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Securities
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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.
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July 16, 2024
Coinbase Scales Back Its SEC Request For Gensler Docs
Crypto exchange Coinbase said it will narrow its request for the communications of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler after the New York federal judge overseeing its enforcement suit warned that seeking private emails would be a "tough road to hoe."
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July 16, 2024
Chinese Exile Guo Guilty On Most Counts In $1B Fraud Case
A Manhattan federal jury on Tuesday convicted prominent Chinese Communist Party critic Miles Guo on most charges alleging he operated a vast fraud that solicited more than $1 billion worth of sham investments from his supporters.
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July 16, 2024
Stradley Ronon Hires 2 Corporate Attorneys In DC
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has hired two corporate partners in Washington, D.C., and one of those new additions will co-lead the firm's private investment funds practice, according to a Monday announcement.
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July 16, 2024
Former Ozy Media CEO Convicted Of Defrauding Investors
A New York federal jury on Tuesday convicted former Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson of fraud and identity theft in a case alleging the charismatic startup founder lied to banks and investors to secure tens of millions of dollars in funding for the multimedia company.
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July 16, 2024
The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know
Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.
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July 16, 2024
These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships
Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.
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July 15, 2024
Gemini Says CFTC Can't Have It Both Ways On Materiality
Crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. told a New York federal judge late Monday that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's arguments that Gemini misled it on aspects of a proposed bitcoin futures contract "directly contradict" the agency's defense of sanctions for its own alleged misstatements in another enforcement action.
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July 15, 2024
SEC Urged To Investigate OpenAI For Anti-Whistleblower NDAs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been contacted by at least one whistleblower urging it to investigate artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI for allegedly requiring employees to sign agreements discouraging them from reporting potential wrongdoing to federal regulators, according to a letter shared with Law360 on Monday.
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July 15, 2024
Ex-Pfizer Worker Seeks No Time For Paxlovid Insider Trading
A former Pfizer employee argued that he shouldn't go to prison after a Manhattan federal jury convicted him of insider trading over clinical trial results for the drug Paxlovid, pointing out that a friend of his and co-defendant had dodged a custodial sentence in the case after helping prosecutors.
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July 15, 2024
Walgreens Investor Sues Over Challenged Pharmacy Division
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging it inflated share prices by concealing the lack of viability of its pharmacy division, which it eventually disclosed needed a major overhaul to become sustainable.
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July 15, 2024
Crypto Promoter Says SEC's Ripple Appeal Helps His Request
A crypto influencer fighting a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit has told a Texas federal judge that his bid for an immediate appeal of a ruling against him is supported by the SEC's own attempt to appeal an adverse ruling in its case against blockchain firm Ripple Labs.
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July 15, 2024
CD&R Tells Del. Court Covetrus Sale 'Fully Informed'
An attorney for private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC told a Delaware vice chancellor Monday that stockholders of animal health company Covetrus Inc. were fully informed when they approved a $21-per-share takeover by CD&R and TPG Capital in 2022, disputing allegations of knowing standstill agreement violations and disclosure failures.
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July 15, 2024
SEC Pans Database Privacy Challenge As Too Little, Too Late
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to rid itself of a proposed class action targeting a market surveillance tool known as the consolidated audit trail, telling a Texas federal judge that shutting down a critical market stability tool 12 years after its creation would harm the public without providing any benefit to suing investors.
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July 15, 2024
Logan Paul 'Willfully Ignored' Partners' Fraud, Investor Says
A Texas buyer of influencer Logan Paul's never-launched CryptoZoo project told a Texas federal judge the YouTuber shouldn't win default judgments against the business partners he says duped him as he continues to face a proposed class's claims that he defrauded investors alongside them.
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July 15, 2024
Pump Co. Execs Must Face Trustee's $59.7M Transfer Suit
A Connecticut federal judge won't toss a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee's lawsuit claiming that three former engineering company executives transferred $59.7 million to a holding entity and sent the company into ruin to avoid paying asbestos claims, ruling Monday that the suit plausibly alleges that the executives had conflicts of interest and concealed their conduct.
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July 15, 2024
Fed's Powell Says He's Not Going Anywhere As Chairman
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Monday that he will serve out the remaining two years of his appointment leading the central bank, signaling his intent to stick around despite questions about his future in a second potential Trump administration.
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July 15, 2024
CVS Hit With Investor Suit Over Benefits Unit's Losses
CVS has been hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court over a series of stock price declines it suffered following announcements about losses the healthcare retailer was experiencing in its Health Care Benefits segment.
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July 15, 2024
Cybersecurity Investor Sues For Docs On PE Merger Wipeout
California-based cybersecurity company Exabeam Inc. has been hit with a books and records request by a shareholder seeking to halt the company's private stock-for-stock merger with competitor LogRhythm, which is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
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July 15, 2024
Chancery Finds Truth Social SPAC Should Get Docs
The sponsor of the special purpose acquisition company that took former President Donald Trump's Truth Social public must turn over most of the documents the SPAC sought as part of the parties' Delaware litigation, a Chancery Court judge ruled Monday, teeing the case up for trial on July 29.
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July 15, 2024
Gray Reed Helped Water Now CEO In Fraud, Investors Say
Investors in the now-defunct water purification company Water Now have added law firm Gray Reed & McGraw LLP and attorney George Diamond to their suit against the company, saying in an amended complaint Monday the firm helped the company's CEO run the business into the ground while enriching himself.
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July 15, 2024
Calif. Man Avoids Prison For Lumentum Insider Trading
A California man who pled guilty to trading on tips from a former executive of laser company Lumentum Holdings Inc. avoided prison Monday in light of his assistance to the government's investigation.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Takeaways From The 2023 DOJ Fraud Section Report
Attorneys at Wiley discuss notable trends from the U.S. Department of Justice's recently reported Fraud Section activity last year and highlight areas of enforcement to watch for in the future, including healthcare fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
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How New SEC Rule May Turn DeFi Participants Into 'Dealers'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced a new rule to amend its definition of a securities "dealer," but the change could have concerning implications for decentralized finance and blockchain, as the SEC has suggested it may subject DeFi participants to registration requirements and other regulations, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.