Securities

  • October 08, 2024

    PetroSaudi Says US Not Entitled To All Of $380M Award

    A PetroSaudi unit said it wants a California federal court to make clear that only 5% of funds should go to the Biden administration in a dispute over the proceeds of a nearly $380 million arbitral award allegedly tied to embezzled 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds.

  • October 08, 2024

    SEC Texting Sweep: Message Received, Guidance Needed

    After financial firms have paid billions of dollars in recordkeeping fines around employees' use of off-channel communications, recent criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approach by its Republican members has drawn support from attorneys who worry the agency is pushing for an impossible standard of perfect compliance.

  • October 08, 2024

    OneCoin Co-Conspirator Wants No Prison For Laundering Plea

    A business consultant and investor who pled guilty to laundering approximately $35 million as part of the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam has asked a New York federal judge for a probationary sentence and a minimal fine, arguing that he had a minor role in the scheme compared to other defendants and has lived an otherwise law-abiding life.

  • October 08, 2024

    AI Software Co. Touted Inflated Revenue, Investor Claims

    Artificial intelligence software company iLearningEngines has been hit with a proposed class action alleging investors were damaged when a short seller report revealed that the company was overstating its Indian revenue by nearly 99% by contracting with a related party to inflate sales.

  • October 08, 2024

    FTX's Ellison To Give Up 'Substantially All Of Her Assets'

    Former FTX insider Caroline Ellison agreed to give up "substantially all of her assets" and cooperate with the FTX bankruptcy estate in a deal to resolve the claims against her in an adversary proceeding that sought to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from the collapsed crypto exchange's former leadership.

  • October 08, 2024

    Chancery OKs $9.75M In Atty Fees For SPAC Stock Drop Suits

    Settlements and attorney fee rulings closed the book Tuesday on two GigCapital-related blank check deals that settled before trial in Delaware's Court of Chancery, with a vice chancellor approving combined public stockholder payouts and fee awards of $7.25 million and $2.5 million.

  • October 08, 2024

    Elanco Misled Investors About Dog Medicine Safety, Suit Says

    An Elanco investor lodged a proposed securities class action against the animal pharmaceutics company on Monday, telling a Maryland federal court that the company misled investors about the safety of a canine dermatitis treatment it was developing and its timelines for drug launches.

  • October 08, 2024

    SEC Approves Nasdaq Plan To Accelerate Delistings

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a Nasdaq rule change that would enable the stock exchange to accelerate removals of struggling companies that try to delay delistings through the use of reverse stock splits.

  • October 08, 2024

    Whole Earth Sued In Chancery For Docs On Take-Private Deal

    A stockholder of global food company Whole Earth Brands sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery late Monday for alleged failure to provide requested books and records on the company's agreement in February to be taken private by an affiliate of Sababa Holdings Free LLC.

  • October 08, 2024

    Crypto.com Sues SEC Over 'Unlawful' Crypto Approach

    Crypto.com became the latest crypto exchange to push back on a potential enforcement case from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday when it sued the regulator after allegedly receiving a notice that the agency believes it operates as an unregistered broker-dealer and clearing agency.

  • October 08, 2024

    Morgan Lewis Lands Capital Markets Pro From Davis Polk

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Tuesday that it has added to its capital markets and public companies practice with the hiring of an attorney who formerly was at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and served as an attorney-adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • October 08, 2024

    Willkie Adds Faegre ERISA Litigation Co-Head With Duo Hire

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is expanding its Midwest team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigator and a Chapman and Cutler LLP finance expert as partners in its Chicago office.

  • October 07, 2024

    AbbVie's Top Brass Escape Suit Over Rinvoq Claims, For Now

    An Illinois federal judge Friday tossed AbbVie investors' suit challenging directors' statements about the potential for its rheumatoid arthritis drug Rinvoq to be approved for other conditions, a possibility that collapsed over safety risks with Pfizer's competing drug Xeljanz, finding the investors don't allege the directors knew Xeljanz's results would affect Rinvoq.

  • October 07, 2024

    Seinfeld-Inspired Investors Sue Bitwise Over $2M Crypto Losses

    A group of family-owned investment companies named after a gag from "Seinfeld" sued crypto asset manager Bitwise and its executives for allegedly duping them into staying invested in one of its funds as it sought a conversion to a less-preferable structure, causing them $1.9 million in losses.

  • October 07, 2024

    Activist Short Seller Blasts 'Preposterous' SEC Fraud Suit

    The founder of Citron Research, a newsletter for short sellers, has asked a California federal court to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud suit against him and his investment advisory firm, arguing the suit "strategically omits" the disclaimers it accused the founder of not making.

  • October 07, 2024

    Morgan Lewis Taps SEC Enforcement Vet As DC Partner

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Monday that it has bolstered its securities enforcement and litigation team by hiring as a new partner the former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission division of enforcement associate director, a 17-year agency veteran who supervised many of the SEC's groundbreaking or noteworthy crypto actions, including one against Kim Kardashian.

  • October 07, 2024

    5th Circ. Casts Doubt On SEC's Updated Short-Selling Rules

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's arguments for maintaining two regulations aiming to bolster transparency around short selling in the marketplace, with one judge asking whether the agency was "having cake and eating it too," by claiming that the rules were not interconnected in a way that was fatally flawed.

  • October 07, 2024

    FTX Gets OK For Ch. 11 Plan After Objections Overruled

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said he would confirm the Chapter 11 reorganization plan of FTX Trading Ltd. after overruling several objections Monday, beginning a process of distributing billions of dollars to customers less than two years after the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed.

  • October 07, 2024

    Justices Won't Hear Commerzbank RMBS Fight With US Bank

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down a bid by Commerzbank AG to revive more of its claims against U.S. Bank NA in a long-running lawsuit over pre-2008 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts, declining to review a recent Second Circuit decision in the case.

  • October 07, 2024

    5 Decisions To Know By Outgoing Mass. Chief Judge

    Chief Massachusetts U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, who announced Monday that he will step back from full-time judicial service next summer, has presided over numerous significant cases in recent years, including a dispute over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's disgorgement powers and a birth defects suit against GlaxoSmithKline.

  • October 07, 2024

    Trio Of 1st Circ. Criminal Cases Turned Away By Top Court

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review three white collar cases on appeal from the First Circuit, including challenges to a cryptocurrency founder's conviction for investor theft and an Illinois attorney's fraud and money laundering conspiracy verdict.

  • October 07, 2024

    Coinbase Says Ripple Appeal Supports Its Own 2nd Circ. Bid

    Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase told a New York federal judge that the Second Circuit would be best served by reviewing the firm's bid to toss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement suit against it now that the SEC has appealed a judgment with similar legal questions in its case against Ripple Labs.

  • October 07, 2024

    Feds Seek Tape, Allege Witness Tampering In WeWork Case

    Prosecutors asked Sunday to subpoena a recording of an incident in which they say a former investment firm CEO who is accused of making a fraudulent offer for WeWork shares had improper contact with a witness expected to testify at the ex-CEO's upcoming trial.

  • October 07, 2024

    DOJ Fraud Assistant Chief Joins McGovern Weems In DC

    An official in the U.S. Department of Justice's Fraud Section has left to join McGovern Weems LLC after a decade with the federal agency, bringing extensive trial experience to the white collar firm.

  • October 07, 2024

    CM Law Grows With Litigation Partners In NY, DC And Texas

    CM Law PLLC, formerly known as Culhane Meadows Haughian & Walsh PLLC, has grown with the addition of three litigation partners in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Texas.

Expert Analysis

  • Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence

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    As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Unpacking The Latest Tranche Of Sanctions Targeting Russia

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    Hundreds of new U.S. sanctions and export-control measures targeting trade with Russia, issued last week in connection with the G7 summit, illustrate the fluidity of trade-focused restrictions and the need to constantly refresh compliance analyses, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Considerations For Cooperation Contracts In Loan Trades

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    Significant challenges to settling trades can arise when lenders of syndicated bank loans enter into defense-oriented cooperation agreements, which are growing in popularity, but working through these issues on the front end of a trade can save hours down the road, says Robert Waldner at Crowell & Moring.

  • Emerging Trends In ESG-Focused Securities Litigation

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    Based on a combination of shareholder pressure, increasing regulatory scrutiny and proposed rulemaking, there has been a proliferation of litigation over public company disclosures and actions regarding environmental, social, and governance factors — and the overall volume of such class actions will likely increase in the coming years, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Next Steps After 5th Circ. Nixes Private Fund Adviser Rules

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent toss of key U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules regarding private fund advisers represents a setback for the regulator, but open questions, including the possibility of an SEC petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, mean it's still too early to consider the matter closed, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Takeaways From Nat'l Security Division's Historic Declination

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    The Justice Department National Security Division's recent decision not to prosecute a biochemical company for an employee's export control violation marks its first declination under a new corporate enforcement policy, sending a clear message to companies that self-disclosure of misconduct may confer material benefits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Deciphering SEC Disgorgement 4 Years After Liu

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to preserve SEC disgorgement with limits, courts have continued to rule largely in the agency’s favor, but a recent circuit split over the National Defense Authorization Act's import may create hurdles for the SEC, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Updates To CFTC Large Trader Report Rules Leave Questions

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's updated large trader position reporting rules for futures and options is a much-needed change that modernizes a rule that had gone largely untouched since the 1980s, but the updates leave important questions unanswered, say Katherine Cooper and Maggie DePoy at BCLP.

  • Risks And Promises Of AI In The Financial Services Industry

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    Generative artificial intelligence has immense potential to revolutionize the financial services industry, but firms considering its use should first prepare to show their customers and the increasingly divided international regulatory community that they can manage the risks inherent to the new technology, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.

  • Beware Shifting Provisions In Middle-Market Loan Documents

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    In recent years, many credit facility provisions previously considered to be market standard have been negotiated, often turning in favor of borrowers, demanding renewed diligence from workout officers and restructuring counsel operating in the middle market, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • How SEC Could Tackle AI Regulations On Brokers, Advisers

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission held an open meeting of its Investor Advisory Committee on June 6 to review the use of artificial intelligence in investment decision making, showing that regulators are being careful not to stifle innovation or implement rules that will quickly be made irrelevant after their passage, says Brian Korn at Manatt Phelps.

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