Securities

  • May 19, 2026

    CFTC Sues Minnesota Over Law Banning Prediction Markets

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Minnesota on Tuesday to block a newly enacted ban on prediction markets, the sixth state the CFTC has taken to federal court to assert control over regulation of the markets.

  • May 19, 2026

    Alphabet Investors Win Class Cert. In Ad Auction Suit

    A California federal judge certified a class of Alphabet investors accusing Google and CEO Sundar Pichai of misleading the market about whether its digital ad auctions favored Facebook's advertising network, finding common questions outweigh individualized issues.

  • May 19, 2026

    Webster Bank Investor Drops Suit Over $12B Santander Sale

    A shareholder of Webster Financial Corp. withdrew with prejudice his lawsuit alleging the bank's expected $12.3 billion cash-and-stock sale to Banco Santander SA undervalued Webster while enriching its CEO, according to a notice filed in Connecticut state court Monday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Investor Who Lost $586K To Lead McDermott Stock Suit Subclass

    A Texas federal judge has appointed a man who claims some $586,833 in losses to lead a subclass of stock purchasers in a suit accusing energy industry engineering giant McDermott International Inc. of misleading investors during its $6 billion merger with Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. NV in 2018.

  • May 19, 2026

    NJ Plans To Take 3rd Circ. Kalshi Loss To US Supreme Court

    New Jersey plans to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a recent Third Circuit decision that upheld an injunction on the state's attempt to ban sports prediction markets, according to a joint status report filed by the state and KalshiEx LLC in New Jersey federal court. 

  • May 19, 2026

    Novo Nordisk Says Investor Suit Pleadings Are Impermissible

    Novo Nordisk AS urged a New Jersey federal court to toss a proposed securities class action accusing it of misleading investors about its 2025 revenue outlook, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to plead any materially false or misleading statements.

  • May 19, 2026

    Del. Judge Pushes Firms To Back Up 2nd Bid To DQ Her

    A Delaware vice chancellor has told Friedlander & Gorris PA and two other firms to provide more information in their second bid to disqualify her from presiding over Chancery Court litigation because she previously was an attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

  • May 19, 2026

    Ex-Trader Says Crypto Co.'s Bid For Sanctions Is 'Unfounded'

    A former trader said a cryptocurrency company is using an "unfounded" characterization of his deposition conduct to seek sanctions and lend credence to facts it hasn't otherwise been able to prove in its suit accusing him of usurping $8.1 million in digital assets.

  • May 19, 2026

    Brother May Pay Ex-BigLaw Atty's Legal Fees In Insider Case

    A former BigLaw associate charged with orchestrating a sweeping insider trading scheme can have his legal expenses covered by his co-defendant brother if the two waive potential conflicts, a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    THL Partners' Agiliti Buyout Suit To Settle For $32M

    A proposed $32 million settlement would end consolidated Delaware Chancery Court litigation challenging private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP's $2.5 billion take-private acquisition of medical equipment company Agiliti Inc., resolving claims that minority stockholders were squeezed out at an unfair price.

  • May 19, 2026

    Investors Seek To Halt $16B Argentina Award Amid US Appeal

    A group of minority shareholders of a nationalized oil company urged a court on Tuesday to stay English proceedings that seek to enforce a now-overturned $16 billion judgment in New York against Argentina while a U.S. appeal is underway.

  • May 18, 2026

    Nikola Founder Accused Of Dodging $2.5M Settlement Share

    Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton "has not paid a dime" of his $2.5 million share of an eight-figure settlement resolving shareholder litigation over a fraud-shadowed special purpose acquisition company merger, the bankrupt electric vehicle company's trustee claims, asking the Delaware Chancery Court to hold the billionaire in contempt.

  • May 18, 2026

    Pot Co. Fraud Suit Over $13M Tax Debt Ends In Settlement

    Investors have agreed to end a lawsuit against the former CEO of cannabis firm Devi Holdings Inc., claiming the executive and early investors hid over $13 million in unpaid taxes to induce $25.9 million in stock purchases that later became worthless, according to a Florida federal judge's order.

  • May 18, 2026

    FirstEnergy Urges 6th Circ. To Again Nix Investors' Class Cert.

    FirstEnergy Corp. is once again asking the Sixth Circuit to curb a class action alleging it defrauded investors by hiding its involvement in a $1.3 billion bribery scandal, urging the court to overturn class certification a second time.

  • May 18, 2026

    Ex-Austrian Bank CEO To Plead Out In $170M Odebrecht Case

    The former CEO of Austrian lender Meinl Bank AG who was extradited from the U.K. has reached a tentative deal to resolve criminal charges that he helped Odebrecht SA hide $170 million in funds used to bribe officials around the world and defraud the Brazilian government, a Brooklyn federal court heard Monday.

  • May 18, 2026

    Judge Lauds Wells Fargo Settlement In 'Fake' Diversity Suit

    A California federal judge has given final approval to a deal between Wells Fargo investors and executives in a derivative suit claiming the bank's leadership failed to address the company's discriminatory lending practices and engaged in "fake" interviews with diverse candidates, calling the assistance fund resulting from the settlement "significant."

  • May 18, 2026

    Florida Bank Shareholder Wins Injunction Over Bylaw Changes

    A Florida bank must hold off on selling its assets and postpone its annual shareholder meeting, a federal judge ruled, saying the bank's biggest shareholder presented credible evidence suggesting that the directors rigged corporate bylaws to keep themselves in charge following a federal crackdown on the bank's cannabis-related business.

  • May 18, 2026

    Real Estate Broker Gets 55 Months In $2.25M Investor Fraud

    A former real estate professional was sentenced to 55 months in prison by a Washington federal judge on Friday, after being convicted for conning $2 million from investors that would purportedly go toward purchasing and renovating properties, but was actually used to buy, among other things, a customized Tesla and a diamond ring.

  • May 18, 2026

    House Ag Leaders Urge Trump To Fill Bipartisan CFTC Seats

    Leaders of the House agriculture committee are jointly urging President Donald Trump to nominate bipartisan candidates to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to serve alongside lone Republican Chairman Michael Selig.

  • May 18, 2026

    Fintech Yotta To Pay Calif. $1M Over False FDIC Claims

    California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has brought two fintech-focused actions, levying a $1 million fine against a partner of collapsed fintech Synapse and separately mandating a bitcoin ATM operator shut down its kiosks in the state.

  • May 18, 2026

    Chancery Sends Sinovac Biotech Suit To Antigua And Barbuda

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday dismissed a shareholder suit against Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and several investors, ruling a fight over control of the China-based vaccine maker belongs in Antigua and Barbuda, where Sinovac is incorporated, rather than in Delaware courts.

  • May 18, 2026

    American Express Hit With 401(k) Target-Date Fund Suit

    Former American Express workers hit the credit card giant with a proposed class action in New York federal court, alleging that underperforming target-date and other investment funds in the company's 401(k) plan — with approximately $9 billion in assets and 40,000 participants — lost workers hundreds of millions in future savings.

  • May 18, 2026

    Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

    A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

  • May 18, 2026

    Justices Skip Review Of Accountant Strict Liability Standard

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Ninth Circuit decision holding that legal liability does not extend to auditors who certify a client's financial statements for initial public offerings, even if those statements are later found to contain alleged misstatements.

  • May 18, 2026

    SEC Ends 'Gag Rule' Policy For Enforcement Settlements

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday scrapped a decades-old enforcement policy that prohibited settling parties from denying the agency's allegations against them, saying the policy made it appear as though the SEC was trying to "shield itself from criticism."

Expert Analysis

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

    Author Photo

    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Section 220 Information Strategy

    Author Photo

    Plaintiffs filing AI washing claims will likely use Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law to obtain internal board records, but 2025 amendments have fundamentally changed the landscape of presuit shareholder document demands in ways that create both risk and opportunity for companies, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Del. Dispatch: The Hurdles To Early Fraud Claim Dismissal

    Author Photo

    Particularly where the alleged facts may suggest potentially blatant or egregious misconduct, the pleading-stage standards highlighted in the Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in Diem v. Maisonette provide a ready route for the nondismissal of claims before a trial, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

    Author Photo

    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

    Author Photo

    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

    Author Photo

    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

    Author Photo

    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • How Del. Courts Will Likely Evaluate AI Oversight Claims

    Author Photo

    While no Delaware court has thus far adjudicated a claim based on alleged board failures to oversee artificial intelligence risk, recent Court of Chancery decisions suggest that familiar Caremark principles will be applied in predictable but consequential ways, particularly when AI touches mission‑critical operations, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • SEC Clarifies 'Baby Shelf' Restrictions For Small Cos.

    Author Photo

    For smaller public companies looking to access the capital markets, the so-called baby shelf requirements can be a significant limitation, but recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission helps to alleviate the effect of subsequent baby shelf restrictions on an at-the-market facility, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

    Author Photo

    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Key Tronic Case Shows SEC Isn't Ignoring Controls Violations

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first nonfraud enforcement action against a public company during Chairman Paul Atkins' tenure reflects the commission’s willingness to bring enforcement actions that charge books and records and internal controls violations, despite deviating from policing technical violations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • How Treasury's Stablecoin Test Will Shape State Oversight

    Author Photo

    The Treasury Department's recently proposed principles for judging whether state stablecoin regimes are "substantially similar" to the federal framework signal that issuers should expect stricter benchmarking against the bank agencies' standards, limited state flexibility and heightened pressure to reassess compliance as rules take shape, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

    Author Photo

    In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

    Author Photo

    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here