Securities

  • May 24, 2024

    Moelis-Inspired Corporate Law Bill Introduced In Del.

    Proposed amendments to Delaware's corporate code that some say could potentially upend the traditional power structure within corporations were introduced in Delaware's Legislature, despite outcry from many academics, corporate law attorneys, and some business groups that the changes are going too far, too fast.

  • May 24, 2024

    Xponential Fitness Sues Ex-CEO In Del. To Avoid Calif. Court

    Fitness brand franchiser Xponential Fitness Inc. sued its recently resigned CEO in Delaware Chancery Court Friday, asking the court to find that the First State's laws, not California's, govern a dispute over the former CEO's right to inspect the company's books and records.

  • May 24, 2024

    CFTC's Johnson Is Under Consideration For FDIC Top Job

    The Biden administration is considering Kristin Johnson, a Democratic member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as a possible candidate to replace Martin Gruenberg at the helm of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Law360 has learned.

  • May 24, 2024

    Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List

    President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.

  • May 24, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Bainbridge Can't Have Argentina's Building

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday denied an appeal from Bainbridge Fund Ltd. in a property dispute with Argentina, saying the company can't take possession of the property in an effort to satisfy a $95 million judgment over defaulted bonds.

  • May 24, 2024

    NYSE Companies Could Face Heat If Business Focus Changes

    A New York Stock Exchange proposal seeking additional authority to delist companies that enact wholesale business changes after going public could subject certain companies to more scrutiny, attorneys say, though such drastic actions are expected to be rare.

  • May 24, 2024

    Exiled Chinese Businessman Is No $1B Fraudster, Jury Told

    Exiled Chinese businessman and purported billionaire Guo Wengui ran legitimate companies in support of a broad movement that opposed the Chinese Communist Party, his attorney told a Manhattan federal jury Friday, rather than what prosecutors say was a multifaceted $1 billion fraud.

  • May 24, 2024

    Coinbase Says Crypto Securities Question Is Ripe For Review

    Crypto exchange Coinbase again urged a Manhattan federal judge to send to the Second Circuit the question of whether digital assets meet the definition of investment contracts, saying the question could "shape or distort a multitrillion-dollar industry."

  • May 24, 2024

    Foley & Lardner Given All-Clear To Exit SEC Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge permitted Foley & Lardner LLP on Friday to exit as counsel for a Malta-based registered investment adviser that is defending claims in a $75 million lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, despite the judge's previous concerns about the firm's withdrawal.

  • May 24, 2024

    DLA Piper Adds Corporate Ace From Goodwin In Calif.

    A finance lawyer with deep expertise has joined DLA Piper from Goodwin Procter LLP in its Palo Alto shop, strengthening its offerings in the Golden State.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Autonomy CEO Lynch Takes Stand In 'Surreal' Fraud Trial

    Autonomy founder Michael Lynch took the stand Thursday in a criminal trial in California federal court over claims he lied to HP about his software company's financial health before the tech giant paid $11.7 billion for it in 2011, saying the trial has been "surreal" and he didn't set out to defraud HP.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Bank CEO Cops To Embezzling $47M To Pay Crypto Scam

    Heartland Tri-State Bank's former chief executive pled guilty Thursday in Kansas federal court to embezzling $47 million that he wired to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by fraudsters after falling victim to a "pig butchering" scam, which led to the bank's collapse and subsequent shutdown last summer.

  • May 23, 2024

    SEC Opens Gate To Ether ETFs, But Firms Await Green Light

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started the process of bringing exchange-traded funds holding the cryptocurrency ether to market on Thursday when it approved a series of filings permitting national securities exchanges to list the products, leaving firms to wait for the next step before trading can begin.

  • May 23, 2024

    Influencer Can't Duck SEC Suit Over Crypto Sale, Promotion

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scored a partial win in a Texas federal court case in which the agency accused an influencer of unlawfully reselling and promoting cryptocurrencies to followers on social media, with a judge finding the tokens were unregistered securities and the promoter could not escape liability in the lawsuit.

  • May 23, 2024

    JP Morgan Inks $200M CFTC Deal Over Supervision Failures

    J.P. Morgan Securities LLC on Thursday agreed to pay a $200 million civil penalty to resolve charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission accusing the investment management company of more than a decade of trade surveillance failures, including failing to capture billions of orders on one venue.

  • May 23, 2024

    AdTech Co. Faces Suit As Google's Cookie Support Crumbles

    Advertising company Direct Digital Holdings Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it mismanaged its response to an impending major technological change affecting how digital advertisers can target consumers.

  • May 23, 2024

    Governance In Focus As ESG Gains Ground This Proxy Season

    Support for corporate governance and compensation shareholder proposals has reached a five-year high this year, while support for environmental and social proposals has risen slightly after two years of decline, according to a new report.

  • May 23, 2024

    'Not Us At Our Best:' SEC's Top Cop Talks Debt Box Error

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement director Gurbir Grewal took responsibility Thursday for his agency's sanctioned actions in a lawsuit against crypto project Debt Box, saying that the case did not represent the agency "at our best" but was not a sign that there were any widespread problems with the way it conducts its enforcement proceedings. 

  • May 23, 2024

    Investors Lose $600M Mass Claim Over Cyprus Bank Failures

    The Republic of Cyprus said Thursday that an international arbitral tribunal has dismissed an unprecedented $600 million mass claim by Greek depositors and bondholders affected by the restructuring of Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus.

  • May 23, 2024

    FTX Judge Declines To Undo Ch. 11 Digital Claim Estimation

    The judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. on Thursday denied a request to vacate an earlier ruling allowing the debtor to estimate the claims of creditors holding digital assets based on their petition date value, saying the party seeking to undo the order had not provided any new evidence to justify the action.

  • May 23, 2024

    Big Banks Hit With Claims Of Turning Man Into 'Money Mule'

    A wealthy Texas entrepreneur says Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and Deutsche Bank turned him into a "money mule" by using his accounts to launder billions of dollars over multiple decades, alleging a conspiracy also involving his family and a prominent lawyer that cost him millions.

  • May 23, 2024

    7th Circ. Unsure VIX-Fix Claims Were Wrongly Tossed

    The Seventh Circuit seemed unsure Thursday that two investment companies should be allowed to pursue volatility index manipulation claims against Barclays, Morgan & Stanley Co. and other financial institutions after a lower court found that one lacked standing and the other missed a statutory deadline.

  • May 23, 2024

    TRO Against Ex-TD Bank Employees Revised

    A federal judge in Connecticut walked back part of a temporary restraining order against ex-TD Bank employees accused of siphoning $25 million in business to Raymond James Financial, saying the previous order may have been more restrictive than necessary.

  • May 23, 2024

    Wiz Khalifa Settles Suit Over Cannabis Venture

    Rapper Wiz Khalifa has settled a lawsuit filed by the co-owner of his cannabis enterprise who claimed he was cut out of a $20 million deal to license the artist's name and likeness to promote cannabis products.

  • May 23, 2024

    'New' Facts Don't Permit Do-Over, Kraft-Heinz Tells Chancery

    An institutional shareholder of The Kraft-Heinz Co. is not entitled to a "do-over" on an insider trading lawsuit that Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed in 2021 because the supposed "new evidence" it offers isn't actually new and wouldn't have made any difference in the case, the company said Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • Caremark 2.0 Lends Shareholders Agency Against Polluters

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    The Caremark doctrine has been liberalized by recent Delaware court decisions into what some have termed a 2.0 version, making derivative cases against corporations far more plausible and invigorating oversight duty on environmental risks like toxic spills and air pollution, say Joshua Margolin and Sean Goldman-Hunt at Selendy Gay.

  • BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

  • 2nd Circ.'s Nine West Ruling Clarifies Safe Harbor Confusion

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    The Second Circuit’s recent ruling in Nine West’s Chapter 11 suit clarifies that courts in the circuit will apply a transfer-by-transfer analysis to determine the applicability of Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, and that to be safe harbored, a financial institution must act as an agent with respect to the specific transfer at issue, says Leonardo Trivigno at Carter Ledyard.

  • Opinion

    European Union Criticisms Of The FCPA Are Misguided

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    Some in the European Union have criticized U.S. enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for what they perceive as jurisdictional overreach, but this appears to overlook the crucial fact that jurisdiction is voluntary, and critics should focus instead on the lack of equivalent laws in their own region, say John Joy and YuTong Wang at FTI Law.

  • What Fed's Credit-Linked Note FAQ Means For Capital Relief

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    U.S. banks that seek to mitigate their loss of liquidity under the Basel III capital requirements by issuing direct credit-linked notes should turn to recent Federal Reserve FAQs for insight into how this new use of synthetic securitizations may reshape risk and regulation in the U.S. market, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.

  • Wildfire Challenges For Utility Investors: Regs And Financing

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    For investors in public utilities, wildfire liability considerations include not only regulatory complexities, but also bankruptcy claims resolution, financing judgments and settlements, and how to leverage organizational structures to maximize investment protections, say David Botter and Lisa Schweitzer at Cleary.

  • Del. Dispatch: How Moelis Upends Stockholder Agreements

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery's Moelis decision last month upended the standard corporate practice of providing governance rights in stockholder agreements and adds to a recent line of surprising decisions holding that long-standing, common market practices violate Delaware law, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Wildfire Challenges For Utility Investors: Liability Theories

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    The greater frequency and scale of wildfires in the last several years have created operational and fiscal challenges for electric utility companies, including new theories of liability and unique operational and risk management considerations — all of which must be carefully considered by utility investors, say David Botter and Lisa Schweitzer at Cleary.

  • Under The Hood Of The SEC Securitization Conflict Rule

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    Elanit Snow and Julia Vitter of Proskauer consider the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently finalized rule that prohibits conflicts of interest in certain securitization transactions, uncovering what the new regulation does and doesn’t entail, why it was adopted, and how commenters' remarks affected the process.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Can A DAO Be Sued? SDNY Case May Hold The Answer

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    A case pending in the Southern District of New York will examine whether decentralized crypto co-op MakerDAO is a partnership with the capacity to be sued in federal court, and the decision could shape how legal frameworks will adapt to accommodate blockchain technologies moving forward, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Tips For Counsel Seeking Balance In The ESG Political Divide

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    Corporate counsel tasked with navigating environmental, social and governance factors in the current polarized political environment should not lose sight of best practices, including sticking to what the law requires and always telling the truth, say Jennifer Rubin at Mintz and Mike Rider at ResMed.

  • Practical Steps For Navigating New Sanctions On Russia

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    After the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia – the largest to date since the Ukraine war began – companies will need to continue to strengthen due diligence and compliance measures to navigate the related complexities, say James Min and Chelsea Ellis at Rimon.

  • Opinion

    UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason

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    The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.

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