OCC Warns Charter Hopefuls Against Incomplete Applications

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday that it will send back incomplete regulatory applications without a review and will start publishing its denial decisions, putting bank charter hopefuls and other corporate filers on notice.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge OKs Deal Ending Halkbank Iran Sanctions Prosecution

By Stewart Bishop

A New York federal judge Wednesday officially approved a no-fine deal ending the long-running criminal prosecution of Turkey's Halkbank, in which the feds accused the state-backed Turkish lender of scheming to launder billions of dollars in sanctioned Iranian oil proceeds.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Visa, Mastercard Say 'Old' Deal Bars 'New' Merchant Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Visa and Mastercard asked a New York federal court to shut down a new proposed class action from merchants seeking to get around the future claims release in the credit card companies' $5.6 billion transaction fees antitrust settlement, arguing the new merchants are clearly bound by the old deal.

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

FTX Exec's Wife Must Face Campaign Finance Charges

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge Wednesday refused to throw out an indictment accusing crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond of campaign finance crimes, rejecting her argument that prosecutors previously promised her husband, a former FTX executive, that his guilty plea would mean she's in the clear.

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

Citigroup Says Foreign Bondholders Can't Bring RICO Suit

By Carolina Bolado

Citigroup urged a Florida federal magistrate judge Wednesday to dismiss racketeering claims in a suit accusing the bank of running a massive cash advance fraud scheme, arguing the bondholder plaintiffs suffered no domestic injury that would allow them to sue under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NC Biz Court Narrows Fight Over Flopped Development Deal

By Hayley Fowler

A private lender and its top brass have shaved a host of claims from a dispute with the part-owners of a real estate development project that never got off the ground, with a North Carolina Business Court judge finding that many of the allegations against them were too "thin" to advance.

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

Lender Says Co. Defaulted On $5M Loan, Tanked Pot Site Value

By Jonathan Capriel

A cannabis real estate company and an affiliate gutted a $27 million cultivation facility, stopped paying taxes on it and defaulted on a $4.6 million clean-energy loan, according to a federal lawsuit by the lender, which seeks a court-ordered sale of the property.

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

The Banking Issue Hiding In Justices' Freight Broker Ruling

While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent liability preemption ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport was front-page news for the transportation industry, the banking industry seems to have missed that the decision exposes freight broker lenders to credit, documentation and litigation issues, say attorneys at Barack Ferrazzano.

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

Opinion

Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judiciary Cites AI Deepfakes In Opposing Courtroom Cameras

By Courtney Bublé

Two bipartisan bills to bring cameras into federal courtrooms advanced Thursday, but the policymaking body for the federal judiciary continues to oppose them and raised the issue of deepfakes in the age of artificial intelligence.

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

NJ Tax Court Protects Taxpayer Methodology Ahead Of Trial

By Jaqueline McCool

A New Jersey tenant appealing the property tax assessment of a legacy data center is not required to provide the township with a detailed methodology of its assessment challenge prior to the case's trial, the state Tax Court ruled.

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

Trump Lawyer Advances In Senate Judiciary Noms Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Matthew Schwartz to be a judge on the Second Circuit advanced out of committee Thursday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

General counsel may cringe at the news, but their chief financial officers will rejoice over a new study that shows the average spending by legal departments dropped to a six-year low in 2026. And two in-house Cigna lawyers are at the center of a finding of "improperly asserted privilege" over key company documents related to a payment lawsuit brought by three labs.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Gibson Dunn Hires Ropes & Gray Health Regulatory Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has hired a former Ropes & Gray LLP partner who works on a myriad of health regulatory and drug pricing matters, advising pharmaceutical manufacturers, investors and other entities on those issues, the firm announced Thursday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Moves On Proposal To Allow Legal Aid By Nonlawyers

By Lynn LaRowe

The California Supreme Court has directed the state bar to solicit public comments on a proposed community justice worker program that would allow nonlawyers to provide limited legal assistance under the supervision of qualified legal aid organizations, according to a Thursday announcement.

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

Analysis

Law Students Undeterred Under Trump's Immigration Climate

By Britain Eakin

In a climate where immigration lawyers are coming under the Trump administration’s scrutiny to tamp down on asylum fraud, law students are being ignited to enter the workforce early and rectify the injustices they see.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Mortified' Atty Takes Blame For Fake Quotes In Taco TM Fight

By Ivan Moreno

A Connecticut attorney facing possible sanctions over fake case quotations in a taco restaurant trademark fight told a federal judge Thursday that he takes "full and unqualified responsibility" for the flawed filings, saying he is "mortified" and acknowledging that his verification process for AI-assisted legal work fell far short.

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

Ford Says 'Lemon Law' Firm Faked Bills Using Overseas Staff

By Linda Chiem

Ford Motor Co. on Thursday accused California personal injury firm Quill & Arrow LLP of defrauding it out of more than $25 million in high-priced legal bills for work actually handled by virtual assistants overseas and non-lawyers in scores of product liability cases against the automaker.

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

Israeli Atty Gets 15 Months For Role In Ponzi Scheme

By George Woolston

An Israeli attorney whose participation in a fraud scheme led by convicted Ponzi schemer Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein gave the plan an "air of legitimacy" was sentenced on Thursday to one year and three months in federal prison.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »