Securities

  • January 21, 2025

    Crypto Firm To Plead Guilty In Market Manipulation Case

    A financial services firm based in the United Arab Emirates has agreed to plead guilty to a fraudulent "wash trading" scheme and will stop working in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry as part of a deal announced Tuesday by Boston federal prosecutors.

  • January 21, 2025

    Ex-Cannabis Exec Hit With Insider Trading Charges

    A former executive of cannabis giant Verano Holdings and friends from his country club have been hit with both criminal charges and a civil lawsuit for insider trading, with the government alleging they bought stock in a rival cannabis company Verano had planned to acquire based on nonpublic information.

  • January 21, 2025

    Medical Cannabis REIT Misled Investors, Suit Claims

    A medical cannabis-focused real estate investment trust lied to its shareholders about the profitability of its leasing operations and declining rents, a new suit has alleged in Maryland federal court.

  • January 21, 2025

    New SEC Task Force Eyes 'Sensible' Crypto Regulations

    A day after being appointed acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark T. Uyeda on Tuesday launched a cryptocurrency task force to develop "a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework" for such assets.

  • January 21, 2025

    Weil Adds SEC's Asset Management Co-Chief To NY Group

    A more-than 12-year veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, who most recently co-led the agency's Asset Management Unit, is joining Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP as the firm continues adding former regulators to begin the new year.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office

    On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump ordered federal workers back to theirs.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump, Musk Sued By Nonprofits Over DOGE Transparency

    Public Citizen and other nonprofits hit the Trump administration with multiple lawsuits seeking to shut down the new Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Monday, alleging the Elon Musk-led advisory committee targeting government waste lacks requisite transparency guardrails to prevent DOGE from solely advancing private interests.

  • January 17, 2025

    FDIC Missed Some Crypto 'Pause' Letters, Coinbase Ally Says

    The research consultancy suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on behalf of Coinbase for documents on the regulator's internal views on crypto said Friday that it intends to update its complaint with new allegations that the FDIC did not conduct a thorough search and may be engaging in unlawful practices, based on purported whistleblower reports.

  • January 17, 2025

    DC Circ. Unsure On Restoring CFTC's Election Betting Ban

    The D.C. Circuit seemed hesitant Friday to reimpose a ban that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission had placed on gambling over the fate of U.S. elections, as the judges spent over an hour trying to parse what Congress meant when it said that gaming on derivatives platforms was prohibited.

  • January 17, 2025

    Par Funding's Fraud Caused $288M In Losses, Pa. Judge Says

    Par Funding caused $288 million in losses stemming from a scheme to defraud investors who poured money into its cash advance business, a Pennsylvania federal judge said Friday, days after holding an evidentiary hearing where the government and the defendants sparred over dueling loss amounts.

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Fines Transamerica $2.9M Over Retirement Biz Conflicts

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined registered investment adviser Transamerica Retirement Advisors LLC $2.9 million to settle claims it concealed conflicts of interest generated by Transamerica's incentive compensation payments to representatives.

  • January 17, 2025

    Feds Say Pa. Investment Adviser Stole $20M From Clients

    A Pennsylvania investment adviser's alleged misappropriation of more than $20 million worth of client funds has landed him criminal charges and civil enforcement action from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • January 17, 2025

    FirstEnergy Execs Hit With RICO Charges Over Bribe Scandal

    Two former executives of FirstEnergy Corp. have been hit with federal racketeering charges over their alleged scheme to bribe Ohio House of Representatives members for a billion-dollar bailout that has drawn scrutiny from government agencies and led to long prison sentences for others involved in the scandal.

  • January 17, 2025

    CFPB, Student Loan Co. Ink $2.25M Deal Over Debt Practices

    The National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts agreed to pay $2.25 million to resolve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's suit accusing it of harming borrowers through unfair collection tactics on private student loan debts, according to a joint motion to approve the stipulated judgment filed in Delaware federal court.

  • January 17, 2025

    Crypto Coder Sues Feds To Block 'Money Transmitter' Label

    Crypto policy think tank Coin Center is supporting one of its fellows in suing the federal government over its allegedly "mistaken view" of how criminal money transmission statutes apply to crypto software.

  • January 17, 2025

    Michigan Justices Won't Answer Securities Test Issue

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal from a developer asking justices to find a state law test rather than a federal one should be used to determine if a promissory note is a security, leaving in place a ruling that keeps the developer liable for notes issued in a $6 million project. 

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Says Food Tech Startup Overstated Revenue By $550M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined venture-backed food technology startup GrubMarket $8 million for allegedly misleading investors by overstating revenue by more than $550 million, with faulty accounting that regulators say the company should have known was unreliable.

  • January 17, 2025

    LPL Fined $18M Over Lax Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined LPL Financial LLC $18 million to settle claims that the firm's anti-money laundering program suffered from significant shortcomings, including the failure to close high-risk accounts such as cannabis-related and international accounts.

  • January 17, 2025

    Lyft Shareholder Suit Over Earnings Report Error Tossed

    A California federal judge tossed a proposed class action Thursday against Lyft that alleged the ride-sharing giant defrauded investors when it issued an earnings release with an error that caused its stock to shoot up and then fall in under an hour when the error was corrected.

  • January 17, 2025

    Nasdaq Pulls Board Diversity Rules After 5th Circ. Loss

    Nasdaq has moved to formally undo its rules requiring that companies listed on the exchange disclose board diversity data, following a narrow, en banc ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month finding that the rules ran afoul of federal securities law.

  • January 17, 2025

    Wells Fargo, BofA Units Pay SEC $60M Over Cash Sweeps

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced that Merrill Lynch and two units of Wells Fargo will pay a combined $60 million to settle claims they failed to implement preventative procedures concerning their cash sweep programs.

  • January 17, 2025

    Drink Maker Celsius Settles SEC's Accounting Claims For $3M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined beverage company Celsius Holdings Inc. $3 million to settle claims that it issued financial statements that were materially inaccurate and misleading due to misreported stock award information.

  • January 17, 2025

    Energy Co. To Pay $19M SEC Fine Over Ohio Bribery Scandal

    American Electric Power Inc. on Friday agreed to pay $19 million to resolve claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the utility company violated federal securities laws in connection with a bribery scandal embroiling the Ohio Legislature.

Expert Analysis

  • California's AI Safety Bill Veto: The Path Forward

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of a bill that sought to impose stringent regulations on advanced artificial intelligence model development has sparked a renewed debate on how best to balance innovation with safety in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, say Bobby Malhotra and Carson Swope at Winston & Strawn.

  • To Report Or Not To Report Others' Export Control Violations

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    A recent Bureau of Industry and Security enforcement policy change grants cooperation credit to those that report violations of the Export Administration Regulations committed by others, but the benefits of doing so must be weighed against significant drawbacks, including the costs of preparing and submitting a report, says Megan Lew at Cravath.

  • With Esmark Case, SEC Returns Focus To Tender Offer Rules

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent enforcement action against Esmark in connection with its failed bid to acquire U.S. Steel indicates the SEC's renewed attention under Rule 14e‑8 of the Exchange Act on offerors' financial resources as a measure of the veracity of their tender offer communications, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • What FDIC Expansion Of Change In Bank Control Could Mean

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    A recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposal pertaining to the Change in Bank Control Act has the potential to create uncertainty around investments by mutual fund complexes in banking organizations, which represent a stable source of capital for the banking industry, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Can SEC's Consolidated Audit Trail Survive Post-Chevron?

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently in a showdown at the Eleventh Circuit over its authority to maintain a national market system and require that the industry spend billions to maintain its consolidated audit trail, a case that is further complicated by the Loper Bright decision, says Daniel Hawke at Arnold & Porter.

  • What's Inside Feds' Latest Bank Merger Review Proposals

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    Recent bank merger proposals from a trio of federal agencies highlight the need for banks looking to grow through acquisition to consider several key issues much earlier in the planning process than has historically been necessary, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Cos. Face Increasing Risk From Environmental Citizen Suits

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    Environmental citizen suits stepping in to fill the regulatory vacuum concerning consumer goods waste may soon become more common, and the evolving procedural landscape and changes to environmental law may contribute to companies' increased exposure, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • How BIS' Rule Seeks To Encourage More Voluntary Disclosure

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    Updated incentives, penalties and enforcement resources in the Bureau of Industry and Security's recently published final rule revising the Export Administration Regulations should help companies decide how to implement export control compliance programs and whether to disclose possible violations, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Making Sure Your Co. Isn't In The Next Section 13(f) Sweep

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    Enforcement actions taken against 11 institutional investment managers for alleged failures to file forms required by Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act serve as a reminder that firms should carefully monitor their obligations to avoid becoming the target of the next enforcement sweep, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    Florida Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    With the implementation of H.B. 989, the third quarter of 2024 has been transformative for banking law and regulation in Florida, and this new law places a strong emphasis on fair access to banking, and prohibits ideologically or politically motivated decisions by financial institutions, says Sha’Ron James at Gunster.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • How The 2025 Tax Policy Debate Will Affect The Energy Sector

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    Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. election, 2025 will bring a major tax policy debate that could affect the energy sector more than any other part of the economy — so stakeholders who could be affected should be engaging now to make sure they understand the stakes, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • 3rd Circ. Hertz Ruling Highlights Flawed Bankruptcy Theory

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    The Third Circuit, in its recent Hertz bankruptcy decision, became the latest appeals court to hold that noteholders were entitled to interest before shareholders under the absolute priority rule, but risked going astray by invoking the flawed theory of code impairment, say Matthew McGill and David Casazza at Gibson Dunn.

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