Securities

  • September 06, 2024

    Baker McKenzie M&A Partner Jumps To Bell Nunnally

    Dallas-based business law firm Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP has hired former Baker McKenzie partner Jonathan Farrokhnia, who told Law360 on Friday that his decision to join the firm was based on the advantages that come from working for a smaller firm.

  • September 06, 2024

    SEC Accuses Esmark Of Lying About US Steel Bid

    A failed bid to acquire U.S. Steel has landed Pittsburgh-based Esmark Inc. in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which announced Friday that it had fined the company and its founder for falsely claiming they had the money to buy the manufacturing giant.

  • September 05, 2024

    Coinbase, Execs Must Face Investor Suit Over Business Risks

    A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday declined to dismiss a consolidated investor class action against Coinbase and its executives over disclosures the cryptocurrency exchange made about certain business risks it faced, although he trimmed certain allegations deemed to be, among other things, corporate puffery.

  • September 05, 2024

    TikToker Conned Followers With Real Estate Fraud, Feds Say

    A social media influencer faces criminal charges and a suit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after he allegedly made false claims to investors that money put into purported real estate projects would earn them passive income.

  • September 05, 2024

    GitLab's AI Hype Was Too Optimistic, Investor Suit Says

    Software development collaboration platform GitLab is the latest company to face claims that it misguided investors about how artificial intelligence might bolster its fortunes as it faced other headwinds, including mounting costs for a China-based joint venture, that caused its share price to sink.

  • September 05, 2024

    CFTC Says Ex-Commish's Signature Was Forged For $1.5M Scam

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued the operator of an unlicensed commodity pool for allegedly targeting dozens of Spanish-speaking immigrants in a $1.5 million Ponzi-like scheme that used a fictitious license containing a counterfeit CFTC seal and a forged commissioner signature to falsely promise investors guaranteed monthly returns.

  • September 05, 2024

    Class Attys Vie To Lead Drug Co. Insider Trading Suit In Del.

    A courtroom face-off over lead stockholder counsel duties in a Delaware Chancery Court case accusing a biopharmaceutical company's directors of insider trading and fiduciary duty breaches got edgy Thursday, after one of the plaintiff-side legal teams contended that the other's case was irreparably hobbled by conflicts of interest.

  • September 05, 2024

    Ex-SEC Enforcement Atty Joins Whistleblower Law Boutique

    Kohn Kohn & Colapinto announced Thursday that a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney will join the whistleblower law firm as senior special counsel.

  • September 05, 2024

    Investment Firm Fights Order To Return Docs In NJ Bias Suit

    A Black-owned investment firm accusing BlackRock Inc. and New Jersey of squeezing it out of a lucrative contract has challenged a U.S. magistrate judge's order to return redacted emails to the Garden State, arguing that the order was made without a full written record or a requested conference on the privilege dispute.

  • September 05, 2024

    Circor Dodges SEC Fine As Ex-Exec Faces Falsified Docs Suit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday said industrial valve manufacturer Circor International Inc. has avoided a penalty after it self-reported and remediated an alleged accounting scheme, while the agency sued a former executive accused of falsifying the financial results for one of the company's business units.

  • September 05, 2024

    Pharma Co. Verrica Fails To Shed Investor Suit Over FDA OK

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has partially denied Verrica Phamaceuticals Inc.'s second request to throw out a proposed class action filed by investors who claim the company defrauded them by hiding obstacles it faced in obtaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its lead product.

  • September 05, 2024

    Ga. Investment Adviser To Pay $335K To End SEC Suit

    Atlanta-based West Mountain LLC and its director, Paul Alar, will pay $335,000 and take other steps to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint alleging they fraudulently overvalued assets and collected inflated fees.

  • September 05, 2024

    CrowdStrike Brass Face Investor Suit Over Global Outage

    Executives and directors of global cybersecurity company CrowdStrike have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit alleging that they overstated the capabilities of the company's technology that eventually caused a massive disruption over the summer when its system crashed.

  • September 05, 2024

    7th Circ. Doubts JPMorgan Traders' Spoofing Appeal

    The Seventh Circuit seemed skeptical Thursday about three former JPMorgan traders' assertion that evidentiary issues surrounding their underlying spoofing trials warrant unwinding their convictions for manipulating the market with fake orders for precious metals.

  • September 05, 2024

    2nd Circ. Chilly To Mortgage-Backed Securities ERISA Suit

    The Second Circuit appeared unlikely Thursday to revive a union pension fund's suit looking to hold Wells Fargo and Ocwen Financial Corp. liable for losses on mortgage-backed securities, with two judges signaling the risky loans the fund sued over might not be covered by federal benefits law.

  • September 05, 2024

    Chancery Presses Pause On $450M Bolt Financial Financing

    Affiliates of multinational investors Hedosophia and BlackRock have won a Delaware Court of Chancery pause of a purported Bolt Financial Inc. $450 million equity financing that would eliminate and replace all the company's preferred stock while returning founder Ryan Breslow to his CEO seat.

  • September 05, 2024

    Cooley Hires Corporate Governance Pro As Strategic Adviser

    Cooley LLP has hired a thought leader with expertise in securities regulation as a strategic adviser to provide content for clients, including a new blog to give guidance on all types of governance issues, the firm announced Thursday.

  • September 04, 2024

    Robinhood Inks $3.9M Deal In Calif.'s Crypto Withdrawal Probe

    Robinhood's cryptocurrency trading platform will pay a $3.9 million penalty to resolve the state of California's claims that the Menlo Park-based company didn't allow customers to make withdrawals from their accounts from 2018 to 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Wednesday.

  • September 04, 2024

    SEC Lets Deadline Pass For 5th Circ. Private Funds Appeal

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won't challenge a Fifth Circuit decision that vacated its recently passed disclosure rules for private fund advisers, taking no action as its deadline to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court passed.

  • September 04, 2024

    FINRA Beats Post-Jarkesy Challenge To Enforcement Powers

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has beaten back a broker's bid to use the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Jarkesy decision to challenge its enforcement regime, after a Pennsylvania federal judge found other high court precedent barred him from hearing the broker's constitutional challenge to the regulator's proceedings.

  • September 04, 2024

    UBS Financial Gets Wrapped Up In Cash Sweep Class Action

    UBS Financial Services has been hit with a proposed class action suit alleging it prioritized its own financial interests and those of its affiliated banks over customers by using its cash sweep program to direct customers' uninvested cash balances into accounts that disproportionately benefited the investment bank.

  • September 04, 2024

    PE Advisers Flouted Registration Requirements, SEC Says

    A pair of Florida-based private equity advisers and their CEO have agreed to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that they broke federal securities laws by improperly declaring themselves exempt from registering as advisers to private funds, according to the agency.

  • September 04, 2024

    Icahn Enterprises Investor Sues Alleging 'Ponzi-Like' Scam

    An Icahn Enterprises LP investor hit the partnership's billionaire founder Carl Icahn and its board with a derivative suit in Florida federal court Tuesday, accusing them of hiding "highly significant" risks, including the partnership's alleged "Ponzi-like" structure, which purportedly inflated its price and exposed it to regulatory probes and litigation.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ripple Gets OK To Pause SEC Penalty As It Mulls Appeal

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday signed off on Ripple Labs' request to hold off on paying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the $125 million penalty it owes to allow time for either side to appeal the landmark ruling in the agency's registration case.

  • September 04, 2024

    SEC Fines NJ Financial Cos. For Whistleblowing Violations

    New Jersey-based brokerage Nationwide Planning Associates Inc. and two affiliated investment advisers have agreed to collectively pay $240,000 to settle allegations that they prevented their clients from acting as whistleblowers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Crypto Regs Could See A Reset Under The Next President

    Author Photo

    Donald Trump has taken a permissive policy stance favoring crypto, while Kamala Harris has been silent on the issue, but no matter who wins the presidential election, we may see a more lenient regulatory climate toward the digital currency than from the Biden administration, says Liam Murphy at McKool Smith.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

    Author Photo

    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Key Concerns To Confront In FDIC Brokered Deposit Proposal

    Author Photo

    Banks and fintech companies should note several fundamental issues with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent proposal to widen how it classifies brokered deposits, an attempt to limit prudential risk that could expose the industry and underbanked consumers who rely on bank-fintech apps to widespread unintended consequences, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement

    Author Photo

    Lawyers and other professionals who advise cryptocurrency companies should beware regulators' increasing focus on gatekeeper accountability, and should take several measures to fulfill their ethical and legal obligations, including implementing a robust vetting mechanism when representing crypto clients, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Xinchen Li at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

  • Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing

    Author Photo

    Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 3 Ways To Limit Risks Of Black-Box AI In Financial Services

    Author Photo

    As regulators increasingly highlight the potential for artificial intelligence to make unfair consumer credit decisions, and require financial institutions to explain how these so-called black-box algorithms arrive at conclusions, companies should consider three key questions to reduce their regulatory risks from these tools, say Jeffrey Naimon and Caroline Stapleton at Orrick.

  • 3 High Court Rulings May Shape Health Org. Litigation Tactics

    Author Photo

    Three separate decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term — Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy — will likely strengthen healthcare organizations' ability to affirmatively sue executive agencies to challenge regulations governing operations and enforcement actions, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

    Author Photo

    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

    Author Photo

    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Why DOJ's Whistleblower Program May Have Limited Impact

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to report corporate misconduct, but the program's effectiveness may be undercut by its differences from other federal agencies’ whistleblower programs and its interplay with other DOJ policies, say attorneys at Milbank.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

    Author Photo

    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.

  • FTC Drives Crackdown On Connected Cars' Data Privacy Risk

    Author Photo

    After the Federal Trade Commission's warning to automakers about data privacy, which continues to emerge as a national concern, automakers must carefully examine their data collection, use and retention practices, say Catherine Castaldo and Michael Rubayo at Reed Smith.

  • Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Securities archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!