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Securities
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August 15, 2024
Shift4 Beats Suit Over 'Questionable' Accounting Practices
A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action accusing payment processing company Shift4 Payments Inc. of engaging in questionable accounting practices to keep its stock price afloat, ruling that the plaintiffs had not proven that the company knowingly lied, among other things.
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August 15, 2024
Judge Gives Plaintiffs' Attys $1M In Fees For Derivative Row
A Massachusetts federal judge sliced 60% off a request for attorney fees in a shareholder derivative lawsuit Wednesday, awarding plaintiffs' counsel $1 million for their work on the case, which led to a noncash settlement.
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August 15, 2024
SEC Defendants Fight Ex-Latham Atty For Whistleblower Docs
A credit reporting agency at the center of a $73 million U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit is seeking to force a retired Latham & Watkins LLP partner to hand over his discussions with a pair of SEC whistleblowers, arguing that the attorney's work for the tipsters isn't privileged.
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August 15, 2024
'What Is An NFT?': 9th Circ. Mulls Novel Bored Ape TM Fight
A Ninth Circuit judge considering whether a trial court correctly found artists owe millions for ripping off trademarks on the Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token collection questioned Thursday whether the NFT market is comparable to typical consumer markets, rhetorically asking, "What are we even talking about? What is an NFT?"
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August 15, 2024
No Harm In SEC Releasing More Info On Breach, Judge Told
A conservative civil liberties group questioned the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims that releasing additional materials related to its handling of an internal firewall breach would harm the public interest Thursday, telling a D.C. federal judge in court that so much was already out, more sunlight couldn't hurt.
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August 15, 2024
Levi & Korsinsky To Lead Hertz EV Cost Shareholder Suit
Levi & Korsinsky LLP will represent a proposed class of investors in car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings Inc. in litigation alleging it exaggerated demand for electric cars, then took a $200 million earnings hit as it worked to offload those cars.
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August 14, 2024
Synopsys Escapes Exclusivity Breach Suit At Chancery
Delaware's Chancery Court on Wednesday dismissed private equity firm Sunstone Partners' lawsuit accusing Synopsys Inc. of breaching an exclusivity provision for a potential sale of its security testing services business, saying Sunstone failed to adequately allege Synopsys solicited proposals from other potential buyers.
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August 14, 2024
SEC, CFTC To Collect $474M In Latest Texting Probe Fines
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday announced settlements totaling nearly $474 million with several broker-dealers, investment advisers and other registered firms over failures to maintain and preserve text messages and other electronic communications as required under federal law.
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August 14, 2024
FINRA Fines Morgan Stanley $400K Over Transaction Records
A Morgan Stanley wealth management unit will pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $400,000 to settle claims it left required information off of approximately 550,000 trade confirmations for certain municipal securities.
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August 14, 2024
Temu Parent Faces Investor Suit Over Security, Labor Claims
Chinese retail company PDD Holdings Inc., the owner of online merchandiser Temu, was hit with a proposed securities class action in New York federal court alleging it concealed from investors that it actively sought to put malware on its users' phones and sold goods that were likely made by forced labor.
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August 14, 2024
Exxon Can't Beat Investor Suit Over Permian Basin Claims
A Texas federal judge kept a proposed investor class action against Exxon Mobil intact, saying in an opinion that the investors' allegations claiming Exxon overvalued its Permian Basin holdings by billions of dollars and fudged its public statements were strong enough for the case to move forward.
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August 14, 2024
Class Split Disrupts Hearing On $8.7M Sears Suit Settlement
A Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores stockholder that saw its share appraisal case tanked by the company's bankruptcy in late 2022 won Court of Chancery clearance Wednesday to intervene with a novel, alternative claim for recovery through a separate, ongoing SHOS class damages suit.
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August 14, 2024
Supply Chain Automation Co. Symbiotic Faces Investor Suit
Symbotic Inc., a supply chain automation technology company, was hit with a proposed class action Wednesday alleging it misled investors about its growth prospects after announcing a roughly $13 million earnings miss amid unanticipated costs and construction delays for certain projects.
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August 14, 2024
NC Judge OKs $15.2M Deal For Medical Device Investors
A North Carolina federal judge has given the first green light to a $15.25 million settlement that will resolve a securities class action claiming that Bioventus Inc. misled investors about its internal controls and financial health and its readiness to implement new Medicare regulations, leading to inflated stock prices.
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August 14, 2024
Del. Justices Affirm $266M Atty Fee Award In Dell Class Suit
Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday backed a Chancery Court decision awarding an almost record-breaking $266.7 million fee for stockholder attorneys who settled a class action against Dell Technologies Inc. for $1 billion, saying the Chancery "did not exceed its discretion in setting the fee percentage."
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August 14, 2024
Computer Equipment Co. Hid Demand Decline, Investor Says
Cloud network equipment company Extreme Networks Inc. misled investors about its financial prospects and declining client demand as its customers' buying habits changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.
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August 14, 2024
CFTC Hits Vitol With First-Of-Its-Kind Position Limits Fine
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued its first-ever fine Wednesday against a trader exceeding position limits by holding the same contract across multiple exchanges, penalizing Swiss energy and commodities company Vitol SA for its positions on cattle and crude oil futures.
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August 14, 2024
Future Claim Question Clouds Chancery Trampoline Park Deal
A Chancery Court settlement that would assure founding investors in a chain of trampoline parks a fair stake in the company despite a controller's allegedly self-interested loans stopped just short of approval Wednesday, with a vice chancellor seeking assurances that the deal will pass state Supreme Court muster.
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August 14, 2024
Judge Blocks Missouri's Anti-ESG Rules, Handing SIFMA Win
A Missouri federal judge found Wednesday that the state's anti-ESG rules for brokers and advisers violate the First Amendment and are preempted by federal laws, handing the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association an early win in its suit against state officials.
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August 14, 2024
SC Justices Agree To Hear Murdaugh's Jury Tampering Claim
South Carolina's Supreme Court has agreed to hear disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh's appeal claiming a clerk of court tampered with the jury that convicted him of murder, invoking a rule that bypasses intermediate appeals when "significant public interest or a legal principle of major importance" hangs in the balance.
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August 14, 2024
Ex-Binance GC Joins Crypto Co. Bitget As Legal Chief
Seychelles-based crypto exchange Bitget on Wednesday announced it has hired a new chief legal officer who, among other roles, served as general counsel at Binance prior to its high-profile settlement with U.S. authorities last year.
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August 14, 2024
SEC Says Ga. Firm's Ponzi Scheme Fueled 'Lavish' Lifestyle
An Atlanta-area firm that promised investors lucrative returns on real estate deals was in reality running a "classic Ponzi scheme" by funneling portions of the $300 million it received into buying a yacht and a luxury condo for its founder, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.
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August 13, 2024
Atlassian Again Beats Investor Suit Over Software Co.'s Slump
Investors in software company Atlassian Corp. haven't shored up claims that the company hid a slowdown in a key growth metric before a 2022 earnings miss, a San Francisco federal judge has decided, dismissing a proposed class action but giving plaintiffs one more shot at their claims.
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August 13, 2024
Musk Can't Ax Fraud Suit Over Twitter Buy, Investors Say
A pension fund has fired back at Elon Musk's bid to dismiss the rest of its amended proposed securities fraud class action in New York federal court that alleges the X Corp. CEO covertly bought more than 5% of Twitter's stocks to save more than $143 million before announcing his intent to buy the social media platform.
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August 13, 2024
Judge Urged To Toss Novel Insider Trading Conviction
Former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer has moved to rid himself of a first-of-its-kind insider trading conviction, arguing that the government's case "watered down" the standard it had to prove by failing to demonstrate that he believed Ontrak was about to lose its biggest customer at the time he shed $20 million in stock.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
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.
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FEPA Cases Are Natural Fit For DOJ's Fraud Section
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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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling
Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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2 Oil Trader FCPA Pleas Highlight Fine-Reduction Factors
Recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements with Gunvor and Trafigura — the latest actions in a yearslong sweep of the commodities trading industry — reveal useful data points related to U.S. Department of Justice policies on cooperation credit and past misconduct, say Michael DeBernardis and Laura Perkins at Hughes Hubbard.
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Influencer Considerations As FINRA Initiates Crackdown
To avert risks when evaluating influencer and referral programs, firms should assess the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's recent settlements involving the supervision of social media tastemakers, as well as recent FINRA guidance in this area, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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New Crypto Reporting Will Require Rigorous Recordkeeping
The release of a form for reporting digital asset transactions is a pivotal moment in the Internal Revenue Service's efforts to track cryptocurrency activities that increases oversight by requiring brokers to report investor sales and exchanges, say Shaina Kamen and Max Angel at Holland & Knight.
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What Transactional Attys Must Know About Texas Biz Courts
As Texas prepares to launch its new business courts, transactional attorneys — especially those involved in commercial, securities and internal governance matters — should keep several issues in mind when considering use of the state's business court system to facilitate deals and settle disputes, say attorneys at Katten.
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Crypto Mixer Laundering Case Provides Evidentiary Road Map
A Washington, D.C., federal court’s recent decision to allow expert testimony on blockchain analysis software in a bitcoin mixer money laundering case — which ultimately ended in conviction — establishes a precedent for the admissibility of similar software-derived evidence, say Peter Hardy and Kelly Lenahan-Pfahlert at Ballard Spahr.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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5 Lessons From Ex-Vitol Trader's FCPA Conviction
The recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering conviction of former Vitol oil trader Javier Aguilar in a New York federal court provides defense takeaways on issues ranging from the definition of “domestic concern” to jury instruction strategy, says attorney Andrew Feldman.
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SEC Amendments May Launch New Execution Disclosure Era
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted amendments to Rule 605 of Regulation NMS for executions on covered orders in national market system stocks modernize and enhance execution quality reporting, but serious guidance is still needed to make the reports useful for the public investor, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Mitigating Incarceration's Impacts On Foreign Nationals
Sentencing arguments that highlighted the disparate impact incarceration would have on a British national recently sentenced for insider training by a New York district court, when compared to similarly situated U.S. citizens, provide an example of the advocacy needed to avoid or mitigate problems unique to noncitizen defendants, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony
In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.