Capital Markets

  • December 16, 2025

    CFTC Drops Spoofing Case Against Texas Energy Trader

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has agreed to drop a lawsuit claiming a Houston-based energy trading firm manipulated the crude oil market, an outcome the firm hailed as "full and definitive vindication" on Monday.

  • December 16, 2025

    Levona Says New Docs Show Reed Smith Lied In $102M Feud

    Levona Holdings Ltd. is pressing a Manhattan federal court to vacate what it calls a fraudulent $102 million arbitral award issued to international shipping company Eletson, arguing that new documents released under the crime-fraud exception show that the company and its prior attorneys at Reed Smith LLP lied during the arbitration.

  • December 15, 2025

    Senate Banking Committee Pushes Crypto Markup To 2026

    The Senate Banking Committee anticipates marking up a crypto market structure proposal in the new year as bipartisan negotiations on the bill continue, a spokesperson for committee chairman Tim Scott, R.-S.C, said Monday.

  • December 15, 2025

    Starbucks Investors Get Claims Against Ex-CFO Revived

    A federal judge in Seattle has reinstated claims against Starbucks' former chief financial officer in a suit accusing the coffee giant's leaders of misleading shareholders about its struggling plan to reinvent itself, saying the investors plausibly allege the ex-executive was a controlling person under the securities laws.

  • December 15, 2025

    Property Investor Says Florida Real Estate Broker Stole $121M

    A Florida rental properly investor accused a real estate broker in state court of misappropriating more than $121 million intended as investment distributions, saying she used her position as manager of several companies to divert the funds to her own accounts. 

  • December 15, 2025

    Trustee Sues SafeMoon Leaders Over Alleged Fraud Scheme

    The liquidating trustee for cryptocurrency asset company SafeMoon has filed a lawsuit in Utah bankruptcy court accusing former top executives of looting tens of millions of dollars from "liquidity pools" and ultimately doing at least $100 million in damage to the company.

  • December 15, 2025

    Cooley Adds Crypto-Focused Atty From Waymaker

    A fintech litigator whose clients have included Mango Markets trader Avraham Eisenberg and Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is heading to Cooley LLP after 12 years at Waymaker LLP, Cooley announced Monday.

  • December 15, 2025

    SEC Settles With Digital Ad Co. Accused Of $2.8M Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that the founder of a purported social media advertising company will pay $125,000 to end the agency's claims they misled potential investors about the company's revenue and growth prospects.

  • December 15, 2025

    Investment Firms Nab Quipt Home Medical In $260M Deal

    Medical equipment provider Quipt Home Medical Corp. on Monday announced plans to go private after being purchased by a special purpose acquisition vehicle funded by investment firms Kingswood Capital Management and Forager Capital Management in a deal that values the company at $260 million and was built by three law firms.

  • December 15, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Litigation in Delaware's Court of Chancery sprawled from a dispute over control of banana plantations along Africa's Congo River to a fight over the late musician Prince's estate last week. Along the way, a court ruling rejected a motion for a quick decision favoring Blue Bell Creameries director and officer calls for liability releases in a tainted ice cream saga that dates to 2015.

  • December 15, 2025

    11th Circ. Rejects ESOP Managers' Individual Arbitration Push

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday backed a court's decision to keep a lawsuit in Georgia federal court alleging a legal technology company's employee stock ownership plan shares were undervalued in a plan termination, holding that an arbitration provision was unenforceable because it blocked rights under federal benefits law.

  • December 15, 2025

    Texas, Toronto Stock Exchanges End Trademark Dispute

    The Texas Stock Exchange has buried the hatchet with the Toronto Stock Exchange and ended its suit seeking a court finding that the two exchanges' logos are dissimilar. 

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Exits ESOP Suit Against BDO, Citing His Wife's Tie

    A Massachusetts federal judge recused himself from a proposed class action alleging that accounting giant BDO USA and company executives sold stock at an inflated price to an employee stock ownership plan in a $1.3 billion deal, citing his wife's financial interest in a company involved in the case.

  • December 12, 2025

    30 Years On, PSLRA Debates Still Rage In Securities Cases

    Thirty years ago this month, Congress overrode a presidential veto to enact a law that changed the landscape of shareholder class action lawsuits. How the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act will continue to change that landscape remains a live issue as courts continue to wrestle with the question of how investors can prove that they've been injured by alleged corporate malfeasance.

  • December 12, 2025

    SEC, Ex-Advisers Settle Unregistered Securities Sales Claims

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a settlement with a pair of former investment advisers it accused of participating in a fraudulent scheme to sell unregistered oil and gas securities, according to a motion filed on Friday.

  • December 12, 2025

    CFTC Drops 'Outdated' Crypto Guidance On Actual Delivery

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has withdrawn what it called "outdated" guidance on the actual delivery of cryptocurrency, to be more in line with recommendations from the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, and has issued no-action letters to several prediction market platforms.

  • December 12, 2025

    Starbucks Defends Ex-CFO In Investors' 'Triple Shot' Suit

    Starbucks Corp. is fighting shareholders' effort to reinstate claims against its former chief financial officer in a lawsuit they brought over the company's "Triple Shot" reinvention plan, arguing that a judge in Seattle correctly dismissed claims against the onetime executive. 

  • December 12, 2025

    OCC Conditionally Grants 5 Crypto-Focused Trust Charters

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Friday gave five crypto-focused firms a preliminary nod to operate as national trust banks, clearing the way for crypto to integrate further into the banking system despite pushback from banking lobbyists.

  • December 12, 2025

    Crypto Industry Balks At Citadel Securities' Call For Regs

    Cryptocurrency advocates pushed back Friday against Citadel Securities' request that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission more closely monitor decentralized trading platforms, contending that placing the industry under the same strictures as traditional exchanges would "undermine" innovation.

  • December 12, 2025

    Oppenheimer Fined $1.2M In SEC Muni Bond Disclosure Case

    Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. has agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $1.2 million for allegedly skirting municipal bond disclosure requirements, the regulator announced Friday.

  • December 12, 2025

    Bogus AI Hedge Fund Chief Finalizes $4.1M SEC Deal

    A self-styled hedge fund CEO who pled guilty to scamming investors with claims that his firm used artificial intelligence for its high-frequency trading strategy has finalized a parallel $4.1 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, though the debts would be considered satisfied by his criminal restitution, a Brooklyn federal judge said Friday.

  • December 12, 2025

    Chancery Lets Nextdoor Argue De-SPAC Suit Filed Too Late

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Friday let Nextdoor Inc. and related defendants argue that investors waited too long to sue over the company's de-SPAC merger, while pausing discovery as the court considers motions that could end the case.

  • December 12, 2025

    Nasdaq Seeks Power To Block IPOs Over Manipulation Risks

    Nasdaq proposed a rule change on Friday that would give the exchange new discretion to block initial public offerings even when companies meet all quantitative listing requirements, citing concerns that certain stocks could be vulnerable to manipulation once they begin trading.

  • December 12, 2025

    4 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2025's 2nd Half

    The Eleventh Circuit signaled it may be willing to change its precedent to make it easier for federal benefits lawsuits to get to the courthouse door, while the Second Circuit shut down a challenge to a union pension plan's private equity investment emphasis. Here's a look back at these and two other significant Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation developments from the latter half of 2025 that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.

  • December 12, 2025

    Fenwick, Latham Lead Robo-Adviser Wealthfront's $485M IPO

    Digital wealth management firm Wealthfront made its public debut on the Nasdaq Friday after raising $485 million in its initial public offering, a move that comes after the venture-backed company filed confidential plans to go public this summer.

Expert Analysis

  • Parsing Trump Admin's First 6 Months Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement results for the first six months of the Trump administration show substantially fewer new enforcement actions compared to the same period under the previous administration, but indicate a clear focus on traditional fraud schemes affecting retail investors, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Series

    Being A Professional Wrestler Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Pursuing my childhood dream of being a professional wrestler has taught me important legal career lessons about communication, adaptability, oral advocacy and professionalism, says Christopher Freiberg at Midwest Disability.

  • How FDIC Appeals Plan Squares With Fed, OCC Processes

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent proposal to revise its appeals process merits a fresh comparison to the appeals systems of the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and would provide institutions with greater transparency and independence, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The Debut Of Atkins' 'New Day'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory flex agenda, published last week, demonstrates a clear return to appropriately tailored and mission-focused rulemaking, with potential new rules applicable to brokers, exchanges and trading, among others, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Adapting To The Age Of AI

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    Though law school may not have specifically taught us how to use generative artificial intelligence to help with our daily legal tasks, it did provide us the mental building blocks necessary for adapting to this new technology — and the judgment to discern what shouldn’t be automated, says Pamela Dorian at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Voiding $2M Litigation Funding Sends A Warning

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    A recent Texas bankruptcy court decision that a postconfirmation litigation trust has no obligations to repay a completely drawn down $2 million litigation funding agreement serves as a warning for estate administrators and funders to properly disclose the intended financing, say attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan.

  • What To Expect As Trump's 401(k) Order Materializes

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    Following the Trump administration’s recent executive order on 401(k) plan investments in alternative assets like cryptocurrencies and real estate, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will need to answer several outstanding questions before any regulatory changes are implemented, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

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    Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

  • A Foreign Currency Breach Won't Always Sink EB-5 Cases

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    Recent court decisions show that, while EB-5 investors must be able to show the lawfulness of their funds and methods of transfer, a third-party currency exchanger's violation of another country’s currency export control law does not, by itself, taint the funds for purposes of U.S. investment, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 'Solicit' Ruling Offers Proxy Advisers Compliance Relief

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    The D.C. Circuit recently found that proxy voting advice does not fall under the legal definition of "solicitation," significantly narrowing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory power over such advisers, offering stability to the proxy advisory industry and providing temporary relief from new compliance burdens, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Evaluating The SEC's Rising Whistleblower Denial Rate

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    The rising trend of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower award claim denials represents a departure from the SEC's previous track record and may reflect a more conservative approach to whistleblower award determinations under the current administration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • State Crypto Regs Diverge As Federal Framework Dawns

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    Following the Genius Act's passage, states like California, New York and Wyoming are racing to set new standards for crypto governance, creating both opportunity and risk for digital asset firms as innovation flourishes in some jurisdictions while costly friction emerges in others, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

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    As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Teaching Trial Advocacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Teaching trial advocacy skills to other lawyers makes us better litigators because it makes us question our default methods, connect to young attorneys with new perspectives and focus on the needs of the real people at the heart of every trial, say Reuben Guttman, Veronica Finkelstein and Joleen Youngers.

  • MIT Bros.' Crypto Charges Provide Fraud Test Case For Gov't

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    As U.S. v. Peraire-Bueno, involving cryptocurrency fraud charges against brothers who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, moves forward after surviving a motion to dismiss, the case provides an early example of how the government might use the federal fraud statutes to regulate decentralized networks, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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