SEC Cooperators More Likely To See Pay Reprieve In 2024

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent emphasis on cooperation seems to have paid off for both the agency and some of the entities it regulates, according to a report released Thursday, which found that more public companies entered into nonmonetary settlements with the SEC in fiscal year 2024 than in any year over the previous decade.

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Musk, Ramaswamy Say High Court Rulings OK Federal Cuts

By Lauren Berg

Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks to lead a newly created "Department of Government Efficiency," on Wednesday said two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings will give them the authority to cut off power to regulatory agencies and conduct massive federal layoffs.

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Adani Group Chairman Charged In Sprawling Bribery Case

By Dorothy Atkins

Prosecutors unsealed a sprawling criminal indictment in New York federal court Wednesday, accusing Adani Group Chairman Gautam S. Adani and seven others of orchestrating a $250 million bribery scheme to secure lucrative Indian government renewable energy contracts, while misleading investors about the Adani Group subsidiary's dealings.

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Archegos Founder Gets 18 Years For Massive Market Fraud

By Stewart Bishop

Bill Hwang, the founder of collapsed hedge fund Archegos, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison after he was convicted of lying to banks in order to secure billions of dollars in loans used to manipulate the market.

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Advance Notice Bylaw Measures Fuel Chancery Battle

By Jeff Montgomery

Arguing that recent corporate advance notice bylaws have resulted in "real, actual harm" to stockholders of Owings Corning and The AES Corp., attorneys for shareholders of both urged a Delaware vice chancellor on Wednesday to reject calls to dismiss challenges to the measures.

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Bankman-Fried Tech Deputy Who Parsed Code Avoids Prison

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge allowed tech expert Zixiao "Gary" Wang to avoid jail Wednesday for his role in the $11 billion FTX fraud, crediting his effort to detail programming "back doors" that enabled Sam Bankman-Fried to loot the bankrupt crypto exchange.

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Biden Bank Regulators Punt Big-Ticket Rulemakings To Trump

By Jon Hill

Top Biden administration banking regulators told House lawmakers on Wednesday that they don't plan to move forward on efforts to strengthen banks' requirements for capital, liquidity or long-term debt before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, although the Federal Reserve's supervision chief said he's not leaving anytime soon. 

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Ex-Pharma CEO Demands Legal Fees For SEC Probe

By Sydney Price

Cancer treatment development company Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s founder and ex-CEO told Delaware's Chancery Court Wednesday that he is entitled to legal fees he says the company owes him in connection with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the company's accounting practices, saying he continues to incur fees in addition to the $875,000 he has already requested.

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Ex-Wells Fargo Adviser Admits To Stealing $3M From Clients

By Katryna Perera

A former Wells Fargo broker and investment adviser admitted on Wednesday to stealing more than $3 million from his clients and customers and using the money for, among other things, buying gold coins, New Jersey federal prosecutors said.

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5 Charged For 'Scattered Spider' Phishing Hacks, Crypto Theft

By Rachel Scharf

California federal prosecutors unveiled a criminal case Wednesday accusing five alleged members of the "Scattered Spider" cybercrime group of using a phishing scheme to access the confidential data of media and technology companies and steal $11 million worth of cryptocurrency from digital wallets.

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$2.6M Deal Proposed To End Chancery Lottery.com Suit

By Katryna Perera

Five executives of the special purpose acquisition company that took Lottery.com public have reached a $2.6 million settlement with company shareholders to resolve claims that the 2021 take-public deal misled investors about the potential value of the business.

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Wells Fargo Must Turn Over E-Docs In TelexFree Litigation

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts magistrate judge on Wednesday ordered Wells Fargo Advisors LLC to hand over electronic files maintained by a compliance manager who investigated potential misconduct by an employee handling accounts of TelexFree associates under investigation in a $3 billion Ponzi scheme.

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Xerox Faces Investor Suit Over 'Reinvention' Strategy

By Sydney Price

Business technology company Xerox Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action in New York federal court alleging the company's stockholders were harmed by a "reinvention" strategy it introduced in 2023 that yielded lower sales and revenue.

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Lululemon Execs Hit With Derivative Suit Over DEI Program

By Bonnie Eslinger

Lululemon leadership was hit with a shareholder derivative suit Wednesday claiming they made false statements related to the company's new "Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action" program that artificially boosted the company's stock price and also concealed problems with the company's inventory allocation.

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Bumble Brass Fumbled App Revamps, Investor Suit Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

Current and former brass of dating app Bumble's parent company face shareholder derivative claims that they projected overconfidence about revamping its app, then saw trading prices crater when Bumble lowered its 2024 growth projections amid the tinkering.

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Leaders Sued Over Post-Pandemic Glut

By Emilie Ruscoe

Executives, directors and an heir to the CEO of consumer gardening giant The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. face a shareholder derivative action alleging the company flooded its sales channels with post-pandemic excess inventory as it struggled to avoid defaulting on its debt.

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Firms For Ohio Funds Aim To Steer ZoomInfo Investor Suit

By Ryan Harroff

Two Ohio retirement funds asked a Washington federal judge to name their attorneys from Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP and Byrnes Keller Cromwell LLP as lead counsel and liaison counsel in investor claims brought against ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. over its allegedly misguided attempts to maintain a pandemic-era customer boom.

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Cleary Hires Milbank Atty For Capital Markets Team

By Andrea Keckley

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced the addition of a former Milbank LLP transactional attorney to its New York office on Wednesday, saying she will be an asset for its capital markets clients.

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Hinshaw Brings On Ex-JPMorgan Counsel From Ballard Spahr

By Katryna Perera

A Ballard Spahr LLP attorney and former in-house counsel for JPMorgan Chase & Co. has joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as a partner in the firm's consumer financial services practice group in New York, where he will advise banks, lenders and fintechs on state and federal regulations, compliance matters and litigation.

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What Trump Presidency May Mean For Climate Reporting

While the Trump administration will likely take a hands-off approach to climate-related disclosures and rescind regulations promulgated under the Biden administration, state and international ESG laws mean the private sector may not reverse course on such disclosures, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

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$3B TD Bank AML Settlement Is A Wake-Up Call For All Banks

TD Bank’s historic settlement over anti-money laundering violations, resulting in over $3 billion in penalties, reminds banks of all shapes and sizes why they need to take financial crime compliance seriously, and highlights three areas that may be especially vulnerable to enforcement, says Jack Harrington at Bradley Arant.

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BigLaw Begins Matching Milbank On Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Following the news Tuesday that Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP will pay associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those handed out by Milbank LLP this year, the firms' peers have begun to respond, with swift matches Wednesday by Paul Hastings LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

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DOJ Settles With Atty Who Reported Judge's Sexual Misconduct

By Lauren Berg

A former Alaska federal prosecutor who made allegations of sexual misconduct against then-U.S. District Judge Joshua Kindred has reached an undisclosed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice resolving claims she suffered retaliation for speaking up, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.

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Foley Shouldn't Face Data Breach Claims, Calif. Panel Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel affirmed the dismissal of Accellion Inc.'s cross-complaint against law firm Foley & Lardner LLP in an insurance company's lawsuit claiming the software-maker should be held liable for a $1 million ransomware attack that targeted the law firm, finding that Accellion's cross-claims are untimely.

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Weil Litigation Leaders Jump To Paul Weiss In NY

By Tracey Read

The co-chair of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's global litigation department and the co-head of Weil's patent litigation practice will soon be joining Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, the latter firm announced Wednesday.

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Akerman Opens In Charlotte With 2 Moore & Van Allen Hires

By Xiumei Dong

Akerman LLP announced Wednesday the firm opened its second North Carolina office in Charlotte and brought on two new partners from Moore & Van Allen PLLC, including the former head of its renewable energy project finance team and a tax law expert.

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Judiciary Touts Reforms In Handling Workplace Complaints

By Ryan Boysen

The federal judiciary is successfully reforming the controversial process that aims to protect its 30,000 employees from sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a new internal report released Wednesday, even as lawmakers have called for scrapping that process altogether and replacing it with a new one.

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Trump Wants 'Immediate Dismissal' Of NY Hush Money Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

President-elect Donald Trump's legal team told the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial that his conviction should be thrown out due to his "overwhelming victory" at the polls, according to a filing released Wednesday.

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House Dem Proposes Vote Forcing Release Of Gaetz Report

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten on Wednesday introduced a resolution that would require the House of Representatives to vote on whether the House Ethics Committee must release its report on the allegations against former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a proposal unveiled the same day the ethics committee failed to reach a consensus.

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Fed. Judges Still Seek New Bench Seats Amid Dems' Loss

By Courtney Bublé

The Federal Judges Association is urging the House to pass the bipartisan bill that would expand the federal courts in order to meet rising caseloads, even as the Biden administration appears to be cooling on the idea it once supported.

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Calif. Judicial Nominee Asked About Race, Parenting Writings

By Courtney Bublé

A California judicial nominee's previous writing about the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked a national reckoning on race, was the subject of debate during a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday.

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Washington State, DC District Court Picks Secure Seats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Wednesday voted 50-48 to confirm Washington Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington and 50-49 to confirm Amir Ali, former president and executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center and co-director of the Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic at Harvard Law School, to the District of Columbia.

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Girardi Pushes For New Trial Over Competency Claims

By Cara Salvatore

Counsel for Tom Girardi told a federal judge the disbarred attorney is plainly mentally incompetent and deserves a new trial over charges he defrauded clients of $15 million worth of settlement money.

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