Securities

  • March 04, 2025

    Avalara Investor Asks 9th Circ. To Revive $8B PE Buyout Suit

    An Avalara shareholder urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to revive a proposed securities class action alleging the tax software company duped investors into approving a "deficient" $8.4 billion private equity buyout, arguing the trial court erred in finding Avalara's statements tied to "numerically specific metrics" weren't false or misleading.

  • March 04, 2025

    Chinese Theme Park Co. Can't Nix Investors' 'Hellscapes' Suit

    A California federal judge will allow investors' securities fraud claims against a Chinese amusement park operator to proceed, finding they plausibly claimed that the company inflated visitor numbers and financials for its park, causing an 89% stock price decline when the truth was eventually revealed.

  • March 04, 2025

    Agencies Have 'Ultimate' Authority Over Firings, OPM Says

    The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday issued a revised version of its January memo directing agency heads to identify all probationary employees, adding a disclaimer that OPM "is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions" and that agencies "have ultimate decision-making authority."

  • March 04, 2025

    Semiconductor Co. Faces Suit Over Apple Biz Loss, AI Hype

    Semiconductor maker Skyworks Solutions Inc. was hit Tuesday with a proposed investor class action alleging it hurt investors by downplaying the risks posed by the loss of business from iPhone maker Apple, a major customer, and overplaying the strength of artificial intelligence to its business.

  • March 04, 2025

    Blockchain Org. Wins $3.5M Fees From Trader's Seized Assets

    Crypto project the ICON Foundation is set to receive $3.5 million in attorney fees and costs after it successfully turned the tables on a user who sued the project after it took action to freeze millions of tokens he created by exploiting a bug in the project's software.

  • March 04, 2025

    EV Co. Lucid's Brass Face Investor's Production Capacity Suit

    Executives and directors of electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group Inc. have been hit with a proposed shareholder derivative suit in Delaware federal court alleging they concealed the extent of production issues plaguing the company in order to inflate share prices.

  • March 04, 2025

    Intel Beats Investor Suit Over 'Foundry' Losses, For Now

    Intel Corp. has beaten a proposed securities class action accusing it of misleading investors about the financial health of its so-called foundry segment, with the court finding Intel made all required disclosures regarding the segment's performance.

  • March 04, 2025

    NJ Judge Nixes Derivative Suit Over $38M Tech Co. Spinoff

    Top brass of a material-handling-equipment maker and the company's controlling shareholder no longer face a shareholder derivative action alleging that they breached their fiduciary duties with a plan to spin off assets to benefit the company's board chair.

  • March 04, 2025

    Bored Ape NFT Maker, Crypto Co. Say SEC Threats Are Over

    The crypto arm of trading firm DRW Holdings LLC and the company behind the celebrity-endorsed non-fungible token project known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club say that they are the latest in a string of digital asset firms to see the back of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • March 04, 2025

    PBMs Ask 8th Circ. To Pause FTC's Insulin Pricing Case

    Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx have asked the Eighth Circuit to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing the pharmacy benefit managers of artificially inflating insulin prices as they push their constitutional claims against the agency.

  • March 04, 2025

    Chancery Finds Recent Precedent Backs Tesla's Texas Jump

    Elon Musk and Tesla on Monday beat a challenge in Delaware's Court of Chancery to the company's charter move to Texas, with fewer than two-thirds of shareholders approving, as the court invoked an opinion issued in November when a vice chancellor opened the door to The Trade Desk's exit to Nevada.

  • March 04, 2025

    UScellular, Investors Settle Suit Over Postpaid Phone Biz

    An Illinois federal judge said Monday that the parties in a shareholder suit accusing UScellular and its parent company of misleading investors about the health of their postpaid mobile phone segment have reported that they have reached a settlement in the case.

  • March 04, 2025

    Colo. Biotech, Founders Owe SEC $14.3M Over Fraud Claims

    A Colorado federal judge has ordered a biotech startup and two of its founders to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission roughly $14.3 million and barred them from serving as officers and directors of public companies after finding that they fraudulently raised over $10 million by overstating their own investments in the company.

  • March 04, 2025

    New US Atty Wants 6-Month Pause Of Cognizant Bribery Trial

    A federal judge has ordered the parties in a long-running Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case to file their positions Wednesday about how a 180-day adjournment would affect the Speedy Trial Act clock after a newly anointed U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey asked to delay the trial of two former Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. executives.

  • March 03, 2025

    Aspiration Founder Arrested For Alleged $145M Fraud Scheme

    Joseph Sanberg, co-founder of the celebrity-backed and sustainability-focused financial services company Aspiration Partners Inc., was arrested Monday over federal criminal allegations he schemed to defraud investor funds out of at least $145 million, federal prosecutors in California announced.

  • March 03, 2025

    SEC Expands Confidential Filing Options For Companies

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said it is expanding the range of filings that companies can submit for confidential review before such documents become public, predicting that the new accommodations will spur capital formation.

  • March 03, 2025

    Judge Tosses SEC Crypto Case For Lack Of US Ties

    Crypto founder Richard Heart has beaten a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit over his Hex, PulseChain and PulseX crypto projects after the Brooklyn federal judge overseeing the case found the regulator failed to show enough stateside ties.

  • March 03, 2025

    FDIC Beats Bank's Constitutional Fight Over In-House Judges

    A Kansas federal judge tossed on Monday a local bank's constitutional challenge to administrative law judges presiding over the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s $20.5 million anti-money laundering enforcement proceeding against the bank, ruling that the district court does not have the jurisdictional authority to hear the bank's Seventh Amendment claims.

  • March 03, 2025

    Adviser Funneled Investor Cash Into $300M Ponzi, Suit Says

    A Georgia financial adviser has been hit with a proposed class action alleging that she funneled investors into a company at the heart of what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has called a $300 million Ponzi scheme.

  • March 03, 2025

    Broker Can't Use Jarkesy To Slip SEC's Pre-IPO Fraud Suit

    A New York federal judge on Monday ordered an unregistered broker-dealer and its managing member to comply with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's administrative order requiring them to pay roughly $3.5 million to settle claims they made over $65 million selling interests in a portfolio of companies that hadn't yet gone public.

  • March 03, 2025

    SEC's Peirce Taps Ex-Willkie Partner For Crypto Task Force

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has hired a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner into a leadership role in its new task force created to transform the agency's approach toward the cryptocurrency industry.

  • March 03, 2025

    Some 'ComEd Four' Bribery Counts Vacated Over Jury Charge

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday ordered a retrial on four bribery charges in the case against an ex-Commonwealth Edison executive and three lobbyists convicted of conspiring to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, finding the jury was improperly instructed in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling but leaving intact the overarching conspiracy conviction.

  • March 03, 2025

    Jarkesy Can't Get Penny Stock Co. Out Of SEC Penalty

    The Second Circuit on Monday upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's courtroom victory against a penny stock company found to have misled its investors about its financial state, ruling that the company couldn't lean on the U.S. Supreme Court's Jarkesy ruling to argue that a jury should have determined its punishment.

  • March 03, 2025

    Eckert Seamans Will Pay $38M To Par Funding Investors

    A Florida federal judge has signed off on a $38 million deal resolving legal malpractice claims against Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC by investors who fell victim to a Ponzi scheme carried out by Par Funding, which enlisted the firm to help create the business model the lender ultimately used in the scheme.

  • March 03, 2025

    Chancery OKs Amended Suit In $8B Paramount Sale Fight

    Delaware's chancellor agreed Monday to the filing of an amended stockholder challenge to Paramount Global's $8.2 billion merger with Skydance Media and ordered responses by Tuesday from parties affected by a stockholder call for a fast-tracked probe of Paramount's response to an alternative, $13.5 billion offer.

Expert Analysis

  • Kiromic SEC Order Shows Importance Of Self-Reporting

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently filed settled charges against Kiromic BioPharma illustrate the critical intersection between U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory processes and investor disclosures under the securities laws, and showcase how responding promptly to internal whistleblower reports may reap benefits, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Litigation Funding Disclosure Debate: Strategy Considerations

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    In the ongoing debate over whether courts should require disclosure of litigation funding, funders and plaintiffs tend to argue against such mandates, but voluntarily disclosing limited details about a funding arrangement can actually confer certain benefits to plaintiffs in some scenarios, say Andrew Stulce and Marc Cavan at Longford Capital.

  • Understanding Risks Of Celebrities 'Hawking' Crypto Tokens

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    Prominent social media personality Haliey Welch was recently sued over the promotion and sale of the Hawk Tuah cryptocurrency memecoin, underscoring the importance of public figures conducting due diligence to verify they aren't endorsing a token that is in fact a security, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Top Considerations For Insurance Companies In 2025

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    As insurance industry participants look to plan for the year, regulatory changes, climate-related challenges, the ongoing effects of social inflation and the potential for significant mergers and acquisitions will be among the key items for insurer boards and management to have on their radar, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Del. Dispatch: Lessons From Failed Albertsons-Kroger Merger

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    The allegations in Albertsons' lawsuit against Kroger following the grocery stores' blocked merger demonstrate how a target company can best ensure that a buyer timely and effectively complies with its obligations to pursue the necessary regulatory approvals for a deal, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.

  • Future Of Crypto-Asset Classification Is In 2nd Circ.'s Hands

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    A definitive ruling from the Second Circuit in a rare interlocutory appeal in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ongoing court battle with Coinbase could finally establish clear guidelines on the classification of digital assets, influencing how they are regulated and traded in the U.S., say attorneys at Manatt.

  • 5 Ways To Create Effective Mock Assignments For Associates

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    In order to effectively develop associates’ critical thinking skills, firms should design mock assignments that contain a few key ingredients, from messy fact patterns to actionable feedback, says Abdi Shayesteh at AltaClaro.

  • More Environmental Claims, More Greenwashing Challenges

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    As companies prepare for the 2025 greenwashing landscape, they should take heed of a D.C. appellate decision that shows that environmental claims are increasingly subject to attack and provides plaintiffs with a playbook for challenging corporate claims of sustainability, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: How MDLs Fared In 2024

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    A significant highlight of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's practice during 2024 was the increase in the percentage of new MDL petitions granted by the panel, with 25 granted and only eight denied — one of the highest grant rates in years, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

  • Assessing Gary Gensler's Legacy At The SEC

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    Gary Gensler's tenure as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair is defined by a record of commonsense regulation in some areas and social activism in others, and by increasing judicial skepticism about the SEC's authority to fulfill its regulatory, enforcement, administrative law and adjudicatory functions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Calif. Cannabis Decision Deepens Commerce Clause Divide

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    In Peridot Tree v. Sacramento, the Eastern District of California joined a growing minority of courts that have found the dormant commerce clause inapplicable to state-regulated marijuana, and the Ninth Circuit will soon provide important guidance on this issue, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Takeaways From DOJ Fraud Section's 2024 Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Paul Weiss highlight notable developments in the U.S. Department of Justice Fraud Section’s recently released annual report, and discuss what the second Trump administration could mean for enforcement in the year to come.

  • Recent SEC Actions Highlight Importance Of Filing Form D

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement action against three companies last month for failing to timely file Form D is an unprecedented step that should put an end to Regulation D issuers' views that filing these forms is a technical requirement or somewhat voluntary, says Patrick McCloskey at McCloskey Law.

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