Securities

  • October 02, 2024

    Coinbase Seeks CFTC Docs To Defend SEC Enforcement Case

    Coinbase has asked a Washington, D.C., federal court to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to produce communications the regulator may have had with certain digital asset issuers as the cryptocurrency exchange prepares to defend registration claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in New York.

  • October 02, 2024

    SEC Plans To Appeal Ripple Labs Decision To 2nd Circ.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a New York federal judge on Wednesday that it plans to appeal her decision in its registration suit against blockchain firm Ripple Labs to the Second Circuit.

  • October 02, 2024

    CFPB's $5M Student Loan Deal Gets OK Over PIMCO Objections

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has finalized a proposed $5 million settlement of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau case that alleged pandemic-era servicing failures involving securitized student loans, overruling objections that money manager PIMCO raised on behalf of loan investors.

  • October 02, 2024

    Enviro Groups Step Up Effort To Block JBS' US Listing

    Eighteen sustainability-focused investor groups are urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reject a potential U.S. stock listing by Brazilian meat conglomerate JBS SA, alleging the company is misleading the public regarding climate risks posed by its operations.

  • October 02, 2024

    Defense Atty Escapes DQ In $3M Transaction Row, For Now

    An attorney representing a businessman facing a $3 million fraud suit over a botched business transaction will not be forced to step away from the case, a South Dakota federal judge determined Wednesday, denying a motion seeking to disqualify the lawyer because he worked on the deal at issue in the suit.

  • October 02, 2024

    'Netflix Of China' Beats Investor Suit Over Inflated User Claims

    China-based streaming service iQIYI, dubbed the "Netflix of China," and another streaming service, Baidu Inc., have beaten proposed shareholder class action suits alleging the companies falsely beefed up iQIYI's user metrics, causing stock price drops when the truth was later revealed in a short seller report.

  • October 02, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Election Betting Contracts Can Go Live

    The D.C. Circuit on Wednesday allowed betting on election outcomes to move forward after finding that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission hasn't shown that KalshiEx's listing of election-based event contracts would likely harm the public while the regulator challenges a ruling that gave the trading platform the green light to offer such services.

  • October 02, 2024

    Crypto Fund Manager Bitwise Files Plans For XRP-Tied Fund

    Crypto-focused asset manager Bitwise filed a registration statement Wednesday that proposes to list the first exchange-traded product tied to the price of XRP, a digital currency that has long faced regulatory resistance.

  • October 02, 2024

    Chancery Drops Curtain On AMC Stock Dilution Suit

    A Delaware vice chancellor dismissed on Wednesday a proposed class action seeking damages or additional shares for former AMC Entertainment Corp. preferred stockholders who say the value of their shares was wrongly reduced last year in a deal that settled a hotly contested share conversion and reverse split.

  • October 02, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Murdaugh Can't Appeal Fraud Sentence

    Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is serving life in prison for murder, was denied an appeal of a separate 40-year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing at least $9 million from clients by a Fourth Circuit panel that said he'd waived his right to appeal.

  • October 02, 2024

    SEC's Top Cop Departing After Record-Breaking Tenure

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that enforcement director Gurbir Grewal will be leaving the agency next week following a three-year tenure, during which the agency brought in record penalties and frequently clashed with crypto industry participants objecting to a string of lawsuits brought under Grewal's leadership.

  • October 02, 2024

    Baker Donelson Must Face Mississippi Ponzi Scheme Suit

    A Mississippi federal judge has denied Baker Donelson's effort to escape civil conspiracy claims alleging the firm allowed a timber company's $164.5 million Ponzi scheme to unfold, with the judge stating he was "not persuaded" by the firm's argument, as it was based on the Eleventh Circuit's interpretation of Florida law.

  • October 02, 2024

    Tilray Gets Investor Stock Suit Scrubbed For Good

    A New York federal judge has dismissed with prejudice an investor suit alleging cannabis company Tilray Inc. and its officers misled investors about a co-branding agreement's prospects, saying the latest amended complaint fails to show that the company's CEO had intent to defraud or other nefarious motives.

  • October 01, 2024

    Meta Must Face Bulk Of Social Media Harms Securities Suit

    A California federal judge on Monday trimmed but refused to throw out a proposed securities class action claiming Meta Platforms Inc. and its executives misled investors about the harmful effects of social media, finding that the investors pointed to plausibly misleading statements regarding mental health and keeping children safe.

  • October 01, 2024

    Merrill Lynch To Pay $2M FINRA Fine Over Trade Report Flaws

    Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. has agreed to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $2 million to settle allegations of trade-reporting compliance shortcomings, including its alleged failure to properly trace millions of relevant retail customer transactions for over a decade.

  • October 01, 2024

    Lordstown Brass Beat Investor Suit Over Failed Foxconn Deal

    An Ohio federal judge on Monday freed current and former executives of Lordstown Motors Corp., now Nu Ride, from a proposed securities class action alleging they concealed problems ahead of a failed partnership with Taiwan-based Foxconn, saying delays and "other minor issues" didn't make general, positive statements inaccurate.

  • October 01, 2024

    CFTC Fines Barclays, 3 Others Over Swap Rule Violations

    Barclays Bank PLC on Tuesday agreed to pay the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $4 million for swap reporting violations, and three other swaps market participants copped to reporting and safeguards violations and agreed to pay more than $2 million combined in settlements that drew criticism from one commissioner.

  • October 01, 2024

    Peloton Beats Investor Suit Over COVID-19 Sales For Good

    Peloton has won the permanent dismissal of a shareholder suit accusing it of intentionally misleading investors to believe that its COVID-19 spike in demand was sustainable, with a New York federal judge saying the investors have not "articulated sufficient factual allegations to carry their assertions beyond the speculative level."

  • October 01, 2024

    Rocket Cos. Investors Lose Cert Bid In Post-Goldman Ruling

    A Michigan federal judge has declined to grant class status to Rocket Cos. investors suing over the company's post-pandemic loan portfolio, saying that optimistic statements about the firm's future were too generic to be relied upon in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Goldman Sachs' favor that dealt with a similar issue.

  • October 01, 2024

    Foley & Lardner Accused Of Malpractice In GWG Transactions

    Foley & Lardner LLP did not heed the fiduciary duty it owed to GWG Holdings when it facilitated loans and other transactions unfair to the life insurance-backed bond seller and, instead, enriched a group of "corrupt" shareholders, according to a lengthy adversary lawsuit filed in Texas bankruptcy court.

  • October 01, 2024

    Tesla Dodges Investor Suit Over Self-Driving Tech Claims

    A California federal judge has released Tesla Inc. from litigation accusing it of deceiving investors about the capabilities and safety record of its self-driving technology, granting it at least a temporary reprieve from the class action litigation because suing shareholders hadn't shown that CEO Elon Musk knew his statements about the technology were false.

  • October 01, 2024

    Chancery Tosses Class Suit Over TransUnion CFPB Violations

    Observing that "imperfect compliance is not bad faith," a Delaware vice chancellor dismissed on Tuesday a stockholder derivative suit seeking damages on behalf of consumer credit reporting company TransUnion for alleged board and officer failures to comply with a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau order issued in 2017.

  • October 01, 2024

    Israeli Analytics Co. Beats 'Social Engineering' Suit, For Now

    A New York federal judge has dismissed a proposed investor class action against Israeli security analytics company Cognyte Software Ltd. over claims that its tools were used to surveil and "social-engineer" journalists and politicians, saying many of the alleged misstatements are inactionable as currently presented.

  • October 01, 2024

    Starbucks Investor Suit Seems 'Premature,' Court Official Says

    A Washington appellate commissioner gave Starbucks another chance to end a shareholder suit accusing the company's leadership of turning a blind eye to union-busting by managers, saying the lawsuit appears "premature" since it mostly relies on unfair labor practice complaints that are still pending.

  • October 01, 2024

    Ex-CBD Exec Must Face SEC Fraud Suit Over $13M Deal

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sufficiently backed its claims that a former cannabidiol products executive misled investors, including by making false statements in press releases, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks

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    With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • 'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion

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    Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Opinion

    Agencies Should Reward Corporate Cyber Victim Cooperation

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    The increased regulatory scrutiny on corporate victims of cyberattacks — exemplified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against SolarWinds — should be replaced with a new model that provides adequate incentives for companies to come forward proactively and collaborate with law enforcement, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 9 Liability Management Tips As Debt Maturity Cliff Looms

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    As the debt maturity cliff swiftly approaches in this challenging environment, attorneys at Winston & Strawn highlight the top considerations for boards of directors and finance professionals to think about when structuring and executing liability management transactions, including reviewing capital structure, evaluating debt covenants, and more.

  • How Transaction Lookbacks Can Guide Fintech Companies

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    As transaction lookbacks continue to be a key focus of enforcement actions, newer financial institutions like fintech companies should know they can benefit from proactively investigating their potential failure to identify suspicious activity, creating a compliance road map and building trust with regulators in the process, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Ways Life Sciences Cos. Can Manage Insider Trading Risk

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    In light of two high-profile insider trading jury decisions against life sciences executives this year, public companies in the sector should revise their policies to account for regulators' new and more expansive theories of liability, says Amy Walsh at Orrick.

  • Series

    A Day In The In-House Life: Narmi GC Talks Peak Productivity

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    On a work-from-home day in August, Narmi general counsel Amy Pardee chronicles a typical day in her life in which she organizes her time to tackle everything from advising on products and contract negotiations to volunteering and catching up on the New York Times crossword.

  • How Ripple Final Judgment Fits In Broader Crypto Landscape

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    The Southern District of New York's recent $125 million civil penalty levied in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple will have a broad impact on the crypto industry as it was the first to hold that blind sales of digital assets are not securities, even if deemed securities in other circumstances, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

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    Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.

  • Assessing Whether Jarkesy May Limit FINRA Prosecutions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, holding that civil securities fraud defendants are entitled to jury trials, may cause unpredictable results when applied to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority prosecutions, say Barry Temkin and Kate DiGeronimo at Mound Cotton.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

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