Securities

  • October 09, 2024

    Duane Morris Adds Corporate, Banking Partner In New York

    Duane Morris LLP has brought on a former Stinson LLP partner for its corporate practice group in New York, the firm said Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Sullivan & Cromwell Dropped From FTX Investor Suit

    FTX customers dismissed Sullivan & Cromwell LLP from ongoing multidistrict litigation over the crypto exchange's collapse on Wednesday, after an investigation by the customers' counsel into the firm and dialogue with the FTX bankruptcy estate and appointed examiner resolved concerns about the law firm's conduct. 

  • October 09, 2024

    Disbarred Atty Admits To Defrauding Investors, DOJ Says

    A disbarred attorney has pled guilty in connection with a financial services scheme that defrauded investors out of more than $1 million, New Jersey's U.S. attorney announced Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Disbarred Calif. Atty To Pay $14M Over Crypto Ponzi Scheme

    A disbarred California attorney has been ordered by a Nevada federal judge to pay nearly $14 million in restitution for his role in promoting a $9.5 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.

  • October 08, 2024

    Genting Unit Used Bahamas Resort To Hide Fraud, Suit Says

    A Bahamanian real estate development company on Monday sued a U.S. company organized under destination resorts and casino giant Genting Group, saying in a Florida federal complaint that the Genting company used a resorts in the Bahamas as a "financial wasteland" that obscured fraudulent activities.

  • October 08, 2024

    Texas Looks To Sink Suit Challenging Anti-ESG Law

    Texas officials have asked a federal court to toss claims brought against them over a law restricting state investments with financial firms and businesses that want to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, arguing they have sovereign immunity and the law doesn't violate the First Amendment.

  • October 08, 2024

    PetroSaudi Says US Not Entitled To All Of $380M Award

    A PetroSaudi unit said it wants a California federal court to make clear that only 5% of funds should go to the Biden administration in a dispute over the proceeds of a nearly $380 million arbitral award allegedly tied to embezzled 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds.

  • October 08, 2024

    SEC Texting Sweep: Message Received, Guidance Needed

    After financial firms have paid billions of dollars in recordkeeping fines around employees' use of off-channel communications, recent criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approach by its Republican members has drawn support from attorneys who worry the agency is pushing for an impossible standard of perfect compliance.

  • October 08, 2024

    OneCoin Co-Conspirator Wants No Prison For Laundering Plea

    A business consultant and investor who pled guilty to laundering approximately $35 million as part of the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam has asked a New York federal judge for a probationary sentence and a minimal fine, arguing that he had a minor role in the scheme compared to other defendants and has lived an otherwise law-abiding life.

  • October 08, 2024

    AI Software Co. Touted Inflated Revenue, Investor Claims

    Artificial intelligence software company iLearningEngines has been hit with a proposed class action alleging investors were damaged when a short seller report revealed that the company was overstating its Indian revenue by nearly 99% by contracting with a related party to inflate sales.

  • October 08, 2024

    FTX's Ellison To Give Up 'Substantially All Of Her Assets'

    Former FTX insider Caroline Ellison agreed to give up "substantially all of her assets" and cooperate with the FTX bankruptcy estate in a deal to resolve the claims against her in an adversary proceeding that sought to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from the collapsed crypto exchange's former leadership.

  • October 08, 2024

    Chancery OKs $9.75M In Atty Fees For SPAC Stock Drop Suits

    Settlements and attorney fee rulings closed the book Tuesday on two GigCapital-related blank check deals that settled before trial in Delaware's Court of Chancery, with a vice chancellor approving combined public stockholder payouts and fee awards of $7.25 million and $2.5 million.

  • October 08, 2024

    Elanco Misled Investors About Dog Medicine Safety, Suit Says

    An Elanco investor lodged a proposed securities class action against the animal pharmaceutics company on Monday, telling a Maryland federal court that the company misled investors about the safety of a canine dermatitis treatment it was developing and its timelines for drug launches.

  • October 08, 2024

    SEC Approves Nasdaq Plan To Accelerate Delistings

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a Nasdaq rule change that would enable the stock exchange to accelerate removals of struggling companies that try to delay delistings through the use of reverse stock splits.

  • October 08, 2024

    Whole Earth Sued In Chancery For Docs On Take-Private Deal

    A stockholder of global food company Whole Earth Brands sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery late Monday for alleged failure to provide requested books and records on the company's agreement in February to be taken private by an affiliate of Sababa Holdings Free LLC.

  • October 08, 2024

    Crypto.com Sues SEC Over 'Unlawful' Crypto Approach

    Crypto.com became the latest crypto exchange to push back on a potential enforcement case from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday when it sued the regulator after allegedly receiving a notice that the agency believes it operates as an unregistered broker-dealer and clearing agency.

  • October 08, 2024

    Morgan Lewis Lands Capital Markets Pro From Davis Polk

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Tuesday that it has added to its capital markets and public companies practice with the hiring of an attorney who formerly was at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and served as an attorney-adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • October 08, 2024

    Willkie Adds Faegre ERISA Litigation Co-Head With Duo Hire

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is expanding its Midwest team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigator and a Chapman and Cutler LLP finance expert as partners in its Chicago office.

  • October 07, 2024

    AbbVie's Top Brass Escape Suit Over Rinvoq Claims, For Now

    An Illinois federal judge Friday tossed AbbVie investors' suit challenging directors' statements about the potential for its rheumatoid arthritis drug Rinvoq to be approved for other conditions, a possibility that collapsed over safety risks with Pfizer's competing drug Xeljanz, finding the investors don't allege the directors knew Xeljanz's results would affect Rinvoq.

  • October 07, 2024

    Seinfeld-Inspired Investors Sue Bitwise Over $2M Crypto Losses

    A group of family-owned investment companies named after a gag from "Seinfeld" sued crypto asset manager Bitwise and its executives for allegedly duping them into staying invested in one of its funds as it sought a conversion to a less-preferable structure, causing them $1.9 million in losses.

  • October 07, 2024

    Activist Short Seller Blasts 'Preposterous' SEC Fraud Suit

    The founder of Citron Research, a newsletter for short sellers, has asked a California federal court to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud suit against him and his investment advisory firm, arguing the suit "strategically omits" the disclaimers it accused the founder of not making.

  • October 07, 2024

    Morgan Lewis Taps SEC Enforcement Vet As DC Partner

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Monday that it has bolstered its securities enforcement and litigation team by hiring as a new partner the former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission division of enforcement associate director, a 17-year agency veteran who supervised many of the SEC's groundbreaking or noteworthy crypto actions, including one against Kim Kardashian.

  • October 07, 2024

    5th Circ. Casts Doubt On SEC's Updated Short-Selling Rules

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's arguments for maintaining two regulations aiming to bolster transparency around short selling in the marketplace, with one judge asking whether the agency was "having cake and eating it too," by claiming that the rules were not interconnected in a way that was fatally flawed.

  • October 07, 2024

    FTX Gets OK For Ch. 11 Plan After Objections Overruled

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said he would confirm the Chapter 11 reorganization plan of FTX Trading Ltd. after overruling several objections Monday, beginning a process of distributing billions of dollars to customers less than two years after the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed.

  • October 07, 2024

    Justices Won't Hear Commerzbank RMBS Fight With US Bank

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down a bid by Commerzbank AG to revive more of its claims against U.S. Bank NA in a long-running lawsuit over pre-2008 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts, declining to review a recent Second Circuit decision in the case.

Expert Analysis

  • American Airlines ESG Ruling Could Alter ERISA Landscape

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    The Spence v. American Airlines ESG trial, speeding toward a conclusion in a Texas federal court, could foretell a dramatic expansion in ERISA liability, with plan sponsors vulnerable to claims that they didn't foresee short-term dips in stock prices, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • SVB Ch. 11 Shows Importance Of Filing Proof Of Claim Early

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    After a New York bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in SVB’s Chapter 11 case denied late claims filing requests related to post-bar date events, parties with potential claims against a debtor may need to seriously consider filing protective proofs of claim, says Kyle Arendsen at Squire Patton.

  • Del. Dispatch: 27.6% Stockholder Not A Controller

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent decision in Sciannella v. AstraZeneca — which found that the pharma giant, a 26.7% stockholder of Viela Bio Inc., was not a controller of Viela, despite having management control — shows that overall context matters when challenging transactions on breach of fiduciary duty grounds, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Cyber Incident Response Checklist For SEC Compliance

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    In light of recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which clarified the distinction between two types of cybersecurity incident disclosures, companies should align their materiality assessment, incident response and disclosure control processes to bolster compliance and provide a measure of protection, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Loss Causation Ruling Departs From Usual Securities Cases

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    A California federal court recently dismissed Ramos v. Comerica, finding that the allegations failed to establish loss causation, but the reasoning is in tension with the pleading-stage approaches generally followed by both courts and economists in securities fraud litigation, say Jesse Jensen and Aasiya Glover at Bernstein Litowitz.

  • A Simple Proposal For Improving E-Discovery In MDLs

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    Given the importance of e-discovery in multidistrict litigation, courts, parties and counsel shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel in each newly consolidated case — and a simple process for sharing e-discovery lessons and knowledge across MDLs could benefit everyone involved, particularly clients, say Benjamin Barnett and Shauna Itri at Seeger Weiss.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • What FTX Case Taught Us About Digital Asset Recoverability

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    FTX's Chapter 11 plan has drawn lots of attention, but the focus should be on the anticipated outcome for investors, which counters several myths about digital currencies, innovation and recoverability, says Kyla Curley at StoneTurn.

  • How To Survive Shareholder Activism

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    In an era where shareholder activism is on the rise, companies must identify weaknesses, clearly communicate strategies, update board composition and engage with shareholders consistently in order to avoid disruptive shareholder activism and safeguard the interests of both the company and its shareholders, say J.T. Ho at Orrick and Greg Taxin at Spotlight Advisors.

  • 'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed

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    A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • Will Texas Stock Exchange Provide Regulatory Haven?

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    While the newly proposed Texas Stock Exchange may represent a market reaction to increasingly complex regulations, those looking to list on a national securities exchange should consider that their choice of an exchange may not relieve them of some of the most burdensome public company requirements, say Elizabeth McNichol and Ryan Lilley at Katten.

  • Equity Rights Offering Considerations As Maturity Cliff Looms

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    Current market uncertainties make an equity rights offering — involving affiliate backstop investors — a cost-effective, capital-raising transaction for distressed companies looking to manage their leverage ahead of the impending maturity of a substantial number of COVID-era debt issuances, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • A Checklist For Lenders Preparing For CRE Loan Defaults

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    Considering the recent interest rate environment, lenders should brush up on the proper steps that they should take when preparing to respond to a borrower's default on a commercial real estate loan, and borrowers should understand what lenders will be reviewing, says attorney Norma Williams.

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