Securities

  • September 26, 2024

    SEC Accuses NC Business Owner Of $28M Ponzi-Like Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a suit in North Carolina federal court accusing an investment firm owner of defrauding investors through a $28 million Ponzi-like manufacturing debt investment scheme.

  • September 26, 2024

    Nvidia Seeks 'Unworkable' Pleading Standard, Justices Told

    Nvidia Corp. shareholders asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to reject the company's "unworkable" reading of the pleading standards under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, arguing that they've presented plenty of evidence to move forward with claims that the company hid its $1 billion exposure to the volatile cryptocurrency market.

  • September 26, 2024

    Conn. Jury Finds Oil Trader Guilty In Petrobras Bribery Scheme

    A Connecticut federal jury convicted a former oil trader on charges that he sent millions in bribes through an intermediary to officials at Brazilian state oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro, capping a three-week trial on Thursday.

  • September 26, 2024

    Southwest Airlines Touts Big Changes Amid Activist Pressure

    Southwest Airlines on Thursday revealed a number of developments key to a "transformational" plan meant to drive revenue growth as the airline faces pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, including the appointment of a new director and a $2.5 billion repurchase program.

  • September 26, 2024

    Robinhood Arbitration Pact Not Obvious To Users, Judge Says

    Robinhood Financial LLC cannot show that a user who claims the platform failed to notify him of important developments regarding his investments was made aware of an arbitration clause buried in the company's user agreement, a Massachusetts state court judge said.

  • September 26, 2024

    Ex-NBA Star Tells Jury He Was Duped By Ga. Businessman

    Former NBA superstar Dwight Howard told a Manhattan federal jury Thursday that an Atlanta businessman tricked him into making a $7 million investment that he thought was for the purchase of a women's basketball franchise, a promise that turned out to be "a slap in the face."

  • September 25, 2024

    SEC Fines Alphabet, Others Over Stock Ownership Reports

    Alphabet Inc., Goldman Sachs and several other entities and individuals were hit with a combined total of over $3.8 million in penalties on allegations they failed to report information about their holdings and transactions in a timely manner, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    In-House Counsel To Play Central Role At AI Cos., VCs Say

    Venture capital firms expect in-house counsel at artificial intelligence companies to play a bigger role in their businesses due to regulatory uncertainties around AI, while a professor who helped pioneer the technology warned that transparency of commercial AI businesses should be "top of mind," attorneys heard at the seventh annual Berkeley Law AI Institute Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    Sullivan & Cromwell Didn't Ignore FTX 'Red Flags,' Report Says

    The Chapter 11 examiner appointed in the bankruptcy case of fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading determined Wednesday that debtor law firm Sullivan & Cromwell didn't ignore any "red flags" about FTX's misconduct related to a $500 million purchase of stock in financial service and digital trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc.

  • September 25, 2024

    Basel Edits 'Encouraging' But Incomplete, Republicans Say

    House Republicans signaled at a Wednesday hearing that they want further softening of federal banking regulators' so-called Basel III endgame proposal for tougher big-bank capital requirements, casting recently floated potential changes as insufficient to ensure the plans won't pose an economic threat.

  • September 25, 2024

    Feds Urge Judge Not To Ax Novel Insider Trading Conviction

    Prosecutors have hit back at former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer's bid to ax his first-of-its-kind insider trading conviction and score a new trial, telling a California federal judge that the jury had all the information it needed to find Peizer guilty in June.

  • September 25, 2024

    Kraken Seeks Quick Appeal Of Dismissal Denial In SEC Suit

    Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken requested an immediate appeal of an order that declined to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's registration claims, asking that the Ninth Circuit weigh in on whether an alleged investment contract can violate securities laws if it doesn't represent any pact between issuers and buyers.

  • September 25, 2024

    Bumble Investor Says Dating App Overhyped Premium Model

    A Bumble Inc. investor has launched a proposed securities class action in Texas federal court accusing the dating app's parent company of misleading investors about its financial outlook and success of a "premium plus" subscription tier, and causing a dramatic decline in Bumble's common stock price.

  • September 25, 2024

    Rent The Runway, Gwyneth Paltrow Can't Escape Investor Suit

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday trimmed a proposed class action suit against actress Gwyneth Paltrow and online clothing rental company Rent the Runway Inc., claiming the company failed to inform investors about major challenges it was facing in the run-up to its 2021 initial public offering.

  • September 25, 2024

    Texas Man, 6 Companies To Pay $10.5M Over Forex Scheme

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Wednesday that it had secured a default judgment and $10.5 million in monetary relief against Rudy Avila and his six companies for defrauding more than 200 investors out of $6 million.

  • September 25, 2024

    Terrorism Victims Sue For Share Of $4.3B Binance Plea

    The U.S. government must put the $4.3 billion it obtained in its money laundering and sanctions violations case against Binance toward a federal fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, a new lawsuit in D.C. federal court alleges.

  • September 25, 2024

    Meta Wants 'License' To Cover Up Past Events, Justices Told

    Meta Platforms Inc. shareholders say the U.S. Supreme Court should not be swayed by the social media company's attempt to shake off a proposed class action tied to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, warning a high court ruling in favor of Facebook's parent company could give publicly traded companies "license to intentionally mislead investors."

  • September 25, 2024

    Feds Say 'Wall Of Evidence' Supports Petrobras Bribery Case

    A Connecticut oil trader violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by sending millions in bribes to officials at Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras through a shady intermediary, federal prosecutors told a jury during closing arguments Wednesday, arguing that a "wall of evidence" points to the defendant's intent.

  • September 25, 2024

    E-Bike Maker Argues In Del. Supreme Court To Salvage Sale

    An attorney for a private equity affiliate that beat a Barcelona-based electric scooter rental chain's attempt to force a closing on the scooter company's $100 million sale in Chancery Court told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that the seller's current appeal ignores its own fatal contract breaches.

  • September 25, 2024

    Merrill, Harvest To Pay SEC $9.3M For Ignoring Clients' Limits

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced that investment advisory firms Harvest Volatility Management LLC and Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. will pay a combined $9.3 million to settle claims that they exceeded clients' designated investment limits over a two-year period, causing those clients to incur higher fees and losses.

  • September 25, 2024

    7th Circ. Doubts London Depo Should Trigger New Fraud Trial

    Seventh Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of a former investment manager's bid for a new trial after he was convicted of bilking investors of roughly $10 million because he could not physically confront a key witness who testified via deposition in London, saying he failed to adequately object to the circumstance.

  • September 25, 2024

    Penalized Apple Atty Says He Was 'Demoralized' By Co. Culture

    Apple Inc.'s former senior director of corporate law, who pled guilty to insider trading in 2022 and was later penalized $1.1 million in a civil case, had mental health disorders and was "demoralized" by the company's culture and executives' misconduct, he said in temporarily unsealed records in New Jersey federal court.

  • September 25, 2024

    Shipman & Goodwin Atty Needed As Witness, DQ Bid Claims

    A Connecticut company wants a Shipman & Goodwin LLP partner disqualified from representing a rival in a bond dispute surrounding a garbage sorting facility permit, saying the attorney was personally involved in some of the conduct in question.

  • September 25, 2024

    NYSE Cancels Proposal To Extend SPAC Merger Deadlines

    The New York Stock Exchange has pulled a proposal that would have provided special purpose acquisition companies with more time to complete mergers while remaining listed, several months after it sought regulatory approval for the extension.

  • September 25, 2024

    Bar Works Crook Gets 7 Years For Role In $57M Global Fraud

    A Manhattan federal judge hit an English real estate marketer with a seven-year prison sentence on Wednesday for joining what prosecutors call a global Ponzi scheme that tricked investors into pouring $57 million into the bogus workspace share venture Bar Works.

Expert Analysis

  • 5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits

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    Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Takeaways From SEC's New Data Breach Amendments

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent amendment of its consumer privacy rules to require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place to uncover data breaches and report them to customers evidences that protecting client records and information remains an SEC priority, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • NY Ruling Paves A Court Payment Shortcut For More Creditors

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    A recent New York state appeals court ruling expands access to an expedited statutory procedure for court enforcement of promissory notes or unconditional guaranties, allowing more creditors to minimize the risk of potentially challenging litigation on threshold issues, says Alexander Levi at Friedman Kaplan.

  • 9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense

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    The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • BF Borgers Clients Should Review Compliance, Liability

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    After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announced enforcement proceedings against audit firm BF Borgers for fabricating audit documentation for hundreds of public companies, those companies will need to follow special procedures for disclosure and reporting — and may need to prepare for litigation from the plaintiffs bar, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Opinion

    Del. Needs To Urgently Pass Post-Moelis Corporate Law Bill

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    After the Delaware Chancery Court's decision in West Palm Beach Firefighters' Pension v. Moelis sparked confusion around governance rights, recently proposed amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law would preserve the state's predictable corporate governance system, says Lawrence Hamermesh at Widener University Delaware Law School.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • FEPA Cases Are Natural Fit For DOJ's Fraud Section

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that its Fraud Section would have exclusive jurisdiction over the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act — a new law that criminalizes “demand side” foreign bribery — makes sense, given its experience navigating the political and diplomatic sensitivities of related statutes, say James Koukios and Rachel Davidson Raycraft at MoFo.

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