NY Accuses Solar Co., Lenders Of $275M Homeowner Fraud

By Jon Hill

New York's attorney general sued a solar panel company and two lending partners in New York state court Tuesday, accusing them of a $275 million scheme involving costly solar and home improvement projects falsely pitched to homeowners as free or subsidized.

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

JPMorgan Says Arbitration Pact Stands Despite Atty's Gaffe

By Craig Clough

JPMorgan Chase urged a Manhattan federal court Monday to send a former employee's race discrimination and pay bias claims to arbitration, arguing that an in-house lawyer's mistaken assurance prior to litigation that she wasn't bound by an arbitration agreement doesn't amount to a waiver of the right to enforce it.

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

Amici Chide Trump Admin For Calling Anthropic A Security Risk

By Tom Lotshaw

In separate amicus briefs to the D.C. Circuit, the ACLU, tech industry groups, former government officials and moral theologians variously panned the Trump administration's designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply chain risk to national security as unjustified, unlawful and counterproductive.

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

Mastercard To Acquire BVNK For Up To $1.8B

By Al Barbarino

Mastercard said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK for up to $1.8 billion as the global payments giant looks to expand its "end-to-end support of digital assets" and connect blockchain-based payments with more traditional financial platforms.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Draws Lines With Crypto 'Token Taxonomy' Guidance

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shared its anticipated "token taxonomy" on Tuesday, issuing interpretive guidance that detailed which types of cryptocurrency assets appear to be beyond the reach of securities laws and the circumstances that could pull them back into the regulator's oversight as part of an investment contract.

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

Brief

Biden Admin's Definition Of ERISA Fiduciary Erased

By Grace Elletson

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday vacated regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor that would have expanded the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under federal benefits law, changes that a collective of insurance groups said the federal agency didn't have the authority to make.

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

Analysis

Prediction Markets Have Opened Compliance 'Pandora's Box'

By Phillip Bantz

The burgeoning prediction market has exploded the definition of what qualifies as confidential corporate information that employees could misuse for personal gain, leaving companies scrambling to update internal policies and guidelines, compliance experts say.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

OFAC Fines Broker $1.1M Over Apparent Sanctions Violations

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday announced that Florida brokerage TradeStation Securities Inc. has agreed to pay more than $1.1 million to settle potential civil liability for violating the regulator's sanctions programs for Iran, Syria and Crimea.

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

BlackRock, State Street Want GOP States' ESG Suit Pared

By Bryan Koenig

BlackRock and State Street have asked a Texas federal judge to significantly winnow antitrust claims from Republican state attorneys general accusing the asset managers of driving up coal prices, arguing that claims based on electricity buyers are too far removed from coal.

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

Bitcoin Depot's Conn. License In Limbo After Watchdog Probe

By Aaron Keller

Connecticut's banking watchdog has temporarily barred cryptocurrency exchange Bitcoin Depot from transmitting money, warning of possible civil penalties up to $100,000 per violation and accusing the entity of charging transaction fees above a 15% statutory cap.

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

BlackRock Must Face Ex-VP's Whistleblower Retaliation Suit

By Sarah Jarvis

BlackRock Inc. must face a suit in New York state court by a former vice president who alleges he faced retaliation and wrongful termination after raising concerns about self-dealing, corruption and conflicts of interest, with a state judge partially rejecting the asset manager's bid to dismiss the case.

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

Fla. Judge Orders Consumers To Arbitrate Binance Claims

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge sent two proposed class suits against Binance to arbitration Monday after finding that the arbitration provision of Binance's terms of use applied to the investors' claims that the exchange laundered stolen cryptocurrency.

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

Get Smart: Navigating The Genius Act's Regulatory Gaps

While some recent Genius Act rulemaking has covered consumer protection issues within the stablecoin market, the context is generally narrow and the final outcome remains uncertain for financial institutions or companies in the evolving landscape, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4 Ways To Help CBP Curb Shell Co. Import Schemes

Shifting to a proactive rather than reactive enforcement posture in addressing shell companies set up to skirt tariffs requires equipping U.S. Customs and Border Protection with enhanced investigative authorities, better intelligence support, and mechanisms to identify and hold accountable the ultimate illicit actors, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Chief Justice Says Personal Attacks On Judges 'Got To Stop'

By Katie Buehler

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday condemned the personal attacks on federal judges that have become increasingly common during President Donald Trump's second term in office — and that are often launched by the president himself — and defended the daily work of the judiciary. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Deals In Jackson Walker-Judge Affair A 'Dilemma,' Judge Says

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge ordered three of Jackson Walker LLP's former bankruptcy clients Tuesday to explain by next month what would happen to money from potential vacaturs or sanctions against the law firm if the estates close after their contested deals get approved.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Judge Boots Prosecutor, Orders US Atty Trio's Testimony

By Jack Karp

A New Jersey federal judge on Monday questioned whether Alina Habba is still running the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office during a heated hearing where the jurist tossed a supervisory prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered testimony from the trio of attorneys who assumed Habba's responsibilities.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Reed Smith Launches In Boston With 12 Attys From 7 Firms

By Tracey Read

Reed Smith LLP has launched its first office in Boston with 12 lawyers from White & Case, Goodwin Procter, McDermott Will & Schulte, Morrison Foerster, Kirkland & Ellis, Weil Gotshal & Manges and K&L Gates, the firm announced Tuesday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'No Disrespect' But Law Prof Mom Not SBF's Atty, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

A federal judge in Manhattan cautioned retired Stanford Law School professor Barbara Fried, the mother of convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, that she cannot make filings on behalf of her son in his bid for a new trial, saying she has not filed an appearance with the court.

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

Indiana Firm Drops Quintairos Prieto 'Mass Exodus' Suit

By Adrian Cruz

Less than a month after suing Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA for allegedly causing a "mass exodus" of attorneys, Indiana-based Kopka Pinkus Dolin PC has chosen to dismiss the matter, according to a recent court filing.

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

Comer Subpoenas AG Bondi Over Epstein Investigation

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, issued a subpoena on Tuesday for Attorney General Pam Bondi over the committee's investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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

Senate OKs Conservative Think Tank GC As Louisiana Judge

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 51-45 on Tuesday to confirm Anna St. John, president and general counsel of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

IP Atty Appeals Order Requiring OK To File WDTX Patent Suits

By Lauren Berg

Intellectual property attorney William Ramey is asking the Federal Circuit to overturn a Texas district judge's sanctions order requiring him to seek the court's permission before filing patent suits in the future, saying the judge relied on the wrong evidence in finding the attorney failed to conduct presuit investigations.

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

Lawmakers Want More Oversight For Antitrust Settlements

By Matthew Perlman

Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would give courts more power to review settlements reached in government antitrust cases, after the U.S. Department of Justice recently cut a pair of controversial deals, including with Live Nation last week.

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

NJ Justices Create Attorney Readmission Board

By Jake Maher

New Jersey's highest court announced Tuesday it formally established a new body charged with overseeing readmissions of disbarred lawyers through changes to the state's standards for attorney conduct.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pot Co. Escapes Potency Suit, Judge Warns Plaintiff Firm

By Jonathan Capriel

MariMed and other cannabis companies beat claims they intentionally mislabeled their products to sidestep Illinois THC potency limits, with a federal judge highlighting the string of consumer-led suit losses and warning counsel to "heed the strong and universal concerns about the plausibility of their legal theories."

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