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Securities
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April 16, 2024
SEC Gets Partial Win In Muni Adviser Disclosure-Rule Suit
A California federal judge has awarded a partial win to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its suit alleging a municipal adviser and one of its principals engaged in unlawful advisory activities with four charter school clients, saying "undisputed evidence" shows the defendants acted as advisers without the proper registrations, among other things.
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April 16, 2024
Barnes & Noble Education Reaches Deals To Reduce Debt
Paul Hastings LLP-advised Barnes & Noble Education Inc., which provides solutions for the education industry, on Tuesday announced that it has entered into various agreements meant to significantly strengthen its long-term financial position and reduce its debt, allowing the company to continue investing in education innovation.
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April 16, 2024
Del. Justices OK Midcase Review Of TripAdvisor Move
Delaware's Supreme Court will consider whether the Court of Chancery properly denied TripAdvisor's motion to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit over its corporate move to Nevada, finding that a midcase appeal of the ruling involves a question of law and could be "beneficial."
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April 16, 2024
Winston & Strawn Corporate Attorney Joins McGuireWoods
McGuireWoods LLP has added a corporate lawyer from Winston & Strawn LLP as a partner in its securities and capital markets team in Charlotte, North Carolina, the firm said Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
Investors Say Cannabis Group Took $9.1M In Fraud Scheme
Three investors are suing a California-based cannabis company and several affiliates, saying they were induced to invest more than $9.1 million in exchange for ownership shares of dispensaries, but have seen little to no return on their investment while their money was diverted.
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April 16, 2024
Latham Adds 2 Simpson Thacher Attys To Its NY Office
Latham & Watkins LLP has added two attorneys from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for its New York office, one of whom joins as co-chair of its global hybrid capital practice.
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April 16, 2024
Chancery Tosses Zelle Fraud Suit Against JPMorgan Directors
A JPMorgan Chase & Co. shareholder that sued the bank's board for allegedly ignoring fraud on the payment platform Zelle has not shown the bank failed to respond to the problem, a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled Tuesday, dismissing the shareholder's case.
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April 15, 2024
Ex-Autonomy Exec Testifies To Handshake Deals, Backdating
Autonomy's former U.S. head of sales testified for the prosecution Monday in the criminal fraud trial of founder Michael Lynch, saying he boosted sales figures via "quid pro quo" handshake deals with customers, created pretextual emails to cover his tracks and even backdated a deal to meet revenue targets.
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April 15, 2024
Structured Deposits Recalled In Ex-Ecuadorian Official's Trial
A bookkeeper testified Monday in Miami federal court that he conducted a series of structured deposits and other suspicious transactions while working at a tile company owned by the son of Ecuador's former comptroller general, who's accused of laundering millions of dollars in bribes from Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht SA.
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April 15, 2024
Taro Inks $36M Investor Deal Over Generics Price-Fixing
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries shareholders asked a New York federal judge Monday to greenlight a $36 million settlement resolving proposed class claims that the company misled investors about alleged generic drug price-fixing that led to a drop in stock price upon news of a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust investigation.
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April 15, 2024
Trump Media Files To Register More Shares For Potential Sale
The newly public owner of former President Trump's social media platform Truth Social filed paperwork on Monday to issue an additional 21.5 million shares and register for resale about 146 million existing shares, including a large stake owned by Trump.
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April 15, 2024
SEC Scores Win In $119M Rochester, NY Muni Bond Suit
A New York federal judge on Monday granted an early win to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on its claims against an advisory and its two principals who were involved in a $119 million bond offering by the city of Rochester, New York, saying the firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest present in its fee arrangements.
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April 15, 2024
'Pig Butchering' Scams' Human Toll Has Experts Alarmed
Financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges and social media companies need to do more to stem a growing tide of so-called pig butchering scams, which experts at the OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami said Monday are wreaking havoc on victims while funding a large human trafficking operation.
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April 15, 2024
SEC Fines Adviser $60K Over Alleged Pay-To-Play Violations
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that a Minnesota-based investment advisory firm will pay $60,000 to settle allegations it violated the commission's pay-to-play rule, which prohibits investment advisers from providing services to government-related clients for two years following a political campaign contribution.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Leave Lower Courts To Parse Corporate 'Half-Truths'
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that corporate silence isn't enough to form the basis of a securities fraud suit pointedly declined to wade into the question of what counts as a "half-truth," leaving it to lower courts to wrestle with which corporate statements are blurry enough to sustain a shareholder class action.
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April 15, 2024
Mich. High Court To Hear Siblings' Ski Share Valuation Fight
A sibling feud between the CEO of a family-run ski resort company and his sister, a minority shareholder, will get a hearing in front of the Michigan Supreme Court after the justices agreed to look at whether the company honored an agreement for redemption of shares in the family company.
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April 15, 2024
Chancery Denies Forte Biosciences' Bid To Toss Investor Suit
Board members of a struggling clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company who allegedly took defensive measures to stay in power after activist investors pushed the company to liquidate must face a stockholder's Delaware Chancery Court derivative suit that they breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders, a vice chancellor said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
Barclays To Pay FINRA Fine Over Research Analysts Conflicts
Broker-dealer Barclays Capital Inc. will pay a $700,000 fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after it self-reported two issues involving alleged conflicts of interest on the part of its research analysts, FINRA has announced.
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April 15, 2024
Solar Power Co. Accuses Ex-Insider Of Building, Selling Rival
Delaware-chartered solar energy venture Volt Energy Utility LLC has sued a former top officer in Chancery Court, alleging that while employed by Volt, she secretly launched a competing company, contacted Volt's lenders and customers and then sold the new business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. for $216 million.
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April 15, 2024
Years After Args, 7th Circ. Continues Mootness Fee Attack
A Seventh Circuit panel said Monday that a Chicago federal judge improperly barred a class action objector from intervening in a suit involving controversial "mootness fees" the appellate court has long criticized, saying he failed to articulate a valid legal reason for doing so.
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April 15, 2024
Coinbase Wants 2nd Circ. To Weigh Crypto's Howey Question
Crypto exchange Coinbase has asked a Manhattan federal judge to send the question of whether digital assets meet the definition of investment contracts to the Second Circuit, challenging a March order that found the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had adequately pled that the platform offered securities.
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April 15, 2024
Canadian Supplement Co.'s Sale Hits Ch. 15 Snag In Del.
A Delaware bankruptcy judge appeared skeptical Monday that an American judge can weigh in on a dispute over rights to Canadian assets, as counsel for a troubled nutritional supplement supplier based in Canada argued for U.S. recognition of a sale order from an insolvency court in its home country.
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April 15, 2024
Apple Faces Two Suits Over IPhone Market Dominance
Apple has been hit with a pair of suits alleging it has unfairly stifled competition in the smartphone market and that its practices and iPhone sales have violated federal securities and antitrust laws.
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April 15, 2024
Feds Say $3.5M 'Cryptojacking' Scam Targeted Cloud Services
A Nebraska man defrauded two cloud computing services of $3.5 million and used the proceeds to mine an additional $1 million in cryptocurrency, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week, Delaware justices mulled whether one Chancery Court vice chancellor properly voided four company bylaws — just as another vice chancellor voided one more. Fights among Truth Social investors continued, and shareholders launched new cases involving Macy's, United Airlines, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC.
Expert Analysis
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New SDNY Whistleblower Program May Be A Game-Changer
A new pilot program in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York promises to immunize from prosecution certain individuals who blow the whistle on financial crimes and corruption, and if similar self-disclosure programs are any indication, this significant new policy may measurably increase white collar investigations, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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A Guide To New Russia Sanctions For Foreign Financial Cos.
Attorneys at Foley Hoag take foreign financial companies on a deep dive into the compliance advice the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control issued after President Joe Biden's December executive order widened a Russian import ban and authorized sanctions against businesses that transact with Russia's military-industrial base.
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The Questions Around Prometheum's SEC-Compliant Strategy
While the rest of the crypto industry has been engaged in a long-running battle to escape the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's jurisdiction, a once-obscure startup called Prometheum has instead embraced the SEC's view to become the first crypto special-purpose broker-dealer, but it's unclear whether it can turn its favored status into a workable business, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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Reverse Merger Tips For Biotechs After SEC's Recent Actions
Several recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission developments could limit the viability of reverse mergers for biotech companies, and will require additional creativity and analysis for private companies looking to go public, say attorneys at Orrick.
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Black-Led VC Fund Case Could Hinge On Nature Of Grants
Organizations whose missions involve any manner of race-conscious funding should closely monitor arguments this week in American Alliance v. Fearless Fund, a case filed against a grant program that seeks to address the gap in venture capital funding for Black women-led businesses, which will examine whether grants are charitable under Civil Rights Act Section 1981 liability, say Kali Schellenberg and John Stapleton at LeVan Stapleton, and Kenneth Trujillo at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
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Ex-OpenSea Staffer Case May Clarify When Info Is Property
In considering the appeal of a former OpenSea manager’s wire fraud conviction in U.S. v. Chastain, the Second Circuit may soon provide guidance about whether economic information is traditional property in certain insider trading prosecutions — a theory of fraud that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly narrowed, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Takeaways From SEC's Aggressive Cybersecurity Moves
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's intensifying policy on cybersecurity and securities violations in the wake of a data breach — like its enforcement action against SolarWinds and its security officer — has emboldened shareholders to file related suits, creating a heightened threat to public companies, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial
Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.
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NY Discovery Stay Ruling Empowers Securities Defendants
A New York state appeals court’s recent decision in Camelot Event v. Morgan Stanley — which extends a federal securities law's discovery stay to state courts — clarifies an issue that has perplexed state courts across the country and provides the advantage of reduced discovery costs to securities defendants, say Katherine Kelly Fell and Jeremy Wertz at Milbank.
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Del. Dispatch: Efforts Clause Trumps Contractual Right
The Delaware Court of Chancery's Chordia v. Lee ruling this month — that the efforts clause set forth in a stockholders' agreement overrode the acquired company's right to fire its officers and employees — highlights key considerations for parties in such agreements to avoid post-acquisition disputes, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success
Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: A Strong Year For MDLs
While the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted even fewer MDL petitions last year than in 2022, hitting a 21st-century low, a closer look at the record-setting number of total actions encompassed within current proceedings reveals that MDL practice is still quite robust, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.
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What EU And UK Corp. Corruption Reform Means For US Cos.
Legislative developments in the U.K. and European Union have signaled that the prosecution of fraud and corruption is becoming a greater priority, and large U.S. companies with a global presence should view them as an opportunity to create and revise their global compliance programs, say attorneys at DLA Piper.