Capital Markets

  • January 21, 2025

    SEC Says 'Hotspot' Crypto Miners Broke Registration Laws

    Technology company Nova Labs Inc. faces U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it attempted an "end-run" around federal securities laws with its unregistered sale of investment contracts in the form of its "hotspot" crypto asset mining devices.

  • January 21, 2025

    SEC Sues Ex-Investment Firm Reps, GC Over 'Sham' Energy Co.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused former representatives of a wealth management firm of selling shares of a "sham" oil and gas company, and separately accused the firm's general counsel and chief compliance officer of playing an "active role" in the alleged misconduct by drawing up liability releases for the firm.

  • January 21, 2025

    SEC Says Engineering Prof To Pay $785K For Insider Trading

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday told a California federal court that an electrical engineering professor has agreed to pay about $785,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing him of improperly trading shares of a radio technology company at which he previously served as an advisory committee member.

  • January 21, 2025

    Coinbase Asks 2nd Circ. To Settle Crypto Securities Question

    Coinbase has urged the Second Circuit to settle how securities laws apply to its crypto transactions, saying "there is no more pressing issue in securities law today" than determining the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to regulate digital assets.

  • January 21, 2025

    KeyBank Fights Adviser's $1.1M Defamation Win In 2nd Circ.

    KeyBank's investment unit urged the Second Circuit on Tuesday to overturn parts of a $1.1 million defamation award to a former adviser, claiming that FINRA arbiters wrongly added attorney fees and a regulatory notice violation to the ex-employee's win.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Names Interim Top Prosecutors In Manhattan, Brooklyn

    President Donald Trump named two high-ranking prosecutors to be interim U.S. attorneys in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York while his long-term picks for the posts await Senate confirmation, spokespeople for the offices confirmed Tuesday.

  • January 21, 2025

    Bacon Giant Smithfields Leads 3 IPOs Primed To Exceed $1B

    Bacon maker Smithfields Foods Inc. led a trio of companies unveiling price ranges for initial public offerings Tuesday that could raise $1.3 billion combined over the next week, with 10 law firms guiding the IPOs in various capacities.

  • January 21, 2025

    Crypto Firm To Plead Guilty In Market Manipulation Case

    A financial services firm based in the United Arab Emirates has agreed to plead guilty to a fraudulent "wash trading" scheme and will stop working in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry as part of a deal announced Tuesday by Boston federal prosecutors.

  • January 21, 2025

    New SEC Task Force Eyes 'Sensible' Crypto Regulations

    A day after being appointed acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark T. Uyeda on Tuesday launched a cryptocurrency task force to develop "a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework" for such assets.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 17, 2025

    FDIC Missed Some Crypto 'Pause' Letters, Coinbase Ally Says

    The research consultancy suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on behalf of Coinbase for documents on the regulator's internal views on crypto said Friday that it intends to update its complaint with new allegations that the FDIC did not conduct a thorough search and may be engaging in unlawful practices, based on purported whistleblower reports.

  • January 17, 2025

    DC Circ. Unsure On Restoring CFTC's Election Betting Ban

    The D.C. Circuit seemed hesitant Friday to reimpose a ban that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission had placed on gambling over the fate of U.S. elections, as the judges spent over an hour trying to parse what Congress meant when it said that gaming on derivatives platforms was prohibited.

  • January 17, 2025

    Video Game Maker To Pay $20M For Child Privacy Violations

    The maker of the video game "Genshin Impact" has agreed to pay $20 million and block children under 16 from making in-game purchases without parental permission to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's claims that the company misled children and other users about the actual costs of purchases and illegally collected children's personal information.

  • January 17, 2025

    Venezuela Says $2B In Bonds Can't Be Enforced

    More than five years into litigation aimed at enforcing nearly $2 billion in defaulted bonds against Venezuela's state-owned oil company, the country is urging a New York federal judge to nix the case on the grounds that the bonds are illegal under its domestic law.

  • January 17, 2025

    Crypto Coder Sues Feds To Block 'Money Transmitter' Label

    Crypto policy think tank Coin Center is supporting one of its fellows in suing the federal government over its allegedly "mistaken view" of how criminal money transmission statutes apply to crypto software.

  • January 17, 2025

    Michigan Justices Won't Answer Securities Test Issue

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal from a developer asking justices to find a state law test rather than a federal one should be used to determine if a promissory note is a security, leaving in place a ruling that keeps the developer liable for notes issued in a $6 million project. 

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Says Food Tech Startup Overstated Revenue By $550M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined venture-backed food technology startup GrubMarket $8 million for allegedly misleading investors by overstating revenue by more than $550 million, with faulty accounting that regulators say the company should have known was unreliable.

  • January 17, 2025

    Sidley-Led Hennessy Capital's 7th SPAC Raises $175M

    Blank-check company Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VII began trading publicly on Friday after raising $175 million in its initial public offering, which will be used to merge with a company in the industrial technology or energy transition sectors.

  • January 17, 2025

    Nasdaq Pulls Board Diversity Rules After 5th Circ. Loss

    Nasdaq has moved to formally undo its rules requiring that companies listed on the exchange disclose board diversity data, following a narrow, en banc ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month finding that the rules ran afoul of federal securities law.

  • January 17, 2025

    Drink Maker Celsius Settles SEC's Accounting Claims For $3M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined beverage company Celsius Holdings Inc. $3 million to settle claims that it issued financial statements that were materially inaccurate and misleading due to misreported stock award information.

  • January 17, 2025

    NYC Mall Lenders, Developer Want Foreign Investor Suit Nixed

    Financial backers of a Staten Island mall project are asking a federal judge to toss a suit by foreign investors seeking damages, arguing that the investors are just trying to "claw back" whatever they can from others who lost even more money.

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Fines Crypto Giant DCG, Ex-Genesis CEO $38.5M

    Crypto venture capital firm Digital Currency Group and the ex-CEO of its bankrupt lending subsidiary Genesis Global Capital LLC agreed to a combined $38.5 million civil penalty Friday to settle claims they misled investors about Genesis' financial condition ahead of its collapse.

  • January 17, 2025

    FDIC Sues Ex-SVB Top Brass For 'Egregious Mismanagement'

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued Silicon Valley Bank's former CEO Gregory Becker and other top brass in California federal court in a bid to put them on the hook for the bank's costly 2023 failure, accusing them of "egregious mismanagement."

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Fines Unregistered Broker $3M Over Pre-IPO Work

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined an unregistered broker $3 million to resolve charges for illegally brokering transactions related to the stock of private companies that were expected to conduct initial public offerings.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • How Increased Sanctions Scrutiny Is Affecting Debt Markets

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    U.S. sanctions and export control regulators have recently taken several steps that broaden financial sector oversight, and banks, lenders and borrowers must adapt their syndication and risk assessment processes in different ways or risk incurring substantial penalties, say Cristina Brayton-Lewis and Kerrick Seay at White & Case.

  • What The SEC Liquidity Risk Management Amendments Entail

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    Fund managers should be cognizant of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's recent changes to certain reporting requirements and guidance related to open-end fund liquidity risk management programs, and update their filing systems if need be, says Rachael Schwartz at Sullivan & Worcester.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • 7 Takeaways For Investment Advisers From FinCEN AML Rule

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    With a new FinCEN rule that will require covered investment advisers to implement anti-money laundering programs and comply with extra recordkeeping requirements by 2026, companies should begin planning necessary updates to their policies and procedures by focusing on seven of the rule’s key requirements, identified by attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules

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    A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • How Companies Are Approaching Insider Trading Policies

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    An analysis of insider trading policies recently disclosed by 49 S&P 500 companies under a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule reveals that while specific provisions vary from company to company, certain common themes are emerging, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Increased IPOs In '24 Shows Importance Of Strategic Planning

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    Initial public offerings, debt issuances and M&A activity so far in 2024 have shown substantial increases over comparable periods in 2023, highlighting why counsel should educate clients on market trends and financing alternatives to proactively prepare them to be ready to take advantage of opportunities, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks

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    Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • 'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion

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    Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • 9 Liability Management Tips As Debt Maturity Cliff Looms

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    As the debt maturity cliff swiftly approaches in this challenging environment, attorneys at Winston & Strawn highlight the top considerations for boards of directors and finance professionals to think about when structuring and executing liability management transactions, including reviewing capital structure, evaluating debt covenants, and more.

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