Capital Markets

  • March 28, 2024

    Morgan Stanley, Goldman Get Archegos Suits Tossed

    A New York federal judge on Thursday dismissed a group of lawsuits by investors accusing Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs of illegally avoiding billions of dollars in trading losses by acting on nonpublic information about now-defunct Archegos Capital Management.

  • March 28, 2024

    Judge Doubts NBA NFT Licensors Belong In Meta Privacy Suit

    The developer of non-fungible token marketplace NBA Top Shot must face a proposed class action claiming it violated state and federal laws aimed at protecting video consumers, with the National Basketball Players Association and NBA Properties Inc., which handles the NBA's merchandising and licensing, escaping the suit for now.

  • March 28, 2024

    8th Circ. Won't Revive Fannie, Freddie Investors' FHFA Suit

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday refused to revive Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors' suit alleging the Federal Housing Finance Agency's leadership and financial deals violated the U.S. Constitution, saying the investors failed to show how they were harmed by the now-upended restrictions on removing the agency's director.

  • March 28, 2024

    Wells Fargo Sued Over Role In Texas Atty's Carbon Tech Scam

    Wells Fargo and an advisory group including an attorney and accountant from California facilitated a yearslong Ponzi scheme that deceived investors to put money into a fraudulent gas industry carbon capture technology venture, according to a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    FTX Investors To Settle With Ex-Execs, Crypto Promoters

    Investors who launched a multidistrict litigation over cryptocurrency exchange FTX's collapse have reached a set of settlements with the former inner circle of founder Sam Bankman-Fried as well as seven promoters who, together, have agreed to pay over $1.3 million to resolve claims that they boosted a massive fraud scheme at the company.

  • March 28, 2024

    Feds Say Ex-OneCoin Atty Should Serve 'Substantial' Time

    Manhattan federal prosecutors have requested a "substantial" amount of prison time for a Bulgarian woman who worked on the legal team at the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency exchange, but said the sentence should fall below the guidelines range of 10 years.

  • March 28, 2024

    SEC Settles Suit For Docs Over Potential Crypto Conflicts

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and government watchdog Empower Oversight have agreed to end a suit that sought to force the regulator to hand over documents the watchdog claimed may provide insight into potential conflicts of interest affecting the SEC's digital asset dealings.

  • March 28, 2024

    PwC Fined $3M Over Auditor Controls, Australia Probe

    The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board leveled a pair of fines totaling more than $3 million against PwC on Thursday, accusing the Big Four accounting firm of failing to maintain policies to ensure auditor independence and of waiting years to inform the U.S. regulator that it was being investigated in Australia.

  • March 28, 2024

    Chancery Tosses Mixmax Derivative Suit

    A stockholder who filed a derivative suit against two Mixmax Inc. directors without first notifying the company's board has failed to prove that a majority of the board was too compromised to respond to the shareholder's concerns, so the lawsuit must be dismissed, a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled.

  • March 28, 2024

    Conservative Org Takes Second Shot At PCAOB In Texas

    The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has been hit with a second lawsuit accusing it of operating unconstitutionally by an anonymous firm staring down a regulatory investigation, with the suit filed in Texas by the same conservative legal group that had its earlier case against the board transferred out of the state.

  • March 28, 2024

    Auto Parts Mogul Must Face Lender's $127M Trust Fraud Suit

    An auto parts mogul must face allegations that he tampered with assets in a trust that owes hundreds of millions of dollars to a lending agent, a Michigan federal judge said this week after ruling the lender has plausibly alleged the mogul made fraudulent transfers to hinder the debt repayment.

  • March 28, 2024

    Film Producer, 2 Cos. To Pay SEC $3.5M In ICO Scheme

    A Georgia federal judge on Thursday signed off on a $3.5 million penalty levied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against two failed cryptocurrency ventures and the Atlanta film producer who promoted them through a pump-and-dump scheme.

  • March 28, 2024

    Commodities Trader Trafigura To Pay $126M For Brazil Bribes

    Switzerland-based Trafigura Beheer BV on Thursday agreed to pay $126 million and admitted to bribing Brazilian government officials in order to obtain business with state oil company Petrobras, becoming the latest global commodities trader to settle with U.S. prosecutors over Latin American corruption.

  • March 28, 2024

    Chancery Dismisses Carvana Shareholders' Stock Offer Suit

    Delaware's Court of Chancery has dismissed a derivative suit from stockholders of online used car retailer Carvana who sued the company's founders over a $600 million direct stock offering, finding that a two-person special litigation committee that the company created to investigate the matter had done its job properly.

  • March 28, 2024

    Bankman-Fried Gets 25 Years For 'Very Bad Bet' Of FTX Fraud

    FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for stealing more than $11 billion from customers, investors and lenders of his now-collapsed cryptocurrency empire, with a Manhattan federal judge saying the infamous risk-taker "made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught."

  • March 27, 2024

    No New Trial For Hedge Fund Boss In Forex Rigging Case

    A New York federal judge on Friday refused to acquit or call for a new trial for a U.K.-based hedge fund chief convicted of illegally manipulating a currency exchange rate, rejecting his argument that his alleged conduct lacked sufficient ties to the United States.

  • March 27, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Claims Against Apple In Crypto Theft Row

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday partially reinstated a putative class action accusing Apple of misrepresenting the safety of its App Store after users' cryptocurrency was stolen from an app, finding that while a federal tech immunity law shielded Apple from an array of fraud and wiretapping claims, three consumer protection claims could move forward. 

  • March 27, 2024

    Video Streamer Escapes Crypto Token Holder's Fraud Suit

    A New York federal judge has permanently tossed a suit accusing video streaming service Open Props Inc. and its executives of misrepresenting to investors that it would become a decentralized blockchain network following the sale of its native cryptocurrency tokens.

  • March 27, 2024

    BlackRock's Non-ESG Funds Have Green Agenda, Miss. Says

    Mississippi's secretary of state announced Wednesday that it intends to fine BlackRock multiple millions of dollars, alleging the asset manager has repeatedly made false and misleading statements about its involvement in "pushing" environmental, social and corporate governance factors on portfolio companies.

  • March 27, 2024

    Energy Co. Origis Exits Investor Suit Over Devalued Shares

    Renewable energy company Origis USA Inc. has escaped a suit by former shareholders after a New York federal judge concluded that the plaintiffs failed to show that the company was privy to an alleged scheme by its now-former CEO to induce them to sell their stakes for considerably less than the $1.4 billion they were later sold for.

  • March 27, 2024

    Latham, Cooley Steer Oncology Firm's $100M IPO

    Clinical-stage oncology firm Boundless Bio Inc. raised a $100 million initial public offering at the middle of its price range late on Wednesday, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters' counsel Cooley LLP, joining a potentially recovering IPO market.

  • March 27, 2024

    Binance Says Fla. Suspension Order Violates Due Process

    Binance on Wednesday told a Florida appeals court that state regulators wrongly suspended its license to operate as a money transmitter, saying an emergency order issued earlier this year telling the cryptocurrency exchange to cease operations wasn't sufficiently justified and violates due process.

  • March 27, 2024

    Backers Of Trump-Tied SPAC Sue To Confirm Manager Purge

    Investors behind the sponsor of the special-purpose acquisition company that took Donald Trump's Truth Social public sued its managing member, seeking a declaration from the Delaware Chancery Court that they have validly removed him from his post and that he has no authority to act on their behalf.

  • March 27, 2024

    Coinbase Denied Early Victory Over SEC Enforcement Action

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday rejected crypto exchange Coinbase's bid to defeat the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims that it operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.

  • March 27, 2024

    COVID Prompted Equity Plan Edit, Raytheon Tells Chancery

    Raytheon Technologies Corp. amended employee compensation plans in early 2020 to mitigate "head-spinning unprecedented volatility" from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shareholder's allegations that directors acted in bad faith by failing to seek stockholder approval should be dismissed, the aerospace company told Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference

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    At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • 8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • How New SEC Rule May Turn DeFi Participants Into 'Dealers'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced a new rule to amend its definition of a securities "dealer," but the change could have concerning implications for decentralized finance and blockchain, as the SEC has suggested it may subject DeFi participants to registration requirements and other regulations, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • 2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.

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    The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face

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    Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.

  • 2 Issues For Venture-Backed Climate Tech Startups To Avoid

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    As climate tech startups become more common, poor equity dilution management and stacked seed financing are two common pitfalls that apply more acutely to climate tech startups than to the broader venture-backed startup space, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Investment Advisers Should Prep For Money Laundering Regs

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    Investment advisers should prepare for a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed rule that would significantly expand anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism obligations by assessing illicit financing risks, and expect examiners to scrutinize unregistered advisers and those with certain foreign clients, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • How Private Funds Can Navigate New FinCEN Reporting Rules

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    In light of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's new regulations implementing beneficial ownership reporting requirements, private fund managers must assess whether certain obligations apply to entities within their structures and whether potential structural changes could simplify those obligations, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • How AI May Be Used In Fintech Fraud — And Fraud Detection

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    Recent enforcement actions in the fintech and finance industries show that the government is increasingly pursuing fraud enabled by artificial intelligence — at the same time it’s using AI innovations to enforce regulations and investigate fraud, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Innodata Suit Highlights 'AI Washing' Liability Risk For Cos.

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    A class action against software company Innodata over so-called AI washing, one of the first of its kind, underscores the litigation and enforcement risks that can arise from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel theory about misleading artificial intelligence capabilities, say attorneys at Bracewell.

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