Mastercard To Acquire BVNK For Up To $1.8B

By Al Barbarino

Mastercard said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion as the global payments giant looks to expand its "end-to-end support of digital assets" and connect blockchain-based payments with more traditional financial platforms.

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Skechers Controllers Accused Of Unfair $9.4B 3G Buyout

By Jarek Rutz

A Detroit pension fund is challenging the $9.4 billion take-private sale of Skechers U.S.A. Inc. to 3G Capital in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging the footwear company's controlling stockholders engineered an unfair deal that favored themselves at the expense of minority investors.

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Alcon Drops $430M Lensar Deal Under Pressure From FTC

By Matthew Perlman

Swiss eye care company Alcon Inc. has abandoned its planned purchase of a Florida-based maker of laser treatments for cataracts, Lensar Inc., after the Federal Trade Commission threatened to block the $430 million deal.

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Were Musk's Tweets 'Deliberate' Or 'Stupid'? Jury To Decide

By Bonnie Eslinger

Elon Musk made "deliberate and carefully devised" statements to drive down Twitter's stock price after offering $44 billion for the company, Twitter investors' counsel told a California federal jury during closing arguments Tuesday, while Musk's lawyer insisted that there's no evidence of securities fraud and that it's not a crime to "tweet stupid things."

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Victory Bolsters Janus Henderson Bid As Willkie Advises

By Al Barbarino

Victory Capital Holdings urged Janus Henderson Group on Tuesday to engage on a revised takeover proposal that boosts the cash portion of its bid while trimming the stock component, a move that Victory said provides greater value certainty to Janus and its shareholders.

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Drug Developer GNQ To Go Public Via $500M SPAC Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Techbio company GNQ Insilico has announced plans to go public by merging with special-purpose acquisition company IB Acquisition Corp. in a deal that values it at $500 million and was built by four law firms.

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Lawmakers Want More Oversight For Antitrust Settlements

By Matthew Perlman

Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would give courts more power to review settlements reached in government antitrust cases, after the U.S. Department of Justice recently cut a pair of controversial deals, including with Live Nation last week.

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EY Beats Brooge Petroleum, SPAC Merger Fraud Suit

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge Tuesday tossed a suit against EY's Middle East affiliates that claimed they botched audits of United Arab Emirates-based Brooge Petroleum before its merger with a blank check company to enable a fraudulent scheme against investors, finding that the suit's claims are time-barred or inadequately pled.

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Zoox Stockholders Push For Amazon Ex-Exec's Texts, Emails

By Jarek Rutz

A pair of Zoox Inc. stockholders have asked the Delaware Chancery Court to force Amazon.com Inc. to provide additional documents in litigation challenging its $1.3 billion acquisition of the self-driving vehicle startup, arguing that a former Amazon executive's communications could shed light on particulars of the allegedly conflict-tainted deal.

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Reed Smith Launches In Boston With 12 Attys From 7 Firms

By Tracey Read

Reed Smith LLP has launched its first office in Boston with 12 lawyers from White & Case, Goodwin Procter, McDermott Will & Schulte, Morrison Foerster, Kirkland & Ellis, Weil Gotshal & Manges and K&L Gates, the firm announced Tuesday.

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Barnes & Thornburg Brings On M&A Pros In Georgia, Illinois

By Madison Arnold

Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced Tuesday that it has boosted its mergers and acquisitions capabilities with new partners in Atlanta and Chicago.

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Manatt Adds 3 Entertainment Attys In LA From Nixon Peabody

By James Mills

Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has expanded its entertainment group by adding a team of four entertainment attorneys to its Los Angeles office, three of them coming from Nixon Peabody LLP.

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Chief Justice Says Personal Attacks On Judges 'Got To Stop'

By Katie Buehler

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday condemned the personal attacks on federal judges that have become increasingly common during President Donald Trump's second term in office — and that are often launched by the president himself — and defended the daily work of the judiciary. 

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Deals In Jackson Walker-Judge Affair A 'Dilemma,' Judge Says

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge ordered three of Jackson Walker LLP's former bankruptcy clients Tuesday to explain by next month what would happen to money from potential vacaturs or sanctions against the law firm if the estates close after their contested deals get approved.

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NJ Judge Boots Prosecutor, Orders US Atty Trio's Testimony

By Jack Karp

A New Jersey federal judge on Monday questioned whether Alina Habba is still running the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office during a heated hearing where the jurist tossed a supervisory prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered testimony from the trio of attorneys who assumed Habba's responsibilities.

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'No Disrespect' But Law Prof Mom Not SBF's Atty, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

A federal judge in Manhattan cautioned retired Stanford Law School professor Barbara Fried, the mother of convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, that she cannot make filings on behalf of her son in his bid for a new trial, saying she has not filed an appearance with the court.

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Indiana Firm Drops Quintairos Prieto 'Mass Exodus' Suit

By Adrian Cruz

Less than a month after suing Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA for allegedly causing a "mass exodus" of attorneys, Indiana-based Kopka Pinkus Dolin PC has chosen to dismiss the matter, according to a recent court filing.

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Comer Subpoenas AG Bondi Over Epstein Investigation

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, issued a subpoena on Tuesday for Attorney General Pam Bondi over the committee's investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Senate OKs Conservative Think Tank GC As Louisiana Judge

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 51-45 on Tuesday to confirm Anna St. John, president and general counsel of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

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IP Atty Appeals Order Requiring OK To File WDTX Patent Suits

By Lauren Berg

Intellectual property attorney William Ramey is asking the Federal Circuit to overturn a Texas district judge's sanctions order requiring him to seek the court's permission before filing patent suits in the future, saying the judge relied on the wrong evidence in finding the attorney failed to conduct presuit investigations.

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NJ Justices Create Attorney Readmission Board

By Jake Maher

New Jersey's highest court announced Tuesday it formally established a new body charged with overseeing readmissions of disbarred lawyers through changes to the state's standards for attorney conduct.

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Pot Co. Escapes Potency Suit, Judge Warns Plaintiff Firm

By Jonathan Capriel

MariMed and other cannabis companies beat claims they intentionally mislabeled their products to sidestep Illinois THC potency limits, with a federal judge highlighting the string of consumer-led suit losses and warning counsel to "heed the strong and universal concerns about the plausibility of their legal theories."

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Analysis

Prediction Markets Have Opened Compliance 'Pandora's Box'

By Phillip Bantz

The burgeoning prediction market has exploded the definition of what qualifies as confidential corporate information that employees could misuse for personal gain, leaving companies scrambling to update internal policies and guidelines, compliance experts say.

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