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Securities
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July 17, 2024
Ga. Man Ordered To Pay SEC Over Church Ponzi Scheme
A Georgia federal judge has ordered a company and its owner to pay $1.1 million to settle claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they duped church members into investing in a Ponzi scheme.
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July 17, 2024
6th Circ. To Review 2 Standards In FirstEnergy's Cert. Fight
The Sixth Circuit indicated Wednesday that it would have to examine the applicability of two different class certification standards in a securities suit by FirstEnergy investors, as the company insisted there was no proof its statements influenced stock prices, and that purported omissions didn't factor into the mix.
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July 17, 2024
Rocket Mortgage Says Results Refute Investors' Fraud Claims
Rocket Mortgage is arguing that the company didn't mislead its shareholders when Rocket's former CEO claimed the company could grow its lending business in a rising interest rate environment because the firm's actual financial performance ended up proving that prediction true.
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July 17, 2024
Bruised SPAC Market Pins Revival Hopes On Veteran Backers
More special-purpose acquisition companies are conducting initial public offerings, mostly backed by dealmakers who have completed prior mergers, bringing life to a listings market that was largely barren over the past year.
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July 17, 2024
FINRA Hires JPMorgan GC For Senior Enforcement Role
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has hired two new senior vice presidents of enforcement, one of whom is returning to the agency after serving as general counsel of JPMorgan Chase's wealth management line, the agency announced Wednesday.
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July 17, 2024
Robinhood's $9M Promo Text Suit Settlement Gets Final Nod
A Washington federal judge has awarded $2.2 million in attorney fees and granted final approval to a $9 million settlement resolving claims that stock-trading app Robinhood's referral program caused nonusers to receive unsolicited promotional texts, in violation of Evergreen State law.
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July 17, 2024
Ex-Goldman Sachs Analyst Gets Over 2 Years For Insider Tips
A Manhattan federal judge hit a former Goldman Sachs analyst with a 28-month prison sentence Wednesday for tipping his stepbrother and a friend to market-moving information, saying the Long Island native wanted to be "the big man" among his peers.
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July 17, 2024
SPAC Investor Sues Battery Co. In Del. Over Held-Back Shares
A Florida-based hedge fund that invested in a blank-check company that took battery company Solidion Technology Inc. public has sued for breach of contract in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging the company is refusing to issue more than 9.54 million shares of stock that are due under pre-merger agreements.
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July 16, 2024
Green Dot Brass Hid Declining Biz And Fed Action, Suit Says
The top brass at prepaid debit card company Green Dot Corp. has been hit with a derivative shareholder suit, alleging they concealed the company's faltering core business and a proposed consent order from the Federal Reserve Board over internal controls while board members sold millions of dollars worth of shares at inflated prices.
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July 16, 2024
EB-5 Investors Seek Sanctions Over 'Flight Risk' Defendant Info
Two dozen Chinese investors who alleged that $13.2 million worth of their investments in a Hawaii resort went missing has urged an Illinois federal judge to sanction developers for not giving them important case information, including contact information for one defendant who they said is an "obvious flight risk."
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July 16, 2024
Apple's Slowed IPhone Derivative Deal OK'd After Tweaks
A California federal judge said Tuesday she would approve Apple's non-monetary settlement to resolve a derivative-shareholder suit over claims it secretly slowed iPhones and award counsel $6 million in attorney fees and expenses, after she rejected an earlier version of the deal because of the proposal's overbroad release of claims.
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July 16, 2024
Masimo Accuses Politan Of Deceit In Hostile Takeover
Masimo Corp. has hit the activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP and its top brass with a lawsuit in California federal court, accusing the hedge fund of violating securities laws by trying to gain control of Masimo through a proxy contest that duped Masimo shareholders using "lies and deceit."
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July 16, 2024
Rocket Cos. Investors Drop CEO Retweet Claims From Suit
Investors in mortgage lender Rocket Companies have dropped certain proposed class action claims against the company's CEO, telling a Michigan federal judge that they would no longer accuse the executive of securities fraud over a March 2021 retweet.
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July 16, 2024
Apollo's $1.85B Mining Co. Deal Sparks Del. Suit For Docs
An investor sued a mining and logistics company in Delaware's Court of Chancery seeking documents regarding the firm's $1.85 billion go-private deal with affiliates of asset management giant Apollo, approved Tuesday by the mineral producer's stockholders, asserting that there are credible concerns over pre-transaction communications between its executives and Apollo about their jobs.
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July 16, 2024
$4.5M Davis Wright Deal In Ore. Fraud Suit Gets Final OK
An Oregon federal judge has fully adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation to sign off on a $4.5 million deal resolving investor claims against law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP for its work representing entities involved in an alleged real estate securities fraud scheme, while two banks were dismissed from the case.
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July 16, 2024
Solar Co. Cites Macquarie In Fight Against Investor Suit
SolarEdge Technologies Inc. has moved to dismiss a proposed class action accusing it of misrepresenting the demand for its solar energy products in Europe, arguing that investors' claims that it had to make a detailed accounting of its inventory levels and sales practices do not meet the standard set out by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Macquarie ruling.
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July 16, 2024
Chancery Orders Illumina Docs Released In Grail Merger Fight
Benefit fund shareholders of biotech giant Illumina Inc. won a Delaware Court of Chancery order on Tuesday for a rare, limited release of legal advice documents on Illumina's merger agreement with cancer-testing firm Grail Inc., a deal that has cost the company billions in fines and lost value.
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July 16, 2024
Tycoon's Pilot Says Feds' Stock Tip Claims Don't Add Up
A private pilot who used to work for convicted insider trader and U.K. billionaire Joe Lewis is arguing federal prosecutors can't use allegations that his own trades were suspicious to ramp up a sentence for a separate tax evasion charge.
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July 16, 2024
Drugmaker BioLineRx Beats Investor Suit Over Cash Shortfall
Israeli biotech company BioLineRx has, for now, beaten a proposed class action over claims that it misled investors on its capital shortfall, which caused a major decline in its share price, with a New Jersey federal judge saying the plaintiffs have failed to plead any actionable misleading or false statements.
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July 16, 2024
Ex-Goldman Banker Denies Bribe Charges After Extradition
A former Goldman Sachs banker pled not guilty Tuesday before a Brooklyn federal magistrate judge to charges that he bribed Ghanaian officials, after losing an extradition battle in British courts.
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July 16, 2024
Ex-Mozambique Official Accused Of $2B Fraud As Trial Opens
Federal prosecutors told a Manhattan jury Tuesday that Mozambique's former finance minister took $7 million in bribes in a "corrupt" plot to enrich himself and defraud investors after $2 billion in state-backed development projects flopped.
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July 16, 2024
Chancery OKs $42.5M Brookfield-GGP Settlement, $11.4M Fee
Shareholders of mall operator GGP Inc. who sued in 2018 to stop its $9.25 billion acquisition by Brookfield Property Partners LP got the Chancery Court's nod Tuesday to settle the litigation for $42.5 million, including an $11.4 million fee for the plaintiffs' counsel and incentive awards for three shareholder plaintiffs.
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July 16, 2024
Florida's 'Mother Teresa' Pleads Guilty To $190M Ponzi Scheme
Johanna Garcia, the former MJ Capital CEO known as "Mother Teresa" in Florida, pled guilty Tuesday to one count in the indictment accusing her of running a $190 million investment Ponzi scheme through the company.
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July 16, 2024
Platinum Co-Founder Dodges Prison For Bond Fraud Rap
Platinum Partners co-founder Mark Nordlicht on Tuesday was spared prison time for his five-year-old conviction over a purported scheme to defraud bondholders of a Texas oil and gas company, as a New York federal judge doubted that "such a weird case" would have any deterrent value.
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July 16, 2024
Ex-CBD Exec Gets $533K In Fla. Investment Fraud Suit
A Florida federal judge has awarded $533,600 to a former executive of a CBD company who alleged he was duped by his family members into investing, following a jury trial that ended with a mixed verdict.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown
While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
The SEC Is Engaging In Regulation By Destruction
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent use of regulation by enforcement against digital assets indicates it's more interested in causing harm to crypto companies than providing guidance to the markets or protecting investors, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.
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Series
NJ Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
Early 2024 developments in New Jersey financial regulations include new bills that propose regulating some cryptocurrency as securities and protecting banks that serve the cannabis industry, as well as the signing of a data privacy law that could change banks’ responsibility to vet vendors and borrowers, say attorneys at Chiesa Shahinian.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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ShapeShift Fine Epitomizes SEC's Crypto Policy, And Its Flaws
A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order imposing a fine on former cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift for failing to register as a securities dealer showcases the SEC's regulation-by-enforcement approach, but the dissent by two commissioners raises valid concerns that the agency's embrace of ambiguity over clarity risks hampering the growth of the crypto economy, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
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2nd Circ. Adviser Liability Ruling May Shape SEC Enforcement
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rashid, applying basic negligence principles to reverse a finding of investment adviser liability, provides a road map for future fraud enforcement proceedings, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference
At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: Benefits Of MDL Transfers
A recent order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation highlights a critical part of the panel's work — moving cases into an existing MDL — and serves as a reminder that common arguments against such transfers don't outweigh the benefits of coordinating discovery and utilizing lead counsel, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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An Overview Of Key Financing Documents In Venture Capital
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent Moelis decision highlights the importance of structuring corporate governance around investor demand, meaning early-stage companies seeking venture funding through sales of preferred stock should understand the legal documents needed to do so successfully, say Daniel Bell-Garcia and Tristan Kaisharis at Winstead.
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Reducing Risk While DOJ Plans New Whistleblower Rewards
In light of the Department of Justice's newly announced plan to create a comprehensive whistleblower reward program to fill the gaps in the current patchwork of federal incentives, companies should mitigate their risk of external claims now by implementing internal systems where employees can confidently and anonymously report concerns, say Caleb Hayes-Deats and Walter Hawes at MoloLamken.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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How Activision Ruling Favors M&A Formalities Over Practice
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent nod to a proposed class action, alleging shareholder notice violations in Activision Blizzard’s sale to Microsoft, puts practitioners on notice that customary merger and acquisition market practices do not offer protection from potential liability, say John Stigi and Eugene Choi at Sheppard Mullin.