Securities

  • June 27, 2024

    Bradley Arant Adds Former Wells Fargo Associate GC In DC

    Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired a former associate general counsel for both Wells Fargo and Bank of America, who previously served as a U.S. attorney in the Central District of California and most recently as a Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP partner.

  • June 27, 2024

    SEC Sues Fla. Loan Website, CEO Over 'Fictitious' Revenue

    A purported online lender and its CEO face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the company's reported revenue for certain periods was "a figment" of the CEO's imagination.

  • June 27, 2024

    Cannabis Co. Settles Lender Suit After Regulator Delays

    Troubled cannabis company Parallel settled a suit with three lenders who alleged a "self-dealing scheme" within the company after spending about a year trying to finalize the agreement and clear regulatory hurdles in various states.

  • June 27, 2024

    Justices Limit SEC's Use Of In-House Courts

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's use of its in-house court system, saying the accused have a right to a jury trial when financial penalties are on the table.

  • June 26, 2024

    BlackRock Can't Escape Saba Capital's Voting Bylaws Suit

    A New York federal judge Tuesday refused to toss Saba Capital Management's lawsuit claiming a BlackRock Inc. environmental, social and corporate governance trust has illegal shareholder voting bylaws, but also refused to block BlackRock from applying the bylaws at issue to the current election.

  • June 26, 2024

    5th Circ. Says SEC Must Reconsider Axing Proxy Regulations

    The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to rescind a portion of Trump-era rules requiring proxy advisory firms to notify companies about their advice to investors, ruling that the agency didn't adequately explain the abrupt change.

  • June 26, 2024

    SEC Crypto Stance May Shift With Election, Rulemaking Suits

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to shift its cryptocurrency posture to some degree if a new chair is installed after the coming presidential election, but firms not content to wait for a change in the guard can consider challenging the agency's rulemaking process, experts said Wednesday.

  • June 26, 2024

    Ex-Outcome CEO Gets 7½ Years For Fraud Conviction

    Former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah was sentenced to 7½ years in prison Wednesday for engaging in a massive fraud through which he grew the health advertising company by lying to investors, lenders and customers about its value and capabilities.

  • June 26, 2024

    Conn. Trader's Brother Cops Plea In $30M Brazilian Oil Plot

    A Connecticut man has pled guilty to helping to bribe officials at Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro SA, also known as Petrobras, allegedly to help his commodities trader brother earn more than $30 million in ill-gotten profits from deals with the oil giant, according to federal court documents.

  • June 26, 2024

    Judge Trims 2nd Attempt At Crypto Lender Loan Suit

    A California federal judge has again dismissed crypto lender Nexo Capital's affiliates from an amended suit over claims they fraudulently induced customers to take out risky loans, but found the new suit plausibly alleges Nexo distributed a nonexempt, unregistered security.

  • June 26, 2024

    Umpqua Bank Can't Undo Class Cert. In $300M Ponzi Suit

    Oregon-headquartered Umpqua Bank has lost its bid to partially decertify a class of investors suing it over claims that it aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme, and it also can't block those same investors from later seeking prejudgment interest in the case, a San Francisco federal judge has determined.

  • June 26, 2024

    SEC Fines Ex-Tech Co. Controller In Insider Trading Matter

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that an electronic security solutions company vice president and controller will pay over $435,000 to settle claims that he sold shares of the company based on financial results that were not publicly available at the time.

  • June 26, 2024

    Chamber Backs 9th Circ. Call To Nix SEC's 'Gag Rule'

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among those calling on the Ninth Circuit to overturn a long-standing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission policy that settling parties not be allowed to deny the allegations against them, saying that the so-called gag rule threatens the free speech rights of the accused.

  • June 26, 2024

    Crypto App Pledges More Refunds In Multistate Settlement

    Cryptocurrency platform Abra has agreed to return millions of dollars in digital assets to U.S. customers after getting busted for running a mobile application for crypto transactions without the required money transmitting licenses, a coalition of state financial regulators announced on Wednesday, with Washington state taking the lead.

  • June 26, 2024

    IP Co. Breaching Investment Laws, Shareholder Alleges In Del.

    A shareholder of patent developer Network-1 Technologies Inc. has sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery, saying he needs to see the company's books and records to investigate, among other things, whether it is "operating as an unregistered investment company, contrary to the Investment Company Act of 1940."

  • June 26, 2024

    Director Sues Materials Testing Co. In Del. For Withheld Docs

    A shareholder and director of Femtometrix Inc. has sued the California materials testing company in Delaware's Court of Chancery for books and records, saying the company is not giving him sufficient information to function as a director.

  • June 26, 2024

    Ed Tech Co. Can't Beat Investor Suit Over Bot-Inflated Classes

    A New Jersey federal judge has ruled that confidential witness testimonies, among other things, "paint an unmistakable picture" that education tech company GSX Techedu Inc. used "bots" to inflate its online class enrollment numbers, in refusing to dismiss a suit against the company that demands recompense from certain executives for stock price drops.

  • June 26, 2024

    3 Firms Vie For Lead Role In Autodesk Securities Suit

    Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and The Rosen Law Firm PA have each asked a California federal judge to lead a securities lawsuit against software company Autodesk for allegedly lacking proper internal controls due to issues with its free cash flow and operating margin practices.

  • June 26, 2024

    Tesla Says Musk's Pay OK In Texas Affects Del. Class Fee Bid

    Tesla Inc. has doubled down on arguments that stockholder ratification of Elon Musk's mammoth compensation plan in Texas should sideline a Delaware Court of Chancery hearing on a potential multibillion-dollar class attorney fee tied to the court's earlier voiding of the same pay package.

  • June 26, 2024

    11th Circ. Urged To Toss $62M Order Against Forex Co. CEO

    An imprisoned former CEO of an investment company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday to toss a multimillion-dollar penalty against him obtained by the federal government, saying he never operated foreign exchange commodity pools and didn't invest borrowed funds on behalf of lenders.

  • June 26, 2024

    Judge Denies ConvergeOne Lenders' Bid To Halt Ch. 11 Plan

    A Texas federal judge has rejected a request by a group of ConvergeOne lenders to stay a bankruptcy court's order approving an equity rights offering included in the information technology company's Chapter 11 plan, ending the spurned lenders' challenge to a deal they claimed ran afoul of bankruptcy rules. 

  • June 26, 2024

    Gun Co. Co-Owner Tells Del. Justices That Partner 'Lied'

    A joint owner of a gun manufacturing business who accused his partner of duping him out of his 50% stake told Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday that the partner — who won the case — had repeatedly "lied" during Chancery Court litigation, so the trial court's decision should be overturned.

  • June 26, 2024

    Big Banks Cleared Fed's Stress Tests, Despite 'Higher Losses'

    The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the nation's big banks have enough capital on hand to ride out a simulated recession, giving them passing marks in the latest round of stress tests as regulators debate tougher rules that could raise capital requirements further.

  • June 26, 2024

    Olo Moots Investor's Chancery Suit By Axing Free Takeover

    Directors of New York-based online food-ordering venture Olo have mooted a proposed class challenge to a company stock buyback program by effectively barring moves that would give the company's top investor majority control of the business, Delaware's chancellor ruled on Monday. 

  • June 26, 2024

    Investor Appeals Chancery Toss Of $2.4B SPAC Deal Suit

    A stockholder of the blank-check company that took electric vehicle company Canoo Holdings Ltd. public in March 2021 has appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court the dismissal of his proposed Delaware Court of Chancery class action challenging the $2.4 billion deal.

Expert Analysis

  • A GC's Guide To Multijurisdictional Regulatory Compliance

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    Overlapping cybersecurity regulation has created an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape with elevated oversight for organizations across the globe, but general counsel can help develop a best-in-class approach to manage these complexities by building a compliance strategy holistically, say David Dunn and Meredith Griffanti at FTI Consulting.

  • Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

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    The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • Clarity Is Central Theme In FCA's Greenwashing Guidance

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    Recent Financial Conduct Authority guidance for complying with the U.K. regulator's anti-greenwashing rule sends an overarching message that sustainability claims must be clear, accurate and capable of being substantiated, say lawyers at Cadwalader.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome

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    The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Pay-To-Play Deal Shows Need For Strong Compliance Policies

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, through its recent settlement with Wayzata, has indicated that it will continue stringent enforcement of the pay-to-play rule, so investment advisers should ensure strong compliance policies are in place to promptly address potential violations as the November elections approach, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 7 Effects Of DOL Retirement Asset Manager Exemption Rule

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    The recent U.S. Department of Labor amendment to the retirement asset manager exemption delivers several key practical impacts, including the need for managers, as opposed to funds, to register with the DOL, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Standardizing Early Case Appraisal In Securities Class Actions

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    While an initial economic assessment of securities class action litigation is far too often not undertaken, it's an important step in planning the defense strategy that can provide counsel, clients and insurers with a much clearer view of the case, and can be simplified through standardized analyses, says Assen Koev at SCA iPortal.

  • Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures

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    The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Dual-Track IPO-M&A Exit Strategies For Life Science Cos.

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    A dual-track process for life sciences companies offers a proven path to securing favorable deal terms for an exit, and strategic moves can include running a crossover financing round in the lead-up, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes

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    Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

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