By Katryna Perera

Stephen Bannon and Boris Epshteyn, a senior aide to President Donald Trump, have been hit with a proposed class action in Washington, D.C., federal court over their promotion of the "Let's Go Brandon" crypto coin, named after the infamous anti-Biden meme.

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Fintech Clear Street Delays US IPO After Downsizing Offering

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Cloud-based financial services provider Clear Street has postponed its initial public offering due to market conditions, a move that comes just a day after the company significantly reduced its planned offering size.

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Crypto CEO Gets 20 Years For $200M Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme

By Sydney Price

The CEO of a cryptocurrency trading company will serve 20 years for his role in a $200 million Ponzi scheme that federal prosecutors said defrauded more than 90,000 investors worldwide, a sentence the CEO claims is too long given his life expectancy.

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FinCEN Eases Beneficial Owner ID Rules For Banks

By Natalie Olivo

The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced Friday that banks are excepted from certain aspects of the agency's customer due diligence rules, including the requirement to repeatedly identify the beneficial owners of existing corporate account holders.

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CFPB Calls State AGs' Suit Moot Now That It Has Funding

By Katryna Perera

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told an Oregon federal judge that a suit brought by several state attorneys general over acting Director Russell Vought's alleged refusal to replenish the agency's funding from the Federal Reserve is now moot since the CFPB "has requested and received funding for this quarter."

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Brief

FinCEN Opens Online Portal For Whistleblower Tips

By Sarah Jarvis

An enforcement arm of the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday launched a webpage for confidential whistleblower tips on fraud, money laundering and sanctions violations, touting financial awards for eligible tips.

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Expensify Inks $9.5M Investor Deal Over Pre-IPO Claims

By Rae Ann Varona

Expensify Inc. has agreed to pay $9.5 million to resolve a proposed class of investors' lawsuit that accused the company of misleading them about its "bottom-up" business model ahead of its nearly $263 million initial public offering, according to a motion seeking an Oregon federal court's preliminary approval of the settlement.

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Fintech's Home Equity Product Is Predatory Loan, Suit Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

Fintech firm Hometap Equity Partners LLC faces class action claims in New Jersey federal court that its "complex, confusing and high-risk" home equity products are predatory loans in disguise that violate federal and state consumer protection laws and could cost consumers their homes.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen a former U.S. defense contractor convicted of tax evasion face legal action, French football club Olympique Lyonnais sued following a $97 million ruling against its owner John Textor, consulting giant Kroll targeted by a South African airline, and H&M hit with a claim alleging it copied protected sunglasses designs. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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How Lenders Can Be Ready For Disparate Impact Variabilities

Amid state attorneys general's and regulators' mixed messaging around disparate impact liability, financial institutions can take several steps to minimize risk, including ensuring compliance management aligns with current law and avoiding decisions that impede growth in business and service, says Elena Babinecz at Baker Donelson.

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Drafting Tech Patents After USPTO's Eligibility Memos

Two recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office memos on subject matter eligibility declarations provide an evidentiary playbook for artificial intelligence and software patent applications, highlighting how targeted, stand‑alone SMEDs that present objective, claim‑anchored facts can improve patent application outcomes, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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Series

Judges On AI: Practical Use Cases In Chambers

U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Goddard in the Southern District of California discusses how she uses generative artificial intelligence tools in chambers to make work more efficient and effective — from editing jury instructions for clarity to summarizing key documents.

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Talc MDL Law Firm Accuses Litigation Funders Of Case Piracy

By Ryan Boysen

A leading plaintiffs law firm in the multibillion-dollar litigation over Johnson & Johnson's tainted talcum powder has alleged in Mississippi federal court three investment firms loaned it "tens of millions" of dollars under false pretenses in a "loan-to-own" scheme.

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Bogus Citations Show 'Lack Of Respect' For Legal Profession

By Lynn LaRowe

In recommending $10,000 in sanctions for a lawyer who submitted multiple briefs with nonexistent or misrepresented citations, a federal judge in Indiana lamented that the blunders show a "lack of respect for the profession."

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Analysis

How Attorneys Are Handling A Patent Review 'Sea Change'

By Ryan Davis

Major changes to the America Invents Act patent review system over the past year have put limits on challenges, requiring patent challengers and owners to rethink their strategies. Here's how attorneys on both sides are calibrating their arguments to have the best chance of success in the new landscape.

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6th Circ. Says Ch. 13 Motion Came 84 Minutes Too Late

By Vince Sullivan

A 2-1 split panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed two lower court rulings from Michigan federal judges denying a Chapter 13 debtor's motion to dismiss his bankruptcy case because the request came 84 minutes after a bankruptcy court converted the case to a Chapter 7.

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RFK Jr. Taps Ex-Jones Day Atty For FDA Senior Counselor

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named a former Jones Day partner as one of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's senior counselors, according to an announcement.

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Louisiana Atty Takes Responsibility For AI Usage Snafu

By Christine DeRosa

After facing the threat of sanctions alongside three of his co-counsel, a Louisiana attorney told a federal judge that he was solely responsible for an error-riddled brief written with the assistance of artificial intelligence. 

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Brief

Indiana AG Declines To Intervene In Posner Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

Indiana's attorney general has declined to intervene in a pro se plaintiff's suit seeking to revive $170,000 in wage claims against retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner, finding the case did not pose a "substantial" constitutional challenge to a state statute mandating that delayed contracts must be written and signed to be enforced.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Taking heat from Republican senators over not notifying members of Congress about subpoenas for their phone records, Verizon's general counsel has pledged that in the future, the company will fight gag orders requiring it to keep silent. And taking heat from shareholders and colleagues over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Goldman Sachs' chief legal officer has agreed to leave the firm in June.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

WilmerHale and Gillam & Smith LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Texas federal jury cleared Apple of infringement claims over patents covering 4G wireless technology, in a case that previously led to jury verdicts of $506 million and $300 million.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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