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Securities
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June 27, 2024
Ozy Media's Gov't Misconduct Claims Won't Derail Fraud Case
A New York federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid by Ozy Media and the defunct company's founder to toss the criminal fraud case against them, saying they hadn't shown they were prejudiced by a U.S. attorney's office's social media post or that documents obtained by prosecutors were protected by attorney-client privilege.
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June 27, 2024
Justices' SEC Ruling Reaffirms Oil States For Patent Attys
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting the use of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's administrative courts on Thursday did not address weedy issues that could have shaken up the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but it did "put a ribbon on" the justices' Oil States decision, attorneys said.
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June 27, 2024
High Court Liberals Warn Jarkesy's Reach Will Be Widespread
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to limit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's use of its in-house courts will have "momentous consequences" for dozens of agencies tasked with overseeing the electric grid, environmental regulations and consumer protection laws, the court's liberal wing has warned.
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June 27, 2024
SPAC Investors Get Final OK On $13M Settlement
Attorneys who brokered a $13 million settlement on behalf of investors in special purpose acquisition company Pioneer Merger Corp. will receive about 30% of that settlement fund, minus nearly $100,000 that will go toward their clients' incentive award, a Manhattan federal judge has determined.
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June 27, 2024
Judge Blasts Prisons Bureau, Sends Exec To Halfway House
An Illinois federal judge said Thursday he felt he needed to protect Outcome Health's co-founder from the Bureau of Prisons' "ridiculous" policy barring her from a low security camp just because she isn't a citizen, sentencing her to time served and three years' supervision in a Chicago halfway house instead.
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June 27, 2024
BofA, JPMorgan, Others To Pay $46M To End Rate-Swaps Suit
Several major U.S. and European banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, reached a $46 million deal on Thursday to resolve a long-running multidistrict litigation over an alleged plot by the banks to limit market competition over interest rate swaps.
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June 27, 2024
B. Riley-Linked SPAC To Settle Del. Class Action For $8.5M
The co-chairman of B. Riley Financial Inc. and others have agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a class action in Delaware's Court of Chancery accusing them of making misleading and inadequate disclosures leading up to a $320 million special-purpose acquisition company deal for battery storage venture Eos Energy Storage LLC.
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June 27, 2024
Chancery Orders Hearing On Musk's Texas Pay Ratification
Delaware's Chancellor on Thursday ordered arguments on the effect of Tesla Inc.'s latest ratification of a multibillion-dollar stock-based compensation award for CEO Elon Musk but separated the session from a July 8 hearing on fees for class attorneys who won an order voiding Musk's earlier pay award.
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June 27, 2024
SEC Says It Met Its Burden To Apply Dealer Rule To Crypto
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a Texas federal judge that the agency has met its burden to explain how its expanded definition of "dealer" applies to the crypto industry, urging the court to cut through an industry challenge.
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June 27, 2024
11th Circ. Won't Revive Robinhood Investors' Meme Stock Suit
The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court's dismissal of an investor antitrust suit against Robinhood Markets and Citadel Securities, holding that the investors failed to allege any plausible anti-competitive effects that occurred as a result of the platforms allegedly conspiring to restrict trades of "meme" stocks like GameStop in 2021.
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June 27, 2024
Coinbase Says SEC, FDIC 'Stonewalled' Crypto Info Requests
Crypto exchange Coinbase filed suits against both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Thursday after it said the agencies "stonewalled" information requests for documents that could shed light on agencies' internal views on digital assets.
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June 27, 2024
CFTC Extends Comment Period For Election Betting Proposal
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Thursday that it is extending the deadline for comment on its proposal to ban the trading of event contracts tied to things like election outcomes, sporting events and the Academy Awards.
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June 27, 2024
DOL Benefits Chief Defends Fiduciary Rule Before GOP Panel
The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits agency on Thursday defended recently finalized policy expanding the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, drawing criticism from a Republican-controlled panel of House lawmakers at an oversight hearing.
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June 27, 2024
Poor Governance Tanked Genomic Co.'s Stock, Investor Says
Poor corporate governance led to Sema4 Holdings Corp., now named GeneDx Holdings Corp., nixing hundreds of jobs and failing the Nasdaq requirement for common stock to close above $1 per share for 30 consecutive trading days, a derivative shareholder suit filed Tuesday against the genomics company's top brass alleges.
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June 27, 2024
Conn. Banking Dept. Defends $25K Fine Against Legal Funder
The Connecticut Department of Banking is urging a state judge to affirm a $25,000 fine levied on a legal funding business, saying the court should reject the company's contention that it has no authority over transactions at issue in the penalty.
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June 27, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Former Wells Fargo Associate GC In DC
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired a former associate general counsel for both Wells Fargo and Bank of America, who previously served as a U.S. attorney in the Central District of California and most recently as a Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP partner.
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June 27, 2024
SEC Sues Fla. Loan Website, CEO Over 'Fictitious' Revenue
A purported online lender and its CEO face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that the company's reported revenue for certain periods was "a figment" of the CEO's imagination.
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June 27, 2024
Cannabis Co. Settles Lender Suit After Regulator Delays
Troubled cannabis company Parallel settled a suit with three lenders who alleged a "self-dealing scheme" within the company after spending about a year trying to finalize the agreement and clear regulatory hurdles in various states.
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June 27, 2024
Justices Limit SEC's Use Of In-House Courts
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's use of its in-house court system, saying the accused have a right to a jury trial when financial penalties are on the table.
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June 26, 2024
BlackRock Can't Escape Saba Capital's Voting Bylaws Suit
A New York federal judge Tuesday refused to toss Saba Capital Management's lawsuit claiming a BlackRock Inc. environmental, social and corporate governance trust has illegal shareholder voting bylaws, but also refused to block BlackRock from applying the bylaws at issue to the current election.
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June 26, 2024
5th Circ. Says SEC Must Reconsider Axing Proxy Regulations
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to rescind a portion of Trump-era rules requiring proxy advisory firms to notify companies about their advice to investors, ruling that the agency didn't adequately explain the abrupt change.
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June 26, 2024
SEC Crypto Stance May Shift With Election, Rulemaking Suits
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to shift its cryptocurrency posture to some degree if a new chair is installed after the coming presidential election, but firms not content to wait for a change in the guard can consider challenging the agency's rulemaking process, experts said Wednesday.
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June 26, 2024
Ex-Outcome CEO Gets 7½ Years For Fraud Conviction
Former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah was sentenced to 7½ years in prison Wednesday for engaging in a massive fraud through which he grew the health advertising company by lying to investors, lenders and customers about its value and capabilities.
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June 26, 2024
Conn. Trader's Brother Cops Plea In $30M Brazilian Oil Plot
A Connecticut man has pled guilty to helping to bribe officials at Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro SA, also known as Petrobras, allegedly to help his commodities trader brother earn more than $30 million in ill-gotten profits from deals with the oil giant, according to federal court documents.
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June 26, 2024
Judge Trims 2nd Attempt At Crypto Lender Loan Suit
A California federal judge has again dismissed crypto lender Nexo Capital's affiliates from an amended suit over claims they fraudulently induced customers to take out risky loans, but found the new suit plausibly alleges Nexo distributed a nonexempt, unregistered security.
Expert Analysis
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How American Airlines ESG Case Could Alter ERISA Liability
Spence v. American Airlines, a Texas federal case over the airline's selection of multiple investment funds in its retirement plan, threatens to upend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's legal framework for fiduciary liability in the name of curtailing environmental, social and governance-related activities, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Defense Attys Must Prep For Imminent AI Crime Enforcement
Given recent statements by U.S. Department of Justice officials, white collar practitioners should expect to encounter artificial intelligence in federal criminal enforcement in the near term, even in pending cases, say Jarrod Schaeffer and Scott Glicksman at Abell Eskew.
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Tipsters May Be Key To Financial Regulators' ESG Efforts
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking to whistleblowers to assist their climate and ESG task forces, suggesting insider information could be central to the agencies' enforcement efforts against corporate greenwashing, false investment claims and climate disclosure violations, says John Crutchlow at Youman & Caputo.
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5 Takeaways From SAP's Foreign Bribery Resolutions
German software company SAP’s recent settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resolving allegations of foreign bribery, provide insights into government enforcement priorities, and how corporations should structure their compliance programs to reduce liability, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown
While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
The SEC Is Engaging In Regulation By Destruction
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent use of regulation by enforcement against digital assets indicates it's more interested in causing harm to crypto companies than providing guidance to the markets or protecting investors, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.
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Series
NJ Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
Early 2024 developments in New Jersey financial regulations include new bills that propose regulating some cryptocurrency as securities and protecting banks that serve the cannabis industry, as well as the signing of a data privacy law that could change banks’ responsibility to vet vendors and borrowers, say attorneys at Chiesa Shahinian.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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ShapeShift Fine Epitomizes SEC's Crypto Policy, And Its Flaws
A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission order imposing a fine on former cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift for failing to register as a securities dealer showcases the SEC's regulation-by-enforcement approach, but the dissent by two commissioners raises valid concerns that the agency's embrace of ambiguity over clarity risks hampering the growth of the crypto economy, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
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2nd Circ. Adviser Liability Ruling May Shape SEC Enforcement
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rashid, applying basic negligence principles to reverse a finding of investment adviser liability, provides a road map for future fraud enforcement proceedings, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference
At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: Benefits Of MDL Transfers
A recent order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation highlights a critical part of the panel's work — moving cases into an existing MDL — and serves as a reminder that common arguments against such transfers don't outweigh the benefits of coordinating discovery and utilizing lead counsel, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.