Practice Areas
Industries
Securities
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May 16, 2012
Ex-Morgan Stanley Legal Chief Rejoins Ranks At Cravath
Longtime Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP securities and antitrust partner Francis P. Barron has rejoined the law firm in New York after a two-year stint as Morgan Stanley's chief legal officer, Cravath announced Tuesday.
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May 16, 2012
Hedge Fund Hit With $800M Suit Over Inflated Valuations
An offshore hedge fund that went bust after its now-indicted manager allegedly conspired to overvalue its holdings was hit with a proposed class action Monday in New York by investors seeking to recoup $800 million in losses.
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May 16, 2012
2nd Circ. Says NYU Properly Denied MBA To Insider Trader
New York University's Stern School of Business acted appropriately when it declined to award a Master of Business Administration degree to a student convicted for insider trading, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.
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May 16, 2012
FINRA Sounds Alarm Over Nutraceutical Stock Scams
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority cautioned investors Wednesday against putting their money into companies that sell nutraceuticals like weight-loss products and energy drinks, saying such promotions are often the work of “con artists.”
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May 16, 2012
Rothstein Kass Gets OK For $1.4M Ponzi Suit Settlement
A California federal judge on Wednesday approved most of a $1.4 million settlement between auditing firm Rothstein Kass & Co. PC and a class of investors over hedge fund investments in Ponzi schemes run by Thomas J. Petters and Bernie Madoff.
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May 16, 2012
Silver Manipulation May Have Just Been 'Hedging': JPMorgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co. told a New York federal judge Wednesday its large bet against silver during the financial crisis may have amounted to simple hedging, denying putative class action claims that it sought to manipulate the market and reap outsize profits.
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May 16, 2012
Covington Snags Anti-Corruption Atty For London Office
Covington & Burling LLP has added to its European anti-corruption and trade control practices by luring a Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner with extensive international experience to its London office, the firm said Wednesday.
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May 16, 2012
GOP Says SIFI Rule Won't Fit Insurers, Other Nonbanks
House Republicans said Wednesday that the Federal Reserve's proposal for regulating nonbank financial firms that could pose systemic risk hewed too close to rules for banks and did not properly take into account how insurers and other different types of companies operate.
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May 16, 2012
Merrill, Goldman Accidentally Release Short-Selling Docs
Merrill Lynch & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. made public, evidently by accident, documents that they had sought to have sealed in a dismissed lawsuit in California state court alleging the firms conspired to engage in “naked” short selling of Overstock.com Inc shares.
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May 16, 2012
Oxfam Sues To Force SEC's Hand On Dodd-Frank Resource Rule
Nonprofit Oxfam America Inc. asked a Massachusetts federal court Wednesday to compel the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule implementing a Dodd-Frank Act provision that requires companies to disclose payments to foreign governments where they extract resources.
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May 15, 2012
ABN Amro, Other Madoff Funds To Get Review By NY Judge
A New York federal judge on Tuesday agreed to review a slew of cases against Bernard Madoff feeder funds, as well as ABN Amro Bank (Ireland) Ltd., in order to consider tax and securities issues contained within them that involve nonbankruptcy law.
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May 15, 2012
Assured Guaranty Sues GMAC, Ally Over $56M Losses
Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. on Friday hit GMAC Mortgage LLC along with Ally Financial Inc., its beleaguered mortgage unit Residential Capital LLC and others in a lawsuit accusing the firms of misrepresenting the quality of securitized mortgage loans for which it had to pay out $55.7 million in claims.
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May 15, 2012
After JPMorgan Loss, GOP Delays Bills Weakening Dodd-Frank
House Republicans on Tuesday postponed a vote on bills that would loosen some of the Dodd-Frank Act's rules for over-the-counter derivatives, a sign that JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2 billion trading loss has at least temporarily given financial reform advocates some traction.
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May 15, 2012
IKB Sues BofA Over $250M In Soured RMBS Sales
Germany's IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG hit Bank of America Corp. with a pair of lawsuits in New York state court on Monday, accusing BofA of fraudulently selling more than $250 million worth of risky residential mortgage-backed securities.
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May 15, 2012
SEC, Citi Rip Rakoff In Bid To Restore $285M MBS Settlement
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup Inc. on Monday ripped U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff for rejecting their $285 million mortgage-backed securities settlement, calling his decision unprecedented and unwise as the unlikely bedfellows asked the Second Circuit to restore the deal.
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May 15, 2012
K&L Gates Malpractice Suit Over Le-Nature's Scam Revived
A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday revived the Le-Nature's Inc. liquidating trustee's $500 million malpractice suit against law firm K&L Gates LLP for failing to uncover during its internal investigation the massive fraud that brought the company down and landed its CEO in prison.
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May 15, 2012
MBIA's $5B Breakup Based On False Figures, Banks Say
New York state regulators' approval of bond insurer MBIA Inc.'s $5 billion restructuring must be reversed because it was based on inaccurate financial information, an attorney for Bank of America Corp. and Societe Generale SA told a New York state judge Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
DOJ Launches Probe Into JPMorgan's $2B Trading Loss
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2 billion trading loss, as shareholders refused calls Tuesday to strip CEO Jamie Dimon of his title as chairman of the board.
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May 15, 2012
Kelley Drye Grabs SEC Veteran For NY Corporate Practice
A veteran corporate mergers and acquisitions attorney who most recently spent two years working for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has joined Kelley Drye & Warren LLP as a partner in the firm's New York office, Kelley Drye said Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
Steptoe Snags Ex-IDB Investigations Chief With FCPA Chops
Steptoe & Johnson LLP has snagged a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act pro and former chief of the Inter-American Development Bank's Office of Institutional Integrity, to expand its international regulation and compliance and commercial litigation practices and Latin American presence, the firm said Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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Old-Fashioned Conspiracy In Cutting-Edge Technology
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the U.S. Department of Justice will continue to pursue litigation against Apple Inc., Macmillan Publishers Ltd. and Penguin Group Inc. for alleged price-fixing of e-books. The irony of this litigation is that it would appear that all the involved defendants were able to keep pace with technology, but not the simple evolution of corporate governance and compliance expectations, says Debra Rade of Rade Law LLC.
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Unclaimed Property In M&A Deals: Unwelcome Surprises
A target company’s historical compliance with unclaimed property laws is an important, but often overlooked, area for due diligence in M&A transactions. There are various ways for the buyer to control or limit its potential exposure, say Marc Musyl, Sarah Seedig and Jonathan Lessner of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
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TARP Auctions: Considerations For PE Fund Managers
A private fund planning to purchase Troubled Asset Relief Program preferred stock auctioned by the U.S. Treasury should keep in mind the regulatory implications of owning equity in a bank holding company, say Edwin del Hierro and Julie Kunetka of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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The Latest FCPA Target: Private Fund Advisers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case against a former Morgan Stanley executive — the first FCPA case involving a private fund investment adviser — reemphasizes to investment firms the importance of establishing effective anti-corruption internal controls in protecting both the entity and individual personnel from such enforcement, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.
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Weathering Management Conflicts In Acquisitions
Two recent Delaware Chancery Court decisions — In re El Paso Corp. Shareholders Litigation and In re Delphi Financial Group Shareholder Litigation — counsel vigilance in policing potential management conflicts in acquisitions, but both may have practical significance only when there are other, competitive bidders in the mix, say Michael Gass and Jennifer Tracy of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.
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A Post-Morrison Standard For 'Domestic Transactions'
In the recent case of Absolute Activist Value Master Fund Ltd. v. Ficeto, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for the first time addressed the ambiguity created by Morrison’s off-market transactions prong, announcing a standard for “domestic transactions” that combined the tests proposed by the Eleventh Circuit and the Southern District of New York, say attorneys with Mayer Brown LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.
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Pros And Cons Of SLCs
Shareholder litigation committees offer a powerful and effective response for any company facing a shareholder derivative lawsuit. Properly formed, they may allow the company to determine for itself how those claims should be handled. SLCs, however, are not without their costs and potential drawbacks, says Patrick Rooney of Fafinski Mark & Johnson PA.
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Vitro: Defining 'Manifestly Contrary' To US Policy
Since the enactment of Chapter 15 in 2005, relatively few courts have addressed what would be "manifestly contrary" to United States public policy. But it is likely that the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas will be asked to address the public policy exception when it considers recognition of the Mexican concurso of Vitro SAB de CV, say attorneys with Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
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Sussing Out Regulations A And D Of The JOBS Act
Regulation A Plus and amended Rule 506 have the potential to make capital formation considerably easier for private companies. But in each case, much depends on new rules to be adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming months, says Jonathan Guest of McCarter & English LLP.