Securities

  • October 17, 2024

    FTX Insider Cites 'Limited' Fraud Role In Bid To Avoid Prison

    The former head of engineering at FTX asked a Manhattan federal judge to spare him prison time in light of his cooperation with prosecutors and what he said was a relatively "limited" role in the crypto exchange's billion-dollar fraud.

  • October 16, 2024

    TD Bank's $3B AML Deal Sparks Scrutiny Of Its Oversight

    The long-standing, widespread compliance failures at the root of TD Bank's blockbuster $3 billion U.S. anti-money laundering settlement last week have stunned experts and brought tough punishment for the Canadian bank — but they're also raising questions about why regulators didn't act sooner.

  • October 16, 2024

    NY's Financial Regulator Releases AI Cybersecurity Guidance

    New York's Department of Financial Services issued new guidance Wednesday intended to give state-regulated financial institutions an outline for protecting against cybersecurity risks posed by artificial intelligence.

  • October 16, 2024

    Chinese AI Co. Hit With Investor Suit Over Nasdaq Compliance

    China-based artificial intelligence company Xiao-I Corp. was hit with a proposed investor class action in New York federal court alleging it downplayed increasing research and development costs that it was incurring, increasing the likelihood that it would fail to comply with the Nasdaq Stock Market's minimum price requirement after going public.

  • October 16, 2024

    Gatos Silver Investor Deal Gets Final OK, Attys Score $6M Fee

    Attorneys from Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP and The Schall Law Firm will receive over $6 million after representing investors in a settlement with precious metals company Gatos Silver Inc. over claims the company knowingly overstated expectations about the resources and reserves in its mine in Mexico.

  • October 16, 2024

    ConocoPhillips Targets Hedge Fund Over Del. Citgo Sale

    ConocoPhillips has initiated a new lawsuit in Delaware in an attempt to preserve the value of Citgo's indirect parent company, PDV Holding Inc., for an upcoming auction aimed at satisfying Venezuelan debt, as Connecticut hedge fund Gramercy allegedly threatens to undermine the long-awaited Citgo sales process.

  • October 16, 2024

    3rd Par Funding Exec Admits To Racketeering In $100M Scam

    The last member of the triumvirate behind Par Funding, a cash advance company that federal prosecutors say bilked investors out of $100 million, pleaded guilty to racketeering in Pennsylvania federal court Wednesday, just weeks before he was scheduled to stand trial.

  • October 16, 2024

    Atty Pressed On DMI Stock Drop Focus In Del. Merger Suit

    A Delaware vice chancellor repeatedly pressed an attorney for shareholders of 3D printer manufacturer The ExOne Co. Wednesday on the relative importance of a stock drop experienced by acquirer Desktop Metal Inc. before and after shareholders voted on a $575 million merger.

  • October 16, 2024

    Banks Ditch Exchange's Boycott Conspiracy Suit At 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a small trading exchange's effort to revive its claims that several major banks conspired to shut it out of the credit default swap market, saying the exchange failed to plausibly allege that the banks' conduct was the result of an unlawful agreement or conspiracy.

  • October 16, 2024

    Hawaii Utility Beats Investor Suit Over Wildfire, For Now

    A California judge on Tuesday dismissed a shareholder suit filed against Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. in the wake of a deadly fire on Maui in 2023, but will allow plaintiffs to amend their claims that the company failed to warn investors about its inadequate risk mitigation program.

  • October 16, 2024

    Pharma Co. Contractor Settles SEC Insider Trading Claim

    An information technology consultant for a Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $28,000 to resolve claims he immediately dumped shares of his client when he got wind of its yet-to-be announced plans for major layoffs.

  • October 16, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Co. Employee Traded On GSK Deal Info, SEC Says

    The former director of analytical development at Canada-based drug company Bellus Health Inc. has agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $120,000 to settle claims that he sold shares on nonpublic information about pharma giant GSK's impending takeover of his company, according to court filings.

  • October 16, 2024

    SEC To Settle Claims CBD Exec Took $13M From Hospital

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is ready to make a deal with a former cannabidiol products executive accused of taking $13 million from a hospital after falsely promising to deliver urgently needed masks during the height of the pandemic.

  • October 16, 2024

    Alphatec Investor Seeks $9.5M Atty Fee After Chancery Win

    A family office investment company that recently won a five-year battle over millions worth of securities purchase rights not honored by a surgical and medical device developer asked Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday to shift more than $9.5 million in fees and expenses to the developer.

  • October 16, 2024

    NYSE Seeks To Curb Reverse Splits In Latest Crackdown

    The New York Stock Exchange wants to limit companies' ability to rely on reverse stock splits to raise their share prices and avoid delisting, submitting a proposal shortly after regulators approved a Nasdaq plan to rein in such splits.

  • October 16, 2024

    SEC Data Contractor Faked Audit Certification, Feds Say

    The CEO of a company that received roughly $11 million from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to provide data infrastructure services was charged in D.C. federal court with creating a shell entity to fraudulently claim his business was certified for high-level reliability and security, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    PE Firm Trashed Exec To Avoid Payout In $98M Deal, Suit Says

    A Summit Partners affiliate and several executives concocted false allegations of misconduct to get out of fully compensating the owner of an investment management firm as part of an acquisition worth a reported $97.6 million, according to a complaint filed in Massachusetts state court.

  • October 16, 2024

    2 SDNY Terror Finance Cases Against Binance Stay Separate

    Two suits claiming Binance unlawfully fostered terrorist activity, filed in the wake of the cryptocurrency platform's $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, will proceed separately in the Southern District of New York, a Manhattan federal judge said Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    RTX To Pay $1B For Qatari Bribes And Defrauding US Gov't

    RTX Corp. and its Raytheon subsidiary have agreed to pay approximately $1 billion and enter into two separate deferred prosecution agreements in connection with a bribery scheme to secure Qatari military contracts, as well as separate ploys to defraud the U.S. government in deals for Patriot missile and radar systems.

  • October 16, 2024

    US Fails To Revoke Bail Of Crypto Chief Wanted In Fraud Case

    The U.S. government failed on Wednesday to keep the former chief executive of a $7.5 billion crypto-asset business in custody while he fights extradition for allegedly manipulating the market for his company's virtual tokens, as a judge deemed him a low flight risk.

  • October 15, 2024

    Conn. Trader Pilfered $4.1M From Struggling Firm, SEC Says

    A Greenwich, Conn.-based investment adviser stole more than $4.1 million from a pair of investment funds he managed to help prop up his family's "expensive lifestyle" and counter his personal financial woes, including several tax liens and foreclosure attempts on his home, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged.

  • October 15, 2024

    Santander Settles Investors' Squeeze-Out Suit For $162.5M

    Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. has agreed to shell out $162.5 million to put to rest stockholders' consolidated class action challenging a $2.5 billion minority squeeze-out merger, according to a stipulation filed Monday in Delaware's Court of Chancery.

  • October 15, 2024

    Exec's $77M WeWork Offer Was Stupid, Not Fraud, Jury Told

    Counsel for the former CEO of real estate investment firm Arciterra told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday his client was a fool for making what prosecutors described as a fake $77 million tender offer for a controlling stake in WeWork before its bankruptcy, but he wasn't trying to falsely pump up the coworking company's stock price.

  • October 15, 2024

    Crypto Huckster Slammed With 20 Years For Forcount Fraud

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an Ecuadorean man from Florida to 20 years in prison for pushing the $14 million, international Forcount cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme on his fellow Latinos over five years, saying he caused incalculable damage.

  • October 15, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Reboot Short Sellers' Suit Against Overstock

    In a decision dealing with matters of first impression, the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday declined to revive a hedge fund's proposed class action accusing Overstock.com Inc. and its leadership of manipulating the market when it said it would pay shareholders using cryptocurrency but abandoned the plan to force short sellers into a "squeeze."

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry

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    Companies in the EV manufacturing ecosystem are experiencing a boom in business, but with this boom comes increased regulatory and enforcement risks, from the corruption issues that have historically pervaded the extractive sector to newer risks posed by artificial intelligence, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • American Airlines ESG Ruling Could Alter ERISA Landscape

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    The Spence v. American Airlines ESG trial, speeding toward a conclusion in a Texas federal court, could foretell a dramatic expansion in ERISA liability, with plan sponsors vulnerable to claims that they didn't foresee short-term dips in stock prices, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • SVB Ch. 11 Shows Importance Of Filing Proof Of Claim Early

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    After a New York bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in SVB’s Chapter 11 case denied late claims filing requests related to post-bar date events, parties with potential claims against a debtor may need to seriously consider filing protective proofs of claim, says Kyle Arendsen at Squire Patton.

  • Del. Dispatch: 27.6% Stockholder Not A Controller

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in Sciannella v. AstraZeneca — which found that the pharma giant, a 26.7% stockholder of Viela Bio Inc., was not a controller of Viela, despite having management control — shows that overall context matters when challenging transactions on breach of fiduciary duty grounds, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Cyber Incident Response Checklist For SEC Compliance

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    In light of recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which clarified the distinction between two types of cybersecurity incident disclosures, companies should align their materiality assessment, incident response and disclosure control processes to bolster compliance and provide a measure of protection, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Loss Causation Ruling Departs From Usual Securities Cases

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    A California federal court recently dismissed Ramos v. Comerica, finding that the allegations failed to establish loss causation, but the reasoning is in tension with the pleading-stage approaches generally followed by both courts and economists in securities fraud litigation, say Jesse Jensen and Aasiya Glover at Bernstein Litowitz.

  • A Simple Proposal For Improving E-Discovery In MDLs

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    Given the importance of e-discovery in multidistrict litigation, courts, parties and counsel shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel in each newly consolidated case — and a simple process for sharing e-discovery lessons and knowledge across MDLs could benefit everyone involved, particularly clients, say Benjamin Barnett and Shauna Itri at Seeger Weiss.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • What FTX Case Taught Us About Digital Asset Recoverability

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    FTX's Chapter 11 plan has drawn lots of attention, but the focus should be on the anticipated outcome for investors, which counters several myths about digital currencies, innovation and recoverability, says Kyla Curley at StoneTurn.

  • How To Survive Shareholder Activism

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    In an era where shareholder activism is on the rise, companies must identify weaknesses, clearly communicate strategies, update board composition and engage with shareholders consistently in order to avoid disruptive shareholder activism and safeguard the interests of both the company and its shareholders, say J.T. Ho at Orrick and Greg Taxin at Spotlight Advisors.

  • 'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed

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    A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • Will Texas Stock Exchange Provide Regulatory Haven?

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    While the newly proposed Texas Stock Exchange may represent a market reaction to increasingly complex regulations, those looking to list on a national securities exchange should consider that their choice of an exchange may not relieve them of some of the most burdensome public company requirements, say Elizabeth McNichol and Ryan Lilley at Katten.

  • Equity Rights Offering Considerations As Maturity Cliff Looms

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    Current market uncertainties make an equity rights offering — involving affiliate backstop investors — a cost-effective, capital-raising transaction for distressed companies looking to manage their leverage ahead of the impending maturity of a substantial number of COVID-era debt issuances, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

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