Securities

  • May 15, 2024

    Chancery Orders $199M Penalty In TransCanada Deal Suit

    Citing "non-cumulative" damages award offsets, a Delaware vice chancellor on Wednesday ordered the former TransCanada Corp. to pay $199 million of a potential $283 million judgment issued in a post-trial ruling last year on amounts owed to former Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. shareholders shorted in a 2016 merger.

  • May 15, 2024

    Ex-FTX Exec Seeks Leniency, Saying He Was Kept In The Dark

    A former top FTX official has asked a Manhattan federal judge for a lenient 18-month sentence, saying he was not part of company co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle and was as shocked as everyone else to learn that the crypto exchange was operating a fraud that siphoned billions in customer funds.

  • May 15, 2024

    Senators Release 'Road Map' For Crafting Federal AI Policy

    A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday laid out a "road map" for artificial intelligence policy that calls for increased AI innovation funding, testing of potential harms posed by AI and consideration of the technology's workforce implications.

  • May 15, 2024

    Archegos Ex-Accountant Tells Jury Of 'Vendetta' Inside Fund

    A key cooperating witness had a "personal vendetta" against a former Archegos executive charged in the government's $36 billion market distortion case, according to testimony Wednesday by an ex-accountant at the fallen fund.

  • May 14, 2024

    Musk Can't Avoid Another Deposition In SEC Twitter Dispute

    A California federal judge on Tuesday ordered Elon Musk to testify once again in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit over his $44 billion acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, finding that the SEC's subpoena "reasonably seeks" information relevant to the agency's investigation.

  • May 14, 2024

    In Hot Seat, FDIC's Gruenberg Pledges 'Fundamental Change'

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg will tell House lawmakers Wednesday that he is taking "full responsibility" for his agency's workplace misconduct scandal and eyeing "fundamental" structural reforms, striking a humbled but determined tone as he faces the first of two hearings that could be make-or-break for his job.

  • May 14, 2024

    Autonomy Overstated Revenue Before HP Sale, Jury Hears

    Autonomy's reported revenue was overstated by a combined $300 million in the two-and-a-half years before HP acquired it, an accounting expert testified Tuesday in a California criminal trial over claims that Autonomy founder Michael Lynch duped HP into buying his software company for an inflated $11.7 billion price.

  • May 14, 2024

    FINRA Official Calls Off-Channel Flags 'Shockingly Common'

    A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority official said Tuesday that firms often veer into issues with off-channel business communications thanks to what's on their representatives' business cards and email signatures, and that the biggest red flag of recordkeeping violations are the habits of firms' own leaders and managers.

  • May 14, 2024

    Asset Manager Cops To $1.2B Venezuelan Oil Co. Fraud

    An asset manager pled guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in a $1.2 billion scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company and launder it through false investment schemes in the U.S. and abroad.

  • May 14, 2024

    SEC Fines Adviser For Undisclosed Movie Financing Deal

    A wealth management firm and its founder will pay $950,000 in combined disgorgement and penalties to settle the SEC's claims they failed to disclose conflicts of interest regarding investments in a film production company and favored a certain client's redemption requests over others, according to an order issued Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    Apache Investors Get First OK On $65M Deal In Drilling Suit

    A U.S. magistrate judge has given the first green light to a $65 million settlement resolving a lawsuit against oil and gas company Apache Corp. filed by investors alleging they were deceived by promises of a potentially lucrative drilling project that ultimately led to a $3 billion write-down when it went bust.

  • May 14, 2024

    Berkshire Bank Sued For Customer's Alleged $90M Ponzi

    Massachusetts-based Berkshire Bank is facing a proposed class action brought by an investor seeking to hold the bank liable for providing financial services to a bankrupt local business person whom the investor has accused of operating a $90 million Ponzi scheme.

  • May 14, 2024

    Ex-Wachovia Exec Owes $9M For Decade-Old Fraud, Feds Say

    A former senior trading executive-turned-Christian novelist still owes over $9 million in restitution on a 17-year-old conviction for a Ponzi-like scheme he ran while working for what was then Wachovia's investment banking unit, according to federal prosecutors.

  • May 14, 2024

    5th Circ. Expresses Doubt On Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules

    Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq Stock Market LLC faced a barrage of questions from the full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday, with judges wondering whether rules requiring corporations to disclose board diversity information would open the door to investor questions on religious practices, political beliefs or Taylor Swift fandom.

  • May 14, 2024

    Biotech Co. Sued In Del. For Faulty Election, Share Hike Vote

    A Cardiff Oncology Inc. stockholder has launched a direct and derivative suit in Delaware Chancery Court accusing the clinical stage biotech company of failing to count "against" votes in decisions that added 2 million shares to the company's limit in 2022 and reelected board members in 2022 and 2023.

  • May 14, 2024

    Mich. Biz Attys Back State's Securities Fraud Enforcement Bid

    Members of Michigan's state bar association have urged the state's highest court to adopt a U.S. Supreme Court test for determining whether promissory notes are securities, in support of an effort by the state securities regulator to bring an enforcement action against a condominium developer accused of failing to pay back investors. 

  • May 14, 2024

    Crystallex Special Master Fires Back Against Effort To DQ Him

    The special master appointed to oversee the auction of Citgo's parent company to satisfy billions of dollars worth of Venezuelan debt bristled at the country's allegations that he improperly pressured the U.S. to change its sanctions policy to permit the sale to go through.

  • May 14, 2024

    Couple Attacks Chase's 'Pack Of Lies' In $20M Loss Case

    An elderly couple claiming they lost tens of millions through bad investments with JPMorgan Chase Bank NA said in a heated Massachusetts federal court hearing Tuesday that the big bank shouldn't pocket a pretrial win based on a magistrate judge's "extreme" analysis.

  • May 14, 2024

    Holland Adds Healthcare Transactions Partner In Chicago

    Holland & Knight on Tuesday announced the arrival of attorney John Saran on its healthcare transactions team, who joins after nine years at Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • May 14, 2024

    Vein Tech Maker Faces Investor Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe

    Vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc. and three of its current and former executives face a proposed investor class action over claims that the company's share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws.

  • May 14, 2024

    Cannabis Co., Wrigley Heir Settle $7M Investor Suit

    An investor that sank $7.4 million into cannabis operator Parallel has settled its suit with the company and its former CEO and heir to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, according to a mediation report filed in Florida federal court.

  • May 14, 2024

    Stitch Fix Stockholder's Del. Suit Alleges $102M Insider Trades

    Insiders at online personal styling service Stitch Fix Inc. sold $102 million worth of company stock while hiding information for nearly 18 months about the company's faltering business prospects, a shareholder has alleged in a new Delaware Chancery Court complaint.

  • May 14, 2024

    Fla. Man Get 13 Mos. For Trading On Goldman Insider Info

    A Florida man was sentenced to 13 months in prison after pleading guilty to trading stocks on information provided by a former Goldman Sachs analyst, his attorney said Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    Social Media Software Co.'s Deal Hurt Investors, Suit Says

    Social media management platform Sprout Social was hit with a proposed class action alleging that it concealed that its growth following the acquisition of an influencer marketing platform was unsustainable and that it damaged investors when disappointing financial results and a guidance-cut announcement led to a share decline.

  • May 14, 2024

    Billionaire's Pilot Cops To Tax Count, Avoids Insider Trial

    A pilot from Virginia accused of profiting from stock tips fed to him by British billionaire Joe Lewis on Tuesday copped to dodging taxes on $500,000 of income from Lewis' company, in a plea deal that avoids an insider trading trial.

Expert Analysis

  • What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market

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    Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.

  • Tips For Balanced Board Oversight After A Cyberincident

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cybersecurity disclosure rules, as well as recent regulatory enforcement actions bringing board governance under scrutiny, continue to push boards toward active engagement in relation to their cyber-oversight role, despite it being unclear what a board's level of involvement should be, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Breaking Down DOJ's Individual Self-Disclosure Pilot Program

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to voluntarily self-disclose corporate misconduct they were personally involved in, complementing a new whistleblower pilot program for individuals not involved in misconduct as well as the government's broader corporate enforcement approach, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Reverse Veil-Piercing Ruling Will Help Judgment Creditors

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    A New York federal court’s recent decision in Citibank v. Aralpa Holdings, finding two corporate entities liable for a judgment issued against a Mexican businessman, shows the value of reverse veil piercing as a remedy for judgment creditors to go after sophisticated debtors who squirrel away assets, says Gabe Bluestone at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Address Complainants Before They Become Whistleblowers

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    A New York federal court's dismissal of a whistleblower retaliation claim against HSBC Securities last month indicates that ignored complaints to management combined with financial incentives from regulators create the perfect conditions for a concerned and disgruntled employee to make the jump to federal whistleblower, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Ensuring Nonpublic Info Stays Private Amid SEC Crackdown

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    Companies and individuals must take steps to ensure material nonpublic information remains confidential while working outside the office, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to take enforcement actions against those who trade on MNPI and don't comply with new off-channel communications rules in the remote work era, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What Cos. Are Reporting Under New SEC Cybersecurity Rule

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    Four months after its effective date, 14 companies have made disclosures under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting rule, and some early trends are emerging, including a possible rush to file, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 10 Tips For ESG Disclosure Compliance In Private Funds

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As regulators increase scrutiny of misleading claims about environmental, social and governance investments, private fund sponsors should consider several practical tips for communicating accurately with potential investors, drafting comprehensive disclosures and establishing internal policies that can keep pace with evolving compliance requirements, says Jonathan Rash at Ropes & Gray.

  • Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors

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    Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways

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    If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • First 10b5-1 Insider Trading Case Raises Compliance Issues

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    The ongoing case against former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer is the U.S. Department of Justice's first insider trading prosecution based primarily on the filing of 10b5-1 plans, and has important takeaways for attorneys reviewing corporate policies on the possession of material nonpublic information, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

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