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Capital Markets
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July 29, 2024
Wells Fargo Can't Escape Investors' Sham Diverse Hiring Suit
A California federal judge refused to throw out a proposed securities class action against Wells Fargo alleging it conducted sham interviews to meet diversity targets that triggered a stock drop when the truth came to light, finding Monday that the investors had plausibly alleged the bank's ill-will.
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July 29, 2024
BofA, Citi Among Banks In $80M Deal To End Bond-Rig Suit
Units of Bank of America, Citigroup and other banking giants have agreed to pay $80 million to settle investor claims accusing them of conspiring to fix European government bond prices.
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July 29, 2024
4 Takeaways After Courts Block ERISA Advice Regs
Two Texas federal judges' takedowns of the U.S. Department of Labor's recently expanded definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has limited the agency's authority to oversee certain kinds of retirement investment advice, attorneys say, including some rollover situations. Here, Law360 looks at four things benefits lawyers have taken away from the decisions.
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July 29, 2024
Skadden-Led Driverless Tech Startup WeRide Seeks US IPO
Autonomous driving technology developer WeRide Inc. has filed U.S. initial public offering plans, represented by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP, potentially marking a rare U.S. listing from a Chinese company.
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July 29, 2024
Ackman's IPO For New Pershing Square Fund Faces Delay
Hedge-fund giant Bill Ackman is still proceeding with an estimated $2.5 billion to $4 billion initial public offering of his new closed-end investment fund, Pershing Square USA Ltd., though the date of pricing is undetermined, according to the new fund.
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July 29, 2024
Ex-Vitol Oil Trader Can't Unwind Conviction After Bribery Trial
A New York federal judge refused Friday to acquit former Vitol Oil Group trader Javier Aguilar or grant him a new trial following his February conviction on charges that he bribed Ecuadorian and Mexican officials to win $500 million in business deals for the global energy and commodities company.
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July 29, 2024
SEC OKs Award Of More Than $37M To Whistleblower
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded more than $37 million to an anonymous whistleblower the agency credits for spurring a successful enforcement action despite retaliation from an unidentified employer.
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July 29, 2024
SEC Says Penny Stock CEO Lied About COVID-19 Deal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday sued former penny stock company CEO Juan Campo for securities fraud, alleging he lied to investors about acquiring a Colombian cannabis company and about the company's development of a temperature screening device during the COVID-19 pandemic, among other things.
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July 29, 2024
Commonwealth Financial Attacks SEC's 'Staggering' $93M Win
Commonwealth Financial Network has asked the First Circuit to overturn what it called a "staggering" $93 million penalty it was ordered to pay to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, arguing that its alleged failure to disclose conflicts of interest to investor clients was harmless.
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July 29, 2024
Davis Polk Adds Ex-Simpson Thacher Funds Partner In DC
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP announced Monday that a former Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP funds attorney joined the firm's investment management practice as a partner in Washington, D.C.
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July 29, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Litigation linked to Elon Musk sparked several filings in Delaware's Court of Chancery last week, including a call for sanctions and hand-wringing about a proposed multibillion-dollar attorney fee. Here, Law360 looks at this and other highlights from last week in Delaware's Chancery Court.
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July 29, 2024
White Collar Update: 4 Developments To Watch
White-collar lawyers are on the lookout for U.S. Department of Justice actions targeting artificial intelligence "snake oil," aggressive pandemic-relief fraud prosecutions, and carrots for corporations and whistleblowers who expose misconduct. Here's a look at some key developments to watch in the second half of 2024.
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July 29, 2024
ECJ Nixes Swedish Dividends Tax On Foreign Pension Funds
Sweden can't collect a withholding tax on dividends distributed by Swedish companies to public pension funds abroad while exempting its own public funds because that is inconsistent with European Union law requiring the free movement of capital, the European Court of Justice said Monday.
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July 29, 2024
Remainder Of DOL Fiduciary Regs Blocked In Texas
A Texas federal judge froze the remainder of a package of regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor expanding the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, after a judge blocked most of the policy in an adjacent district the day before.
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July 26, 2024
FTX's Ryan Salame Asks To Delay Prison After Dog Attack
Former FTX executive Ryan Salame on Friday asked a New York federal judge to delay his prison surrender date because he was recently mauled by a German shepherd and must undergo "urgent and necessary medical treatment and surgery."
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July 26, 2024
Franklin Says DOJ, SEC Probing Western Asset Management
Western Asset Management, a global fixed-income manager, is facing parallel investigations from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over some of its past trade allocations, its parent Franklin Resources Inc. said Friday.
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July 26, 2024
Shareholder Litigation To Watch: A Midyear Report
A pair of anticipated U.S. Supreme Court arguments, the fate of a new wave of lawsuits against special purpose acquisition companies and the future of shareholder claims of artificial intelligence malfeasance are among the issues that securities practitioners are following as the second half of 2024 unfolds in the courts.
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July 26, 2024
One Prosecutor's Quest To Carve Up Crypto's 'Pig Butchers'
A Silicon Valley-based prosecutor who's made it her mission to fight what are known as pig butchering cryptocurrency scams says it is time to start taking a closer look at the role financial institutions and social platforms should play in identifying and blocking bad actors.
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July 26, 2024
Activist Short Seller Accused Of $16M Securities Fraud
Federal prosecutors in California announced the indictment Friday of the founder of popular trading advice website Citron Research, accusing Andrew Left of exploiting his platform to manipulate stock prices and earn $16 million through securities fraud.
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July 26, 2024
Gas Co. Can't Wheedle Out Of Jury's Decision, Trader Says
A former trading director has told a Colorado state judge that the natural gas marketing company he worked for has no grounds to escape a Denver jury's $3.3 million damages award over his unpaid bonus, arguing that the jurors clearly found in his favor.
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July 26, 2024
Fed Closes Loop On Now-Shuttered Crypto Bank Silvergate
The Federal Reserve said Friday that it has concluded an enforcement action requiring Silvergate Bank to close out its operations safely and smoothly, tying up a loose thread from the California-based crypto bank's move to shut itself down after tanking last year.
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July 26, 2024
Apollo Buys And Merges IGT Gaming, Everi In $6.3B Deal
Funds managed by private equity giant Apollo will simultaneously buy International Game Technology PLC's Gaming and Digital business and gambling machines company Everi Holdings Inc. in an all-cash deal, crafted by five law firms, that values the two companies at $6.3 billion, according to a Friday statement.
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July 25, 2024
Fla. Judge Will Consider Coordination Of Truth Social Suits
A Florida judge said Thursday he would not formally consolidate two lawsuits related to the special purpose acquisition company deal that took Donald Trump's Truth Social public but said he would consider setting up some coordination for judicial efficiency.
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July 25, 2024
SEC Seeks To Narrow Attack On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told the Fifth Circuit Thursday that conservative groups objecting to a Nasdaq rule mandating the disclosure of board diversity data can no longer complain about the exchange's offer to help companies recruit applicable candidates because that offer has expired, mooting at least one aspect of a broader attack against the rule.
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July 25, 2024
11th Circ. Asked To Toss Execs' Dinar Fraud Convictions
Three executives of an Atlanta-based dinar exchange convicted of fraud after an advertising partner hyped the Iraqi currency by claiming its price could soar urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss their convictions Thursday, arguing jurors should have been told the difference between fraud and deceit.
Expert Analysis
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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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A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches
Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.
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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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Tiny Tweaks To Bank Merger Forms May Have Big Impact
The impact of proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Board's and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank merger review forms would be significant, resulting in hundreds of additional burden hours for bank merger applicants and signaling a further shift by the prudential bank regulators toward more rigorous scrutiny of mergers, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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How CFPB Credit Card Rules Slot Into Broader Considerations
Swirling legal challenges against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rulemaking concerning credit card late fees raise questions about how regulated entities should respond to the bureau's rules — and how quickly they should act, say Caitlin Mandel and Elizabeth Ireland at Winston & Strawn.
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4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order
A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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Novel Applications May Fizzle After Fed Master Account Wins
Two recent federal court rulings that upheld decisions denying master account applications from two fintech-focused banks are noteworthy for depository institutions with novel charters that wish to have direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment channels and settle transactions in central bank money, say attorneys at Davis Polk.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System
As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.
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Standardizing Early Case Appraisal In Securities Class Actions
While an initial economic assessment of securities class action litigation is far too often not undertaken, it's an important step in planning the defense strategy that can provide counsel, clients and insurers with a much clearer view of the case, and can be simplified through standardized analyses, says Assen Koev at SCA iPortal.