Securities

  • December 13, 2024

    Mich. Cos. Accused Of $1.5M Dispensary Investment Scam

    An Illinois business is suing Great Lakes Holistics Muskegon and Redbud Roots Inc. in Michigan federal court, alleging the companies' officers induced it to invest $1.5 million into a dispensary that had previously failed, while those officers pocketed the investment.

  • December 12, 2024

    Cantor Fitzgerald To Pay SEC $6.75M Over SPAC Disclosures

    Cantor Fitzgerald on Thursday agreed to pay a $6.75 million penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve claims that it caused two special purpose acquisition companies that it controls to make misleading statements to investors ahead of the SPACs' initial public offerings.

  • December 12, 2024

    Payments Co. Marqeta Faces Investor Suit Over Growth Woes

    Card issuing and transaction processing company Marqeta Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it concealed the impact that heightened regulatory scrutiny of its small bank partners would have on the growth of its business.

  • December 12, 2024

    Incora's Opt-Outs Not Like Class Actions, US Trustee Says

    The U.S. Trustee's Office on Thursday objected to the third-party releases in the Chapter 11 plan from aircraft parts supplier Incora, arguing in a Texas bankruptcy court that the opt-out mechanism for the releases is not comparable to class action procedures.

  • December 12, 2024

    SEC Fines Investment Co. For Adviser's Cherry-Picking Scheme

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that it fined SeaCrest Wealth Management $375,000 for allegedly failing to implement policies and procedures that would have possibly prevented the cherry-picking scheme of a former adviser, who is separately being sued by the agency.

  • December 12, 2024

    Bitcoin Investor Gets 2 Years For Tax Fraud In Landmark Case

    An investor who concealed millions of dollars he earned in bitcoin and became the first person criminally charged for failing to report gains from the sale of cryptocurrency by filing false returns was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday.

  • December 12, 2024

    SEC Will Be GOP-Only Without Crenshaw's Vote, Groups Warn

    More than 40 organizations sent a collective letter to U.S. senators in support of Democrat Caroline Crenshaw's reconfirmation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, a day after Senate Republicans blocked a closed-door vote on her nomination.

  • December 12, 2024

    Ch. 7 Trustee Must Explain $200M Holdback Bid, Court Told

    The owner of two bankrupt real estate companies has asked a Connecticut state court for permission to question the Chapter 7 trustee who wants a $200 million placeholder in connection with a shareholder's derivative claims, arguing the trustee must detail his allegations of the owner diverting millions to other business interests.

  • December 12, 2024

    Pharma Co. Says Federal Court Must Weigh Atty Fee Bid

    Harpoon Therapeutics Inc., which was acquired earlier this year by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, has asked a California federal judge to weigh an attorney fee bid by Monteverde & Associates PC, which sued Harpoon over allegedly incomplete merger disclosures.

  • December 12, 2024

    Fla. Judge Awards $114M To Crypto-Forex Exchange Investors

    A Florida judge issued a directed verdict Thursday against absent foreign exchange currency broker FxWinning Ltd. awarding investors more than $114 million after they told the court how they were swindled out of their investments when the company abruptly stopped honoring withdrawal requests.

  • December 12, 2024

    TD Bank Sued Over AML Controls After Ex-Employee's Arrest

    Toronto-Dominion Bank and its top brass concealed and downplayed issues with the bank's anti-money laundering controls, according to a class action filed one day after a former employee was arrested and charged with assisting in a money laundering scheme that sent millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from the U.S. to Colombia.

  • December 12, 2024

    Holland & Knight's Latest Corporate Atty Joins From WilmerHale

    Holland & Knight LLP announced the addition of a former WilmerHale attorney to its New York office Wednesday, touting his work for clients in sectors such as technology, life sciences, municipal services, financial services, specialty manufacturing and energy.

  • December 11, 2024

    5th Circ. Tosses SEC's OK Of Nasdaq's Board Diversity Rule

    A split Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Nasdaq cannot implement U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-approved rules requiring that companies listed on the exchange disclose board diversity data, finding that the stock exchange's rules run afoul of federal securities law.

  • December 11, 2024

    PE Fund Made Investments In 'Worthless' Startup, Suit Says

    An investor in a private equity fund has filed a suit in the North Carolina Business Court alleging the fund's asset manager and its majority owner exchanged the fund's $43 million alternative asset portfolio for an equity stake in a "nearly worthless" startup company.

  • December 11, 2024

    SEC Must Revisit $23M Demand In Collectibles Fraud Case

    A New Jersey federal judge has ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to recalculate its $23 million bid for disgorgement in a long-running suit against a sports memorabilia merchant found liable at trial last year for ripping off investors, in part by lying about the value of two contracts signed by baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

  • December 11, 2024

    Ex-Telecom CEO Charged With Insider Trading On His Own Firing

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that former Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CEO Ken Peterman has been charged with insider trading after he used nonpublic information about the company and his own impending termination to profit from the sale of tens of thousands of dollars' worth of Comtech stock.

  • December 11, 2024

    Palo Alto Networks Seeks Exit From Investors' 'Vague' Suit

    Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks and three of its executives have asked a San Francisco federal judge to toss a consolidated proposed investor class action over allegedly concealed "headwinds," arguing that its investors failed to show they'd known the company would eventually lower certain financial projections.

  • December 11, 2024

    Tesla Stockholder Contests $345M Musk Pay Fight Fee In Del.

    A Tesla Inc. stockholder has asked to intervene in the Delaware Court of Chancery class derivative case that scuttled CEO Elon Musk's 10-year, $55.6 billion compensation plan, citing objections to court approval of a stock or cash fee award for class attorneys worth $345 million.

  • December 11, 2024

    CFTC Wraps With Last Defendant In IcomTech Crypto Ponzi

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's litigation over the IcomTech cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme has come to a close now that a fifth defendant has been ordered to pay restitution for his role in the $3.5 million scheme.

  • December 11, 2024

    Trump Media Fights Stay Of Fla. Suit In Investor Dispute

    The company behind Donald Trump's Truth Social platform told a Florida appeals court on Wednesday that a trial court should not have paused its suit against investors in favor of a related dispute in Delaware because the two suits are not substantially similar.

  • December 11, 2024

    SEC Sues Disbarred Calif. Atty And Son For Securities Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a suit against a father-son duo and a broker for allegedly running a Ponzi-like scheme disguised as an investment company for a start-up content streaming app, raising over $17 million from at least 40 investors.

  • December 11, 2024

    DC Judge Enforces $325M Arbitral Award Against Argentina

    Argentina must pay a $391 million arbitral award issued following a 15-year-old dispute over the renationalization of the country's state-owned airline, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled on Tuesday.

  • December 11, 2024

    Nigerians Impersonated US Brokers For $3M Scam, Feds Say

    Three Nigerian nationals were charged on Wednesday with running a nearly $3 million internet investment fraud scheme in which they impersonated legitimate securities brokers and investment advisers, misappropriated the seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and stole from at least 28 investors.

  • December 11, 2024

    Del. Bar Urged To Push Back On Musk's Chancery Criticism

    Nearly 100 legal professionals, mainly plaintiffs bar attorneys and law professors, have called on the Delaware State Bar Association to defend the state's chancellor against attacks that tech and social media billionaire Elon Musk launched after a stinging defeat of his nearly $56 billion, multiyear Tesla Inc. package in January.

  • December 11, 2024

    Ozy Media Ex-CEO's Atty Seeks More Time Or OK To Quit

    An attorney for former Ozy Media Inc. CEO Carlos Watson asked a New York federal judge Wednesday for permission to withdraw from Watson's fraud and identity theft case unless he and other defense counsel can have more time to prepare for sentencing proceedings set to begin Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Nvidia Supreme Court Case May Not Make Big Splash

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    The skeptical tenor of the justices' questioning at oral argument in Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder suggests that the case is unlikely to alter the motion to dismiss pleading standard in securities class actions, as some had feared, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • How D&O Coverage Can Aid Against Increased AI Scrutiny

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    The recent increase in regulatory enforcement and securities class actions stemming from corporate use of artificial intelligence should prompt companies to ensure that their directors and officers liability insurance coverage is appropriately tailored to AI-related risks, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Crypto Cos. Add New Play In Their Offense Against SEC

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    Consensys and Crypto.com have adopted a novel strategy of preempting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions by moving to crypto-friendly Texas and filing declaratory lawsuits challenging the SEC's jurisdiction to regulate crypto-assets — an aggressive approach that may pay off, say attorneys at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • How To Safely Leverage AI In The Digital Assets Industry

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    Digital asset businesses that use or plan to implement artificial intelligence should assess their risk management frameworks to ensure that AI-related business areas, including customer support and fraud detection, are in compliance with applicable laws and regulatory guidance from the last year, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • $3B TD Bank AML Settlement Is A Wake-Up Call For All Banks

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    TD Bank’s historic settlement over anti-money laundering violations, resulting in over $3 billion in penalties, reminds banks of all shapes and sizes why they need to take financial crime compliance seriously, and highlights three areas that may be especially vulnerable to enforcement, says Jack Harrington at Bradley Arant.

  • What Trump Presidency May Mean For Climate Reporting

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    While the Trump administration will likely take a hands-off approach to climate-related disclosures and rescind regulations promulgated under the Biden administration, state and international ESG laws mean the private sector may not reverse course on such disclosures, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • SEC Action Indicates Continued Focus On ESG Disclosures

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently settled enforcement action against Invesco Advisers provides a road map for how regulatory agencies will continue to focus on ESG-related disclosures going forward, and underscores a focus on greenwashing, say attorneys at V&E.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • The AI Consumer Class Action Threat Is Not A Hallucination

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    As regulators scrutinize whether businesses can deliver on claims about their artificial intelligence products and services, the industry faces a wave of consumer fraud class actions — but AI companies can protect themselves by prioritizing fundamental best practices that are often overlooked, say Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein and Richard Torrenzano at the Torrenzano Group.

  • What's Next For The CFTC After The Election

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    While much of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's enforcement actions in line with its traditional priorities will continue as usual in the near term, postelection leadership changes at the CFTC and new congressional priorities may alter the commission's regulatory framework in 2025 and beyond — particularly its oversight of crypto, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Del. Dispatch: Clarifying Charter Amendment Vote Obligations

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery recently held in Gunderson v. The Trade Desk that only a majority stockholder vote is needed to approve a company's proposed reincorporation from Delaware to Nevada through a corporate conversion, which bodes well for other companies also considering leaving the First State, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • What's Still Up In The Air After Ruling On Calif. Climate Laws

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    A California federal court's recent ruling on challenges to California's sweeping climate disclosure laws resolved some issues, but allows litigation over the constitutionality of the laws to continue, and leaves many important questions on what entities will need to do to comply with the laws unanswered, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

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