Federal officers arrested a Defense Intelligence Agency info technology specialist who has criticized the Trump administration on criminal charges alleging he provided classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as a foreign government official in exchange for foreign citizenship, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
Law360
Aerospace & Defense
MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Dissident Intelligence Worker Arrested Over Leak Attempt

By Dorothy Atkins

Federal officers arrested a Defense Intelligence Agency info technology specialist who has criticized the Trump administration on criminal charges alleging he provided classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as a foreign government official in exchange for foreign citizenship, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Split 9th Circ. Won't Unblock Trump's Gov't Overhaul

By Lauren Berg

A split Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to lift a California federal judge's preliminary block of President Donald Trump's executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, handing a win to a coalition of unions, nonprofits and cities that argue the order exceeded the president's authority.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DHS Moves To Ax BigLaw Firm's Halkbank FOIA Dispute

By Gina Kim

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged a D.C. federal judge to end Williams & Connolly LLP's fight for records related to a businessman who cooperated with prosecutors in their pending case alleging the firm's client Halkbank laundered Iranian oil proceeds, arguing Thursday officials searched for responsive records, but nothing turned up.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Contractor Nabs Claims Court Win In Fuel Card Award Dispute

By Tom Lotshaw

A Court of Federal Claims judge has ended Kropp Holdings Inc.'s losing streak with a win, holding that the Defense Logistics Agency committed multiple errors awarding a fuel card contract to Associated Energy Group LLC.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GAO Notes Shortfalls In Reevaluation Of Space Command HQ

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said deficiencies continued in the U.S. Air Force's reevaluation of Huntsville, Alabama, as its preferred location for U.S. Space Command headquarters, before the Biden administration ultimately selected Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the agency's permanent location.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LITIGATION

NSO Wants New WhatsApp Hack Trial After Meta's $168M Win

By Cara Salvatore

Israeli spyware developer NSO Group has asked a California federal judge for a new trial to determine damages for installing spyware on 1,400 phones using Meta-owned WhatsApp, saying the punitive damages portion of a roughly $168 million award was egregious and revealed the jury's "general hostility" toward the company.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed Circ. Weighs In On Veterans Court Review Standard

By Lauren Berg

The Federal Circuit on Friday issued a precedential opinion backing the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims' use of a questions of law analysis, rather than a standard requiring its own review of the facts in a disability evaluation case.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sikorsky Aircraft Workers Can't Back Bias Claims, Court Told

By Brian Steele

Two Black ex-employees should lose their federal racial discrimination lawsuit against Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. because one was fired for stealing time, and the other has shown "no evidence of any adverse employment action," the company said in seeking summary judgment Thursday.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Wash. High Court Relaxes Standard For Worker Illness Suits

By Rachel Riley

Washington's highest court has lowered the bar for employees to sue over work-related illnesses, finding that in cases of latent diseases such as mesothelioma, a worker has a valid claim if they show their employer was "virtually certain" that the malady would develop.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Radar Co. Saves Trade Secret Claims In Suit Against Ex-Exec

By Elliot Weld

A Washington federal judge has preserved a radar company's claims that a former executive stole confidential information as he left to start his own company, while dismissing other breach of contract claims against the executive and another former employee.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

CFPB Will Settle FirstCash Military Lending Suit

By Spencer Brewer

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a leading U.S. pawn store operator announced together that they had agreed to settle the agency's suit alleging that the operator ran afoul of military lending laws, filing a joint status report announcing settlement.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

PEOPLE

Troutman Taps New Leader For Gov't Contracts Group

By Grace Dixon

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP added a government contracts pro from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, tapping him to lead the firm's government contracts practice group.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

EXPERT ANALYSIS

DOJ Could Target Journalists Under Media Policy Reversion

The U.S. Department of Justice's recently announced media policy largely mirrors policies in effect from 2014 to 2020, but ambiguities in key statutory terms could allow the administration to apply it to journalists in new ways and expand investigations beyond leaks of classified information, says Julie Edelstein at Wiggin.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SpaceX Labor Suit May Bring Cosmic Jurisdictional Shifts

The National Mediation Board's upcoming decision about whether SpaceX falls under the purview of the National Labor Relations Act or the Railway Labor Act could establish how jurisdictional boundaries are determined for employers that toe the line, with tangible consequences for decades to come, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Opinion

The BigLaw Settlements Are About Risk, Not Profit

The nine Am Law 100 firms that settled with the Trump administration likely did so because of the personal risk faced by equity partners in today's billion‑dollar national practices, enabled by an ethics rule primed for modernization, says Adam Forest at Scale.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

Jenner & Block Ruling 'Meant What It Said,' Judge Tells Feds

By Lauren Berg

The order striking down the Trump administration's executive order targeting Jenner & Block LLP "meant what it said," a Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled Monday, saying the government must rescind enforcement of all parts of the president's directive.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Retired Wash. High Court Justice Charles Wiggins Dies At 77

By Rachel Riley

Retired Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles K. Wiggins, who served a decade on the state's high court, died last week from complications due to Parkinson's disease at the age of 77, according to a news release.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Schumer Pledges To Fight GOP's Limits On Court Power

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to challenge a provision in House Republicans' budget reconciliation package that would curtail courts' ability to issue contempt citations.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

The Top In-House Hires Of May

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires over the past month included high-profile appointments at Adobe, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Duke Energy. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from May.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Labaton Keller's Ned Weinberger

By Katryna Perera

Ned Weinberger, a partner at Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, said he never expected that his clients' suit challenging a $23.9 billion Dell Technologies Inc. stock swap would reach a whopping $1 billion settlement, let alone result in the largest prejudgment recovery ever achieved in a fiduciary duty action in the Delaware Chancery Court.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Retired Judges Call Wis. Judge's Prosecution 'Dangerous'

By Ryan Boysen

The Trump administration's prosecution of a Wisconsin state judge who refused to help immigration agents arrest an undocumented immigrant is an "extraordinary and direct assault on the independence of the entire judicial system," according to a bipartisan group of 138 former state and federal judges.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Susman Godfrey Founder, 'Preeminent' Litigator, Dies

By Jack Karp

H. Lee Godfrey, one of the founders of litigation boutique Susman Godfrey LLP, died on Monday, leaving behind a legacy as a thoughtful leader who performed exceptional work as a trial attorney, firm leaders said.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ropes & Gray Gets 'Innovative' New Office In Silicon Valley

By James Mills

Ropes & Gray LLP has moved its Silicon Valley office to a new location in downtown Palo Alto, California, a move to strengthen its presence in the tech region, the firm announced Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Third Round Of Fixes Sought In Botched Calif. Bar Exam

By Emily Sawicki

The California state bar's committee of bar examiners has approved two additional remedies in an effort to help applicants who failed the troubled February exam, including asking the state Supreme Court to approve a further scoring adjustment that would bring the passing rate up to about 63%.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Jackson Walker, US Trustee Agree To Mediator In Fees Case

By Hilary Russ

Jackson Walker LLP and the federal government's bankruptcy watchdog have agreed to mediation in their fee dispute stemming from an ethics scandal in Texas, with the two sides agreeing that retired judge Joan N. Feeney should mediate.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Report Finds Del. Court Jumbo Fees Rival Federal System

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's corporation law courts have overshadowed the entire federal court system for some class attorney fees based on multiples of usual rate benchmarks, according to two Stanford Law School researchers whose findings have already caught the attention of a top state lawmaker.

Study attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In May

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts judges grappled with accusations of fraud in the sale of a struggling life sciences company and gave the benefit of the doubt to a vendor who allegedly sold the state gallons of ineffective hand sanitizer, among other notable rulings last month.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CFTC Announces 2nd Enforcement Head In 3 Months

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday named a new head of enforcement for the second time in three months, appointing its longtime deputy director to head the division.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Promo that reads Law360 Pulse Summer Associates Survey Promo that reads Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

Adobe Inc.

Alcoa Corp.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees

Arconic Corp.

Associated Energy Group LLC

Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School

Barclays PLC

Books-A-Million Inc.

Boston College

Bumble Inc.

Cash America International, Inc.

Chicago Bulls

Cisco Systems Inc.

DHL International GmbH

Dell Technologies Inc.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Democracy Forward Foundation

Duke Energy Corp.

Eli Lilly & Co.

Entertainment Software Association

Fastly Inc.

FedEx Corp.

General Motors Co.

HSN Inc.

Howmet Aerospace Inc.

International Business Machines Corp.

Johns Hopkins University

LinkedIn Corp.

Lockheed Martin Corp.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Motion Picture Association Inc.

Natural Resources Defense Council

Nokia Corp.

Northrop Grumman Corp.

Nuveen LLC

Pattern Energy Group LP

Paypal Holdings Inc.

Pegasus

PerkinElmer Inc.

Princeton University

Progress Energy, Inc.

QVC Inc.

Roku Inc.

Scholastic Corporation

Service Employees International Union

Shell PLC

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Stanford University

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

The Boeing Co.

The UPS Store

Walmart Inc.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Zulily Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Alston & Bird

Altshuler Berzon

Arnold & Porter

Baker & Hostetler

Barclay Damon

Bergman Oslund

Broer & Passannante

Carney Badley

Cooley LLP

Corr Cronin

Davis Polk

Davis Wright Tremaine

Day Pitney

Dewey & LeBoeuf

Foley Hoag

Frankfurt Kurnit

Gardner & Rosenberg

Gibbs & Bruns

Gimbel Reilly

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

Gunster Yoakley

HKM Employment Attorneys

Harrison LLP

Jackson Lewis PC

Jackson Walker LLP

Jenner & Block

Kilpatrick Townsend

King & Spalding

Kirton McConkie

Labaton Keller

Law Offices of Arnold J. Lizana III

McDermott Will & Emery

McLane Middleton

Morris James

Orrick Herrington

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Quinn Emanuel

Ropes & Gray

Scale LLP

Sidley Austin

Simon Paschal

Strang Bradley

Susman Godfrey

Troutman

Vartabedian Hester

Wiggin & Dana

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

County of Santa Clara, California

Defense Intelligence Agency

Defense Logistics Agency

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Labor Relations Authority

Internal Revenue Service

National Labor Relations Board

National Mediation Board

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Army

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana