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Capital Markets
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October 03, 2024
CFTC Asks DC Circ. To Hasten Election Contract Loss Appeal
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pressed the D.C. Circuit to immediately schedule its appeal of a district court's decision to permit KalshiEx's listing of election-based event contracts, which the trading platform is poised to oppose.
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October 03, 2024
Feds Want A Word In Meta, Nvidia High Court Cases
The federal government is asking to participate in oral arguments in two private investor suits currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that both Meta Platforms Inc. and Nvidia Corp. are wrong about the requirements that shareholders need to meet in order to move forward with lawsuits claiming they were misled about business risks.
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October 03, 2024
OpenAI Hits $157B 'Post-Money' Valuation After $6.6B Funding
Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI announced it has raised $6.6 billion through a private funding round that values the ChatGPT developer at $157 billion, showing strong investor appetite for AI startups amid an otherwise sober fundraising environment.
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October 03, 2024
Hecla Avoids Investor Suit Over $462M Gold Mine Buy
A gold mining operation secured the permanent dismissal of an investor suit alleging that $462 million in new mines the company bought in Nevada that were supposed to be lucrative turned out to be duds, with a New York federal judge finding the investors failed to plead any actionable false or misleading statements.
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October 03, 2024
CVS Pushed To Unwind Aetna Megadeal, And Other Rumors
CVS is exploring strategic options that could break up the business, Kleenex's owner explores a sale at a potential $4 billion value, and Ares is in talks to buy 10% of the Miami Dolphins’ parent. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
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October 03, 2024
King & Spalding RE Pro Rejoins Barnes & Thornburg In Dallas
Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced that a former partner has rejoined the firm's real estate department from King & Spalding LLP, adding that the returning attorney's practice centers on commercial real estate and real estate finance.
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October 03, 2024
Chancery Tosses Barry Diller From Match.com Class Suit
Media mogul Barry Diller escaped for a second time a Delaware Court of Chancery stockholder challenge to Match.com's $30 billion reverse spinoff from IAC Interactive, in a post-U.S. Supreme Court remand decision that also kept alive related, previously dismissed claims against five allegedly Diller-loyal "dual fiduciaries."
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October 02, 2024
Freshworks Can't End Investors' IPO Disclosure Suit
A California federal judge has told software company Freshworks it cannot escape a proposed investor class action alleging it omitted information from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings when it made its initial public offering, saying the court cannot currently decide if its alleged omissions damaged investors.
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October 02, 2024
Former C-Quest Capital CEO Indicted For Carbon Credit Fraud
Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday announced criminal charges against Kenneth Newcombe, the former chief executive officer of carbon project developer C-Quest Capital, accusing him of scheming to submit altered data relating to cookstove projects abroad to obtain millions of dollars worth of carbon credits.
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October 02, 2024
Coinbase Seeks CFTC Docs To Defend SEC Enforcement Case
Coinbase has asked a Washington, D.C., federal court to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to produce communications the regulator may have had with certain digital asset issuers as the cryptocurrency exchange prepares to defend registration claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in New York.
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October 02, 2024
SEC Plans To Appeal Ripple Labs Decision To 2nd Circ.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a New York federal judge on Wednesday that it plans to appeal her decision in its registration suit against blockchain firm Ripple Labs to the Second Circuit.
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October 02, 2024
Colo. Judge Sees No Injuries In Health Data Breach Class Suit
A Colorado federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action alleging a software company waited nearly three months to tell data breach victims about hackers accessing personal and medical information for more than 250,000 people, concluding the plaintiffs' allegations weren't enough to give them standing.
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October 02, 2024
Fried Frank, DLA Piper Steer Commercial REIT's $251M Listing
Shares of real estate investment trust FrontView began trading Wednesday after it priced a nearly $251 million initial public offering within its intended price range, with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP advising the company and DLA Piper serving as counsel for the underwriters.
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October 02, 2024
Enviro Groups Step Up Effort To Block JBS' US Listing
Eighteen sustainability-focused investor groups are urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reject a potential U.S. stock listing by Brazilian meat conglomerate JBS SA, alleging the company is misleading the public regarding climate risks posed by its operations.
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October 02, 2024
Defense Atty Escapes DQ In $3M Transaction Row, For Now
An attorney representing a businessman facing a $3 million fraud suit over a botched business transaction will not be forced to step away from the case, a South Dakota federal judge determined Wednesday, denying a motion seeking to disqualify the lawyer because he worked on the deal at issue in the suit.
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October 02, 2024
'Netflix Of China' Beats Investor Suit Over Inflated User Claims
China-based streaming service iQIYI, dubbed the "Netflix of China," and another streaming service, Baidu Inc., have beaten proposed shareholder class action suits alleging the companies falsely beefed up iQIYI's user metrics, causing stock price drops when the truth was later revealed in a short seller report.
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October 02, 2024
DC Circ. Says Election Betting Contracts Can Go Live
The D.C. Circuit on Wednesday allowed betting on election outcomes to move forward after finding that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission hasn't shown that KalshiEx's listing of election-based event contracts would likely harm the public while the regulator challenges a ruling that gave the trading platform the green light to offer such services.
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October 02, 2024
Crypto Fund Manager Bitwise Files Plans For XRP-Tied Fund
Crypto-focused asset manager Bitwise filed a registration statement Wednesday that proposes to list the first exchange-traded product tied to the price of XRP, a digital currency that has long faced regulatory resistance.
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October 02, 2024
Chinese Food Biz To Go Public Via $523M SPAC Merger
Blank-check company Iron Horse Acquisition Corp., advised by Lucosky Brookman LLP, on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public China Food Investment in a deal valued at $523 million.
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October 02, 2024
SEC's Top Cop Departing After Record-Breaking Tenure
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that enforcement director Gurbir Grewal will be leaving the agency next week following a three-year tenure, during which the agency brought in record penalties and frequently clashed with crypto industry participants objecting to a string of lawsuits brought under Grewal's leadership.
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October 02, 2024
Fried Frank's M&A Co-Head Views Rate Cuts, AI With Caution
While it might be tempting to jump with joy about the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut, Philip Richter, co-head of Fried Frank's mergers and acquisitions practice, takes a more measured view. Here, Law360 talks to Richter about the rate cut, the upcoming presidential election, artificial intelligence and more.
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October 01, 2024
Meta Must Face Bulk Of Social Media Harms Securities Suit
A California federal judge on Monday trimmed but refused to throw out a proposed securities class action claiming Meta Platforms Inc. and its executives misled investors about the harmful effects of social media, finding that the investors pointed to plausibly misleading statements regarding mental health and keeping children safe.
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October 01, 2024
Merrill Lynch To Pay $2M FINRA Fine Over Trade Report Flaws
Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. has agreed to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $2 million to settle allegations of trade-reporting compliance shortcomings, including its alleged failure to properly trace millions of relevant retail customer transactions for over a decade.
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October 01, 2024
CFTC Fines Barclays, 3 Others Over Swap Rule Violations
Barclays Bank PLC on Tuesday agreed to pay the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $4 million for swap reporting violations, and three other swaps market participants copped to reporting and safeguards violations and agreed to pay more than $2 million combined in settlements that drew criticism from one commissioner.
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October 01, 2024
Rocket Cos. Investors Lose Cert Bid In Post-Goldman Ruling
A Michigan federal judge has declined to grant class status to Rocket Cos. investors suing over the company's post-pandemic loan portfolio, saying that optimistic statements about the firm's future were too generic to be relied upon in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Goldman Sachs' favor that dealt with a similar issue.
Expert Analysis
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Considerations For Cooperation Contracts In Loan Trades
Significant challenges to settling trades can arise when lenders of syndicated bank loans enter into defense-oriented cooperation agreements, which are growing in popularity, but working through these issues on the front end of a trade can save hours down the road, says Robert Waldner at Crowell & Moring.
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Emerging Trends In ESG-Focused Securities Litigation
Based on a combination of shareholder pressure, increasing regulatory scrutiny and proposed rulemaking, there has been a proliferation of litigation over public company disclosures and actions regarding environmental, social, and governance factors — and the overall volume of such class actions will likely increase in the coming years, say attorneys at Mintz.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Next Steps After 5th Circ. Nixes Private Fund Adviser Rules
The Fifth Circuit's recent toss of key U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules regarding private fund advisers represents a setback for the regulator, but open questions, including the possibility of an SEC petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, mean it's still too early to consider the matter closed, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Expected Developments From Upcoming Basel Capital Rules
With U.S. federal banking regulators preparing to finalize the Basel IV regulatory framework as early as this fall, banks and private investment funds are expected to look to uncommitted facilities as one method to address key changes, including tighter capital requirements, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Deciphering SEC Disgorgement 4 Years After Liu
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to preserve SEC disgorgement with limits, courts have continued to rule largely in the agency’s favor, but a recent circuit split over the National Defense Authorization Act's import may create hurdles for the SEC, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Updates To CFTC Large Trader Report Rules Leave Questions
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's updated large trader position reporting rules for futures and options is a much-needed change that modernizes a rule that had gone largely untouched since the 1980s, but the updates leave important questions unanswered, say Katherine Cooper and Maggie DePoy at BCLP.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.
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Beware Shifting Provisions In Middle-Market Loan Documents
In recent years, many credit facility provisions previously considered to be market standard have been negotiated, often turning in favor of borrowers, demanding renewed diligence from workout officers and restructuring counsel operating in the middle market, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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How SEC Could Tackle AI Regulations On Brokers, Advisers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission held an open meeting of its Investor Advisory Committee on June 6 to review the use of artificial intelligence in investment decision making, showing that regulators are being careful not to stifle innovation or implement rules that will quickly be made irrelevant after their passage, says Brian Korn at Manatt Phelps.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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What To Know As CFPB Late Fee Rule Hangs In Limbo
Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final credit card late fee rule faces an uncertain future due to litigation involving injunctions, emergency petitions and now a venue dispute, card issuers must understand how to navigate the interim period and what to do if the rule takes effect, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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A Deep Dive Into The Evolving World Of ESG Ratings
Attorneys at Mintz discuss the salience of environmental, social and governance ratings in corporate circles in recent years, and consider certain methodologies underlying their calculation for professionals, as well as issues concerning the ESG ratings and products themselves.
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What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms
The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.