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CFPB, OCC Order US Bank To Pay $36M Over COVID Benefits
U.S. Bank has agreed to pay regulators almost $36 million for allegedly freezing tens of thousands of accounts and blocking customers from receiving unemployment benefits during the pandemic, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Tuesday.
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December 04, 2024
Rep. Hill Vows To Tackle Crypto 'De-Banking' In Next Congress
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle plan to investigate alleged government efforts to cut off cryptocurrency businesses from the traditional banking system, Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said Wednesday during a House Financial Services Committee hearing that also saw its retiring chair feted with a celebration of bow ties.
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December 04, 2024
'Side Deal' Unlikely To Ax Fees In $10M Morgan Stanley Deal
A California federal judge said Wednesday he isn't inclined to strip counsel who negotiated Morgan Stanley's $10 million deal with its financial advisers of their fees over an abandoned "side deal" between the company and the lead plaintiff, saying it should have been disclosed but didn't impact the deal's fairness.
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December 04, 2024
Acima Can't 'Outrace' CFPB To Texas Court, Utah Judge Says
A Utah federal judge has smacked down a bid by Rent-A-Center affiliate Acima to move its fight against a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lawsuit to Texas, where the lease-to-own fintech filed a slightly earlier, preemptive challenge to the agency's jurisdiction that remains pending.
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December 04, 2024
Debt Relief Co. Agrees To Be Banned Under CFPB Settlement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau informed a California federal court that a purported debt relief services company and its owner have agreed to cease operations and pay civil penalties for allegedly charging customers illegal upfront fees.
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December 04, 2024
CFTC Hits $17.1B Enforcement Record With FTX-Linked Deals
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission secured a record annual enforcement haul of more than $17.1 billion in fiscal year 2024, including a historic $12.7 billion judgment against failed crypto exchange FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, the agency announced Wednesday.
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December 04, 2024
Developer, Michigan Differ On State, Federal Securities Tests
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday pressed the state's securities administrator and a developer over how Michigan businesses and residents could be affected if the high court were to decide that a state law test rather than a federal one should be used to determine if a promissory note is a security.
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December 04, 2024
Chase Will Settle Calif. Atty's Mortgage Rate-Lock Suit
JPMorgan Chase Bank NA has reached a tentative, individual settlement with an attorney suing it for allegedly gouging him and other borrowers with sham mortgage rate-lock deals, heading off a potential class action.
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December 04, 2024
Atlas Real Estate Biz Gets Initial OK On Data Breach Deal
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a settlement between roughly 4,500 victims of a data breach and a real estate company that would see each proposed class member receive up to $5,000 in compensation.
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December 04, 2024
Wells Fargo Wants Suits Over $300M Scheme Tossed
Wells Fargo Bank NA urged a Florida federal judge on Wednesday to toss both a proposed class action and a receiver's lawsuit claiming the bank aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme that duped more than 1,000 investors, arguing that neither pleading sufficiently shows that Wells Fargo knew about the fraud.
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December 04, 2024
Viks' Bid To Duck Bank May Hinge On Norway Orders
A Connecticut state court judge noted repeatedly on Wednesday that Deutsche Bank AG has not provided her with copies of Norwegian judgments to undergird its argument that billionaire Alexander Vik and his daughter tortiously harmed the value of an asset sale, but the bank said the material is not necessary to let its lawsuit escape summary judgment.
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December 04, 2024
Crypto Groups Hail Trump's SEC Pick Paul Atkins
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Paul Atkins to lead the agency next year, a decision that cryptocurrency advocates praised as opening a path for greater acceptance of an industry that has faced a slew of lawsuits under the current SEC.
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December 04, 2024
Steptoe Vet Will Lead Troutman Pepper's Sanctions, Trade Group
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP has hired a longtime Steptoe LLP lawyer to lead its sanctions and trade controls team in Washington, D.C., as the local lateral market continues responding to the coming change in political control in the nation's capital.
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December 03, 2024
Texas Judge Blocks 'Quasi-Orwellian' Anti-Laundering Law
A Texas federal judge on Tuesday halted the Biden administration's roll-out of new reporting requirements aimed at unmasking anonymous shell companies, granting a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by business interests challenging their constitutionality.
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December 03, 2024
Top Ex-SEC Officials Warn Of Enforcement Upheaval
Former top U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials on Tuesday predicted a sea change in the agency's enforcement approach in the coming second administration of President-elect Donald Trump, with a lighter touch for corporate wrongdoers and a whole new ballgame with respect to cryptocurrency.
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December 03, 2024
Investor Attys Seek $6.6M Cut Of $20M Metal Price-Fixing Deal
Attorneys for investors settling platinum and palladium price-fixing claims against Goldman Sachs and others for $20 million have asked a New York federal judge to award them fees equivalent to a third of the settlement amount, or more than $6.6 million, a below-lodestar request that they said is, "clearly, not a windfall situation."
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December 03, 2024
Customers Bancorp Hid AML Shortcomings, Investor Suit Says
Bank holding company Customers Bancorp Inc. faces a shareholder suit in Pennsylvania federal court alleging it failed to disclose shortcomings in its anti-money laundering compliance, causing shares to decline when the Federal Reserve and state banking authorities brought enforcement actions tied to the lender's work with crypto firms.
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December 03, 2024
Coinbase Says It Won't Use Firms That Hire Crypto Enforcers
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase made clear that it won't work with law firms that employ former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys who led the charge on crypto enforcement suits, singling out Milbank LLP for its hiring of ex-SEC enforcement director Gurbir Grewal.
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December 03, 2024
Unit Of World's Largest Bank Avoids SEC Penalty In Cyber Case
A broker-dealer subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will escape civil penalties in a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its books and records because of the firm's remediation and cooperation, the agency says.
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December 03, 2024
Ex-Lender Agrees To $1M FDIC Order After Enforcement Battle
A retired small business financier has agreed to pay $1 million in restitution to end administrative Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. allegations of a fraudulent bridge loan scheme, with the agreement coming after his most recent constitutional challenges to the agency's structure fell flat in October.
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December 03, 2024
AmEx Loses Arbitration Bid Due To 'Ironic' Unpaid $17M Bill
A Rhode Island federal judge on Monday rejected sending a proposed antitrust class action over American Express Co.'s swipe-fee rules back to arbitration after the company refused to pay arbitration fees totaling $17 million, observing that AmEx's actions created its own "ironic dilemma: a credit card company not paying its bills."
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December 03, 2024
Fla.'s 'Mother Teresa' Gets 20 Years For Ponzi Scheme
A Florida federal judge on Tuesday accused the U.S. attorney's office of "abdicating its responsibility" by agreeing to a maximum of 20 years in prison for Johanna Garcia, the former MJ Capital CEO known as "Mother Teresa" who pled guilty to running a $190 million Ponzi scheme.
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December 03, 2024
Celsius Founder Cops To Fraud That Sunk $25B Crypto Lender
Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky told a Manhattan federal judge Tuesday that he lied when he told the public that the fallen $25 billion crypto lender's tokens were a safe investment, pleading guilty to fraud charges ahead of a January criminal trial.
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December 03, 2024
CFPB Pitches Plan For Tighter Regulation Of Data Brokers
In a late push before the Biden administration's end, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved Tuesday to clamp down on the so-called data broker industry with a new draft rule that pivots off existing credit reporting protections for consumers.
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December 02, 2024
Metropolitan Commercial Bank Aided Voyager Fraud, Suit Says
Voyager Digital's former bank, Metropolitan Commercial Bank, has been hit with a 53-count complaint in New York federal court alleging it was complicit in bad behavior by the now-defunct crypto lender and should be on the hook for repaying platform users.
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December 02, 2024
Bipartisan Bill Calls For AI Studies From Financial Regulators
Leaders of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee want to codify their commitment to regulating and cultivating the use of artificial intelligence in the financial services industry with legislation introduced Monday that directs financial and housing regulators to produce reports on the use of AI in their respective sectors.
Expert Analysis
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SEC Prioritized Enforcement Sweeps As Cases Slowed In '24
Following three consecutive years of increasing activity, fiscal year 2024 marked the lowest number of cases the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought since Gary Gensler assumed office in April 2021, buttressed by some familiar enforcement sweeps, say attorneys at Covington.
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Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review
For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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How Boards And Officers Should Prep For New Trump Admin
In anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs and mass deportation campaign, company officers and board members should pursue proactive, comprehensive contingency planning to not only advance the best interests of the companies they serve, but to also properly exercise their fiduciary duty of care, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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3 Changes Community Banks Should Expect Under Trump
A second Trump administration promises a sea change for regional and community banks, including shifts in the regulatory environment, Community Reinvestment Act rules and the M&A landscape, say attorneys at Manatt.
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How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors
The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks
A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.
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5 Ways SEC's Crypto Approach Could Change Under Trump
Given the Trump campaign's procrypto stance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could take a number of different approaches to crypto policy in the next administration, including pausing registration-only enforcement actions and proposing tailored rules that take into account the differences between crypto-assets and traditional securities, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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2nd Circ. AmTrust Decision Shows Audit Reports Still Matter
Though the Second Circuit eventually found on reconsidering a case over the high-profile accounting meltdown at AmTrust that audit reports are material to investors, its previous contrary holding highlights the seriousness of the ongoing crisis of confidence in the audit report, say attorneys at Bernstein Litowitz.
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Series
Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.
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With Precautions, AI Can Help With Suspicious Activity Filings
While artificial intelligence can enhance suspicious activity report processes, financial services firms should review applicable expectations and areas of deficiencies that can lead to enforcement actions before using AI to help write SARs, say attorneys at Jenner.
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'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders
The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration
Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.
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Compliance Considerations Of DOJ Data Security Rule
Under the U.S. Department of Justice's proposed rule aiming to prevent certain countries' access to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data, companies must ensure their vendor, employment and investment agreements meet strict new data security requirements — or determine whether such contracts are worth the cost of compliance, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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AI Monitoring And FCRA: Employer Compliance Essentials
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission signal determination to treat AI-based workplace surveillance as a potential Fair Credit Reporting Act issue, employers must commit to educating HR and compliance staff on these quickly evolving regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Series
Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer
Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.