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Securities
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May 23, 2024
House Passes Bill To Block Fed-Issued Digital Dollar
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar in a vote that fell starkly along party lines, with Democrats decrying the bill as fearmongering over privacy concerns and a departure from the previous day's bipartisan passage of a regulatory framework for digital assets.
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May 23, 2024
Wow Such Basic: Justices Back Crypto Fans In Dogecoin Duel
It's up to judges, not arbitrators, to figure out whether contracts between businesses and consumers have subtly superseded earlier agreements to hash out disputes in arbitration rather than litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
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May 22, 2024
American Air Pilots Win Cert. Over 401(k)'s ESG Investments
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday certified a class of pilots accusing American Airlines of packing its $26 billion retirement plan with investments that focused too heavily on environmental, social and governance factors, like climate change, and too little on financial returns.
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May 22, 2024
Activist Investor Must Face Exxon's Suit Over Proxy Proposal
A Texas federal judge Wednesday refused to dismiss an Exxon Mobil Corp. lawsuit against a U.S.-based activist investor over a now-withdrawn shareholder proposal concerning climate change, saying it isn't certain they won't refile their proposal in the future.
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May 22, 2024
Founders Of BP's Archaea Looted From Own Co., Suit Says
A group of fraternity brothers who founded waste management company Noble Environmental Inc. and later sold a venture called Archaea Energy to BP has been hit with a shareholder derivative suit in Delaware Chancery Court alleging the fraternity brothers stole billions of dollars from the company and breached their fiduciary duties to minority shareholders.
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May 22, 2024
Investors Say FIS Must Investigate Derivative Suit's Claims
An investor of fintech corporation Fidelity National Information Services has pushed back on the company and its executives' bid to escape a derivative lawsuit over a $46 billion market cap drop resulting from a business spinoff, saying the company must investigate the suit's allegations.
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May 22, 2024
US House Passes Crypto Bill Over SEC, White House Dissent
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a Republican-led framework to regulate digital assets despite pushback from many Democrats, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the White House, which questioned whether the bill will actually provide the clarity it promises.
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May 22, 2024
Ex-FTX Exec Deserves Up To 7 Years For Fraud, Feds Say
Federal prosecutors have told a New York federal judge they are seeking a five- to seven-year prison sentence for former FTX executive Ryan Salame, arguing that his campaign finance offense "is one of the largest-ever in American history."
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May 22, 2024
Binance.US Beats Fla. Regulator's Suspension Order
A Florida state appeals court agreed with Binance.US on Wednesday that the state's financial regulator shouldn't have denied the cryptocurrency exchange the ability to do business in the state after its affiliate and founder pled guilty last year, and that the agency didn't follow proper procedure in blocking Binance's operations.
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May 22, 2024
Robbins Geller, Motley Rice Seek To Rep Solar Co. Investors
Motley Rice LLC and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP want to represent investors of energy company Shoals Technologies Group Inc. in consolidated proposed class action claims taking aim at the company and its brass and underwriters for allegedly concealing costly issues with wires in its products.
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May 22, 2024
DC Judge Ships CFTC Election Betting Suit Back To Texas
A federal judge in the District of Columbia said Wednesday that a case challenging a Commodity Futures Trading Commission ban on an elections betting platform should never have been sent to her court, shipping the lawsuit back to Texas over the objections of the agency.
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May 22, 2024
Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron
A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.
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May 22, 2024
EB-5 Investors Say Developers' $150K Shouldn't Go To Attys
Chinese investors looking to recoup a nearly $40 million investment in failed developments urged an Illinois federal court against allowing bankrupt developers to use $150,000 in assets to pay the developers' attorneys, saying the lawyers shouldn't be paid before the investors.
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May 22, 2024
1st Circ. Affirms UBS Win In Puerto Rico Pension Fight
The First Circuit said public pensioners in Puerto Rico can't advance their claims that UBS Financial Services illegally underwrote $3 billion in bonds, ruling that the island's financial restructuring plan transferred the right to those claims to a special committee.
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May 22, 2024
Archegos Exec Says Founder Didn't Direct Him To Lie
The former director of risk management for Archegos told a Manhattan federal jury on Wednesday that the collapsed hedge fund's founder never instructed him to lie to banks in order to finance trading activity, as a defense lawyer sought to poke holes in the government's fraud case.
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May 22, 2024
Del. Justices Reverse BitGo-Galaxy Merger Suit Dismissal
Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit that cryptocurrency wallet provider BitGo Holding Inc. filed against digital assets firm Galaxy Digital Holdings Inc., remanding the dispute over their broken $1.2 billion merger back to Chancery Court to resolve multiple "ambiguities."
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May 22, 2024
Doc Gets 3 Mos. For Alexion Trades Despite 'Meaningful Job'
A doctor was sentenced to three months in prison Wednesday for insider trading on an Alexion Pharmaceuticals acquisition, with a Manhattan federal judge saying the defendant's treatment of critically ill, underserved kidney disease patients does not amount to a "get out of jail free card."
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May 22, 2024
'Pump-And-Dump' Claims Sputter In 'Disorganized' RICO Suit
A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday freed multiple defendants accused of funding a "pump-and-dump" scheme, saying a company suing over shareholders' alleged $3 million losses couldn't prove that the defendants made any plans together, while taking jabs at both sides' "disorganized" filings.
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May 22, 2024
Del. Supreme Court Affirms AMC Shareholder Settlement
Delaware's Supreme Court declared Wednesday that there shall be no sequel to the drama from common stockholders of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. who objected to a class settlement of litigation in the state's Chancery Court.
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May 22, 2024
Rakoff Punts Terraform Args Amid Big-Dollar Settlement Talk
A hearing on whether Terraform Labs and its creator Do Kwon must pay billions of dollars in penalties after being found liable for fraud by a Manhattan jury was delayed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who said the sides are actively pursuing a settlement.
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May 22, 2024
Fraud Defendant Strikes Deal To End Ch. 11, Sell House
A corporation owned by the defendant in a $93 million securities fraud case Wednesday told a Florida bankruptcy judge it has reached a deal to end its Chapter 11 case and sell the multimillion-dollar Coral Gables home that is its sole asset.
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May 22, 2024
NYSE Parent Agrees To $10M SEC Fine Over Cyber Breach
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations that it failed to timely report a data breach that impacted the New York Stock Exchange and eight other subsidiaries.
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May 22, 2024
Citigroup Fined £61.6M For Trading Systems Failings
Two finance regulators said Wednesday they have fined Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. a total of £61.6 million ($78.4 million) for failures in trading systems that led to the lender mistakenly selling $1.4 billion in equities into European markets.
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May 21, 2024
Feds Can't Show Autonomy Jury Report Showing Audit Issues
The California federal judge overseeing a criminal trial over claims Autonomy's former CEO conned HP into buying the U.K. company for $11.7 billion denied prosecutors' bid Tuesday to show jurors a British accounting watchdog's findings that Deloitte failed to catch misleading information in Autonomy's books.
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May 21, 2024
Ex-AUSA Blames Inexperience For Outcome Forfeiture Error
Former prosecutors who pursued the $1 billion fraud trial against Outcome Health executives said Tuesday they never suspected their asset restraint efforts were an overreach, noting they lacked the expertise to notice potential mistakes themselves.
Expert Analysis
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New SDNY Whistleblower Program May Be A Game-Changer
A new pilot program in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York promises to immunize from prosecution certain individuals who blow the whistle on financial crimes and corruption, and if similar self-disclosure programs are any indication, this significant new policy may measurably increase white collar investigations, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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A Guide To New Russia Sanctions For Foreign Financial Cos.
Attorneys at Foley Hoag take foreign financial companies on a deep dive into the compliance advice the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control issued after President Joe Biden's December executive order widened a Russian import ban and authorized sanctions against businesses that transact with Russia's military-industrial base.
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The Questions Around Prometheum's SEC-Compliant Strategy
While the rest of the crypto industry has been engaged in a long-running battle to escape the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's jurisdiction, a once-obscure startup called Prometheum has instead embraced the SEC's view to become the first crypto special-purpose broker-dealer, but it's unclear whether it can turn its favored status into a workable business, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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Reverse Merger Tips For Biotechs After SEC's Recent Actions
Several recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission developments could limit the viability of reverse mergers for biotech companies, and will require additional creativity and analysis for private companies looking to go public, say attorneys at Orrick.
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Black-Led VC Fund Case Could Hinge On Nature Of Grants
Organizations whose missions involve any manner of race-conscious funding should closely monitor arguments this week in American Alliance v. Fearless Fund, a case filed against a grant program that seeks to address the gap in venture capital funding for Black women-led businesses, which will examine whether grants are charitable under Civil Rights Act Section 1981 liability, say Kali Schellenberg and John Stapleton at LeVan Stapleton, and Kenneth Trujillo at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
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Ex-OpenSea Staffer Case May Clarify When Info Is Property
In considering the appeal of a former OpenSea manager’s wire fraud conviction in U.S. v. Chastain, the Second Circuit may soon provide guidance about whether economic information is traditional property in certain insider trading prosecutions — a theory of fraud that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly narrowed, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Takeaways From SEC's Aggressive Cybersecurity Moves
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's intensifying policy on cybersecurity and securities violations in the wake of a data breach — like its enforcement action against SolarWinds and its security officer — has emboldened shareholders to file related suits, creating a heightened threat to public companies, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial
Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.
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NY Discovery Stay Ruling Empowers Securities Defendants
A New York state appeals court’s recent decision in Camelot Event v. Morgan Stanley — which extends a federal securities law's discovery stay to state courts — clarifies an issue that has perplexed state courts across the country and provides the advantage of reduced discovery costs to securities defendants, say Katherine Kelly Fell and Jeremy Wertz at Milbank.
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Del. Dispatch: Efforts Clause Trumps Contractual Right
The Delaware Court of Chancery's Chordia v. Lee ruling this month — that the efforts clause set forth in a stockholders' agreement overrode the acquired company's right to fire its officers and employees — highlights key considerations for parties in such agreements to avoid post-acquisition disputes, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success
Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: A Strong Year For MDLs
While the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted even fewer MDL petitions last year than in 2022, hitting a 21st-century low, a closer look at the record-setting number of total actions encompassed within current proceedings reveals that MDL practice is still quite robust, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.
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What EU And UK Corp. Corruption Reform Means For US Cos.
Legislative developments in the U.K. and European Union have signaled that the prosecution of fraud and corruption is becoming a greater priority, and large U.S. companies with a global presence should view them as an opportunity to create and revise their global compliance programs, say attorneys at DLA Piper.