Judicial Conference Closes Thomas Gift Probe With No Action

By Katie Buehler

The Judicial Conference of the United States will not refer ethics complaints accusing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of unlawfully failing to disclose decades of luxury gifts and travel to the U.S. Department of Justice for further investigation, according to letters released Thursday.

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Terraform Founder Arraigned In NY, Denies $40B Crypto Fraud

By Pete Brush

Terraform Labs creator Do Kwon appeared Thursday before a Manhattan federal judge to deny charges that he orchestrated a $40 billion fraud on customers and investors who backed the cryptocurrency platform based on promises that it had real-world viability.

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Feds Ask High Court To Unpause Corporate Transparency Law

By Jared Foretek

The federal government is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a Texas judge's injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, telling the justices in a new application that the 2021 anti-money laundering law's compliance deadlines should take effect while the Fifth Circuit hears the full case.

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DOJ Joins FTC Suit Against Fintech Lender Dave

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken the reins in the Federal Trade Commission's suit against fintech app Dave and added its CEO as a defendant, while the mobile banking platform decried the updated complaint as "a continued example of government overreach."

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Feds Want 6 Years For Ex-FBI Informant Who Smeared Bidens

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors told a California federal judge that a former FBI informant who falsely told agents that a Ukrainian energy company had paid off President Joe Biden and his son Hunter should be sentenced to six years in prison, saying he betrayed the United States by trying to influence the 2020 election even after being granted citizenship.

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DC US Atty Matthew Graves Stepping Down Jan. 16

By Rae Ann Varona

Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for D.C. who led the federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, said he'll be stepping down as the capital's top federal prosecutor four days before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

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Vinco Ventures Chair Charged In Securities Fraud Conspiracy

By Lauren Berg

Florida federal prosecutors have charged the executive chairman of Vinco Ventures' board of directors with conspiracy to commit securities fraud over allegations that he made false statements to investors to artificially inflate the company's stock price.

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Rep. Jordan Picks Wis. Lawmaker For House Antitrust Panel

By Jared Foretek

Republicans are moving to install a frequent critic of President Joe Biden's Federal Trade Commission at the head of the House of Representatives' antitrust subcommittee, naming Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., to the post Tuesday.

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Ex-Bank Chair Asks 7th Circ. To Halt FDIC Enforcement Order

By Jon Hill

An Illinois community bank's onetime chairman has asked the Seventh Circuit for an emergency stay of professional sanctions ordered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after an in-house proceeding that he argues was unconstitutional and wrongly decided.

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Murdaugh Hit With $15M Tab In Insurance Case Set For Trial

By Cara Salvatore

A South Carolina federal judge hit ex-lawyer and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh with a $14.8 million default judgment Thursday in favor of Nautilus Insurance Co., days before the insurer is set for trial against another lawyer and law firm who allegedly should have known about Murdaugh's insurance fraud.

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'Trained Lawyer' Can't Undo Guilty Plea In 'Varsity Blues'

By Chris Villani

An attorney and former television executive lost her bid to have her "Varsity Blues" guilty plea undone after a federal judge found that she had knowingly admitted her guilt and that a recent high court ruling did not undercut the government's case.

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Ill. Atty Can't Avoid Prison Pending Bribery Appeal

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois attorney set to serve time for bribing former Chicago alderman Edward Burke must still report to prison while he asks the Seventh Circuit to review his conviction and 32-month sentence, a federal judge said.

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Texas Pot User's Gun Conviction Deemed Unconstitutional

By Mike Curley

A Texas federal judge has dismissed a case against a cannabis user who pled guilty to owning a gun while being a user of controlled substances, finding that the law as applied to this case is unconstitutional because the government hasn't shown he was intoxicated at the time of his arrest.

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9th Circ. Revives Pot Fines Suit Against Calif. County

By Sam Reisman

A proposed class of Northern California landowners can pursue a swath of constitutional claims against Humboldt County officials with the Ninth Circuit ruling they plausibly pled the county was overzealous in its efforts to crack down on allegedly illegal cannabis growers.

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Real Estate Investor Gets 2 Years For Mortgage Fraud Scheme

By George Woolston

A New Jersey real estate investor was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Thursday for his role in a multiyear conspiracy to defraud Fannie Mae by getting the company to purchase or fund millions in mortgage loans.

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Jenner & Block Adds DOJ Atty As Agency Exodus Continues

By Jack Rodgers

Jenner & Block LLP has rehired an attorney who had spent most of his legal career with the firm until recently becoming a deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, as lawyers continue leaving the agency for private practice.

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Lessons From The SEC's 2024 Crackdown On AI Washing

AI washing was the subject of increased scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024 following a surge in the commercial adoption of generative artificial intelligence technologies in 2023, highlighting the importance of transparency, accuracy and accountability when communicating about AI, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

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Identifying Deepfakes During Evidence Collection, Discovery

Attorneys must familiarize themselves with the tools used to create and detect deepfakes — media manipulated by artificial intelligence to convincingly mimic real people and events — as well as best practices for keeping this fabricated evidence out of court, says Bijan Ghom at Saxton & Stump.

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Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

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Bonus Spotlight

Holland & Knight Matches BigLaw Bonuses In Major Markets

By Anna Sanders

Holland & Knight LLP announced associates in major U.S. markets will receive year-end and special bonuses matching those given by other BigLaw firms, with attorneys working in regional offices making smaller figures, according to a report.

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Biden Honors Del. Jurist For Role In Brown V. Board Ruling

By Jeff Montgomery

President Joe Biden issued a top civilian award, posthumously, to former Chancellor Collins J. Seitz of Delaware Chancery Court, father of the state's current chief justice, for his role in decisions woven into the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

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Clyde & Co. Merges With Dallas Insurance Boutique

By Emily Sawicki

Clyde & Co. LLP has announced a merger with Dallas boutique Tillman Batchelor LLP, expanding the global law firm's insurance capabilities in Texas amid its ongoing growth in North America.

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Taft Hired BCLP Comms Director Ahead Of Merger

By Andrea Keckley

Once its merger with Sherman & Howard LLC became effective at the start of the new year, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP announced Thursday it had hired Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner's former director of communications.

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AI Chatbots Will Transform Legal Scholarship, AI Chatbot Says

By Matt Perez

Generative artificial intelligence like OpenAI's ChatGPT software will redefine legal scholarship, according to a new paper primarily produced by the chatbot.

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States Debate High Court Solution To Election Map Catch-22

By Katie Buehler

Louisiana has implored the U.S. Supreme Court to decisively resolve litigation over its federal election map in one of three ways, suggesting the justices could toss the case on standing, decide the merits, or, preferably, find that federal courts have no role in refereeing redistricting disputes.

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Ex-GMU Prof.'s Accusers Say He Can't Prove $108M Damages

By Aebra Coe

Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright allegedly failed to provide information to back his $108 million defamation damages claim and then walked out of a deposition, according to a Virginia court filing by two former students whom Wright sued over their statements to Law360.

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Atty Wants Free Speech Suit Over Tenn. Court Rule Kept Alive

By Jack Karp

A free speech challenge to a Middle District of Tennessee rule barring attorneys from making "any extrajudicial statements" about cases in the district should be allowed to move forward since the court is not entitled to sovereign immunity, according to the Nashville civil rights lawyer behind the suit.

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Giuliani Says Memory Faulty In Meandering NY Contempt Row

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge mulled a bid to hold Rudy Giuliani in contempt of a $148 million defamation judgment Friday, during a day of sparring in which the former New York City mayor repeatedly told counsel for two defamed Georgia poll workers that he doesn't remember case details.

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Battling Berts: Judge Enjoins Ga. Law Firm In Trademark Row

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia federal judge Friday temporarily barred an Atlanta-based law firm from advertising and promoting its personal injury legal services through messaging like "If You're Hurt ... Call Bert!" and "If You're Hurt, Call Bert," ruling that it is too similar to another personal injury firm's trademarked slogan.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

How to deal with diversity, climate change and artificial intelligence are the key issues giving general counsel night terrors at the start of the new year. And in Delaware, the Chancery Court is allowing a stockholder suit to move forward against Fox Corp., related to its false reports of voting fraud in 2020.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Chris Eubank Jr. hit with a libel claim from a boxing promoter, a perfume boss face proceedings from his businesses following sanctions violations claims, and Israeli broadcasters file intellectual property claims against BT and Sky. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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