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Fintech
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May 13, 2024
CFTC Hits Crypto Firm With First-Ever Registration Claims
A Seychelles-incorporated entity has agreed to pay nearly $1.8 million in penalties and disgorgement to end U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission allegations it failed to register as a futures commission merchant in what the CFTC described Monday as a first-of-its-kind action involving digital asset exchanges.
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May 13, 2024
Sens. Slam DOJ's Money Transmitting Biz Interpretation
A pair of U.S. senators say they have "significant concerns" about how the U.S. Department of Justice is interpreting the definition of "money transmission" in two recent criminal actions over crypto mixers, warning that such an interpretation "threatens to criminalize core elements of Bitcoin and other crypto networks."
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May 13, 2024
Kabbage Inks 2 FCA Deals With Feds Totaling $120M
Bankrupt online lender Kabbage Inc. has agreed to pay $120 million in two separate deals to resolve allegations it submitted thousands of false claims for loan forgiveness and operated without adequate fraud controls in place, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
SEC Tells 3rd Circ. Coinbase Can't Force Crypto Rulemaking
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the Third Circuit that it already "reasonably explained" why it denied Coinbase's petition for crypto rulemaking and that it shouldn't have to retool its policy priorities just because crypto firms find it challenging to comply with existing laws.
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May 13, 2024
Binance Says Sullivan & Cromwell, FRA To Serve As Monitors
Crypto exchange Binance said Monday that the federal government has selected a Sullivan & Cromwell LLP partner and a Forensic Risk Alliance founding partner to serve as independent third-party monitors overseeing its compliance with the terms of its $4.3 billion settlement and guilty plea over money laundering, bank fraud and sanctions violations.
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May 13, 2024
White House Bars Real Estate Deal Near Air Force Base
President Joe Biden is ordering a recent purchaser of real estate near an Air Force base in Wyoming to sell portions of the property, based on a public tip and a finding from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that cryptocurrency mining there presents a national security risk.
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May 13, 2024
FinTech Atty Moves From R3 To BakerHostetler In SF
BakerHostetler has added to its San Francisco office a former counsel and head of government relations at digital finance company R3, bolstering its business practice, its blockchain technologies and digital assets team and its financial services team, the firm announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
Skadden Guides Squarespace On $6.9B Go-Private Deal
Squarespace Inc. said Monday it has agreed to a $6.9 billion buyout by private equity firm Permira, with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP serving as lead counsel to the website building company and at least six additional firms guiding the various parties.
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May 10, 2024
Reddit Accused Of Charging Advertisers For Fake Clicks
An artificial intelligence trading platform hit Reddit with a proposed class action on behalf of advertisers alleging that it has been charged for fraudulent "clicks" while promoting its business on the social media company's website, according to the suit filed in California federal court.
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May 10, 2024
SEC Opposes Quick Appeal Of 'Crystal Clear' Coinbase Order
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday urged a Manhattan federal court to reject Coinbase's bid for a Second Circuit review of an order allowing an agency enforcement action to proceed, saying the company's cries of uncertainty over how securities laws apply to crypto assets ignore the "crystal-clear" order it is trying to contest.
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May 10, 2024
CFPB's Credit Card Late Fee Rule Halted By Texas Judge
A Texas federal judge on Friday stayed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard, granting a preliminary injunction sought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups that are challenging the legality of the agency rule.
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May 10, 2024
Kraken Says SEC's Crypto Theory Would 'Gut Howey'
Crypto exchange Kraken told a California federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's theory of why token sales on public exchanges offend securities laws could lead to a "significant reordering of the U.S.'s financial regulatory structure" if the agency's enforcement action against its parent companies is upheld.
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May 10, 2024
Financial Tech Co. Wants New Trial In $7.8M Breach Suit
A financial technology company ordered to pay more than $7.8 million to an Atlanta-area capital recruiting firm for violating an agreement to pay the recruiter to connect it with investors has asked a Georgia federal judge for either a new trial or judgment as a matter of law.
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May 10, 2024
Ex-Pillsbury Communications Leader Joins Dickinson Wright
Dickinson Wright PLLC announced that a longtime Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP attorney who previously served as chair of the firm's communications practice has joined its Washington, D.C., office as a member.
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May 10, 2024
CFTC Floats Ban On Election Betting Contracts
A divided U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a proposed rule Friday that would ban trading on the outcome of elections, further solidifying its contested position that such activities constitute illegal "gaming" and threaten to thrust the agency into the role of an "election cop."
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May 09, 2024
AI-Created Database Isn't Copyrightable, Job Search Co. Says
Job searching platform Tarta.ai has urged a California federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of stealing rival Jobiak LLC's automated database and using it for its own job postings, arguing that Jobiak's website is not subject to copyright protection because it's powered by artificial intelligence.
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May 09, 2024
Amazon, Walmart Face Dem Questions Over 'Dynamic Pricing'
Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown on Thursday raised concerns to Amazon and Walmart about corporations hiking prices by exploiting customer data and pricing algorithms, saying it undermines consumers' ability to comparison shop and save money.
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May 09, 2024
Fed. Circ. Wary Of Undoing Gilstrap's Toss Of Banking IP Suit
The Federal Circuit didn't seem convinced Thursday morning that a patent case against online stockbroker TD Ameritrade had been wrongly tossed out of court, with a judge at one point telling banking patent owner Island Intellectual Property that "this is all abstract."
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May 09, 2024
Attys Want $102M In Fees In Stock Loan Antitrust Deal
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC attorneys asked for $102 million in fees for settling claims from investors that major banks colluded to avoid modernizing the stock loan market, saying the long and complex nature of the case warrants the payout.
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May 09, 2024
CFPB's Chopra Trains Sights On Credit Card Rewards
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said Thursday that his agency will be taking aim at what it is describing as "concerning patterns" in the credit card industry's rewards program practices, including stealthy changes to program benefits and manipulation of rewards point values.
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May 09, 2024
CFTC Moves For Win Over Gemini's 'Misleading' Statements
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has told a New York federal judge there's no need to try claims that Gemini Trust Co. LLC misled the regulator on a bitcoin futures contract since discovery "confirmed" that the cryptocurrency exchange made "scores of materially false or misleading statements and omissions."
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May 09, 2024
Binance Fined $4.4M By Canadian Regulator
Canada's anti-money laundering watchdog levied a 6 million Canadian dollars ($4.38 million) fine against crypto exchange Binance after the firm allegedly failed to register as a money services business and didn't report thousands of large transactions on its platform.
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May 08, 2024
High Court Ruling May Shake Up CFPB's Litigation Docket
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that may come as soon as Thursday could decide the fate of not only the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure but also numerous pending enforcement actions the agency has brought around the country. Here, Law360 surveys what's at stake and where.
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May 08, 2024
New Treasury Rule Amps Up Reporting Burden For Banks
The U.S. Department of the Treasury introduced an interim final rule Wednesday that refines and further expands recent increases in reporting requirements, including a new obligation for financial institutions to notify the federal government any time they unblock frozen assets.
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May 08, 2024
Digitex Founder Pleads Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Violation
The founder of Digitex Futures Exchange has pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by refusing to implement policies designed to prevent money laundering on his cryptocurrency futures platform.
Expert Analysis
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Unpacking The New Russia Sanctions And Export Controls
Although geographically broad new prohibitions the U.S., U.K. and EU issued last week are somewhat underwhelming in their efforts to target third-country facilitators of Russia sanctions evasion, companies with exposure to noncompliant jurisdictions should pay close attention to their potential impacts, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Series
ESG Around The World: Gulf Cooperation Council
The Gulf Cooperation Council is in the early stages of ESG policy implementation, but recent commitments by both states and corporations — including increases in sustainable finance transactions, environmental commitments, female representation on boards and human rights enforcement — show continuing progress toward broader ESG goals, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Steps For Companies New To Sanctions Compliance
Businesses newly required to implement compliance programs due to the increased breadth of mandatory sanctions and export controls, including 500 additional Russia sanctions announced last Friday, should closely follow the guidance issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and other regulators, say Jennifer Schubert and Megan Church at MoloLamken.
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Bank Secrecy Act Lessons For Casinos After DOJ Settlements
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlements with the MGM Grand and Cosmopolitan casinos, resolving an investigation into alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, signal a shift in the DOJ's enforcement focus and provide insight into potential pitfalls in anti-money laundering compliance programs, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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What To Know About OCC Proposals For Bank Merger Review
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposed changes to the agency's bank merger review process could exacerbate industry concerns with long and unpredictable processing periods because the proposal is ambiguous with respect to how the OCC will view certain transactions, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Del. Ruling Stands Out In Thorny Noncompete Landscape
In Cantor Fitzgerald v. Ainslie, the Delaware Supreme Court last month upheld the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions in limited partnership agreements, providing a noteworthy opinion amid a time of increasing disfavor toward noncompetes and following a string of Chancery Court rulings deeming them unreasonable, say Margaret Butler and Steven Goldberg at BakerHostetler.
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SEC Regs Give Banks Chance To Step Up Cyber Safety Game
Just as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act forced financial institutions to undertake best practices in recordkeeping, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently effective cybersecurity regulations stand to similarly drive those same enterprises to seek out and implement best practices in cybersecurity, to everyone's benefit, says James Gerber at SimSpace.
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A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise
After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.
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Predicting DeFi Regulations At Home And Abroad In 2024
Though decentralized finance has advocates on both sides of the Atlantic in figures like U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, DeFi in 2024 seems likely to be folded into existing regulatory frameworks in the U.K. and EU, while anti-crypto scrutiny may discourage DeFi’s growth in the U.S., say Daniel Csefalvay and Eric Martin at BCLP.
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Understanding SEC's Focus Amid Lack Of Final AI Rules
Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rules to govern artificial intelligence are likely far from being finalized, understanding existing regulatory provisions that could address AI risks with respect to development, disclosure, compliance and data protection could help firms anticipate and avoid pitfalls, say attorneys at Skadden.
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How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.
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CFPB Overdraft Rule Could Mean Big Shift In Banking Biz
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed "to close a longstanding loophole" in the Truth in Lending Act by changing how it regulates overdraft fees, but underneath the headline-grabbing proposal is a foundational shift in how the bureau views overdraft services, say attorneys at Katten.
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Open Questions After Elastos Crypto Class Action Settlement
The recent settlement in Owen v. Elastos Foundation resolving a class action fight over whether Elastos was required to register an initial coin offering with U.S. regulators has raised several questions that may be of interest to lawyers litigating cryptocurrency-related cases, including whether a crypto token constitutes a security under U.S. law, says Bradley Simon at Schlam Stone.