Activist Warns SpaceX Investors Over Valuation, Governance

By Al Barbarino

SOC Investment Group is cautioning potential investors in SpaceX's upcoming initial public offering about perceived financial risks, saying it has an inflated valuation and issues over transparency and governance.

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Analysis

Justices Signal Openness To Future SEC Disgorgement Cases

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's victory before the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday is likely to give the agency a leg up in settlement negotiations, but attorneys say that some defendants will continue to press judges to review the agency's disgorgement requests based on questions that the high court still hasn't answered.

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In Industry First, Cannabis Co. Trulieve Will List On NYSE

By Sam Reisman

Multistate marijuana company Trulieve Cannabis Corp. announced Friday that in response to a Trump administration rule loosening federal restrictions on medical cannabis, it would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange beginning next week, a first for the marijuana industry.

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FinCEN, CFPB Flag Immigration-Linked Risks In Banking Push

By Jon Hill and Ganesh Setty

Federal regulators on Friday pressed banks to apply greater immigration-related customer scrutiny, issuing guidance that urges closer monitoring to flag employment of unauthorized workers and cautions immigration status may need to factor into some lending decisions.

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Don't Miss It: Hogan Lovells, Cooley Steer Hot Deals

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A lot can happen in the world of mergers and acquisitions and equity fundraising over the course of a couple of weeks, and it's difficult to keep up with all the deals.

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DC Circ. Backs CFTC Denial Of $147M Whistleblower Award

By Lauren Berg

The D.C. Circuit Friday affirmed the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's decision denying a former trader's bid for a $147 million whistleblower incentive award after he tipped off the agency about foreign exchange market manipulation, saying there's no evidence he was the original source on which the commission relied.

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Wamco Inks $100M SEC Deal Over 'Cherry-Picking' Scheme

By Sarah Jarvis

Western Asset Management Co. LLC on Friday agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the investment management firm "failed to take reasonable steps to detect and prevent" its former executive's purported cherry-picking practices.

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Ex-CFO Faces $35M Restitution With No Crypto Offset

By Aislinn Keely

A Washington federal judge has ordered Fabric Inc.'s former chief financial officer to pay $35 million in restitution after he embezzled the sum from the software firm to invest in crypto tokens that later collapsed, rejecting his arguments that he shouldn't be on the hook for losses that occurred after he gave the tokens to the firm.

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Ex-Trader Accused Of Profiting From Cousin's Insider Info

By Gina Kim

A retired New York Mercantile Exchange trader is charged with insider trading by securities regulators who allege he bought shares of Sanofi's biopharmaceutical unit Kadmon Holdings Inc. based on confidential information the trader received about Kadmon's flagship chronic graft-versus-host disease treatment drug in July 2021, and that the trader tipped off a friend about the information.

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Polsinelli Hires Career Gunderson Dettmer Lawyer In SF

By Jack Rodgers

Polsinelli PC has hired a career Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP lawyer who focuses on representing technology companies and venture capital investors in a range of corporate matters, the firm announced Thursday.

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Banks Should Reassess Warehouse Lines Amid Credit Stress

Growing stress in private credit markets means banks with warehouse lines to nonbank lenders should inventory exposures, revisit covenants and prepare for tougher regulator scrutiny, as repayment strains and weakening fund liquidity could turn seemingly indirect risks into material compliance concerns, say attorneys at Barack Ferrazzano.

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How End Of SEC 'Gag Rule' Affects Free Speech Certiorari Bid

The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent rescission of the so-called gag rule, which forbade defendants in settlements from denying the SEC’s allegations, may sway the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court in a case challenging the rule on First Amendment grounds, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

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Gibson Dunn, PE Firm Pay Charity $1M For Knicks VIP Seats

By Dorothy Atkins

Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital split the $1 million winning bid for two "Celebrity Row" seats in a Knicks fundraiser ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the team's parent company announced Monday.

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Groom Law Joins Firms Matching New Milbank Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

Washington, D.C.-based Groom Law Group is the latest firm to match a new pay scale for associates that was set earlier this month by Milbank LLP, according to media reports Monday.

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9th Circ. Judge Faces Inquiry, Charges After Idaho Altercation

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Monday identified a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Ryan D. Nelson after he was charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an argument in an Idaho Falls parking lot that ended with him allegedly stomping a man's eyeglasses on the asphalt.

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Analysis

How A Texas Pastor Beat Mark Zuckerberg In Landmark Trial

By Craig Clough

Jurors who reached a landmark $6 million verdict in March finding Meta Platforms Inc. and Google liable for harming a teen's mental health didn't find Mark Zuckerberg credible, an impression that the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier credited to putting the well-prepared executive off his guard.

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King & Spalding May Be Sanctioned In $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

Two King & Spalding LLP partners face a sanctions hearing in a $300 million fraud lawsuit to determine whether they violated a rule requiring candor to the tribunal by falsely claiming attorneys for other parties were copied on letters to two Connecticut jurists, according to two state court orders.

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Another Lawmaker Joins Impeachment Push For Ga. Judge

By Courtney Bublé

A Republican House member on Monday introduced articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia after she was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her chambers within earshot of staff.

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Colorado Gov. Signs Bill Banning Fee Sharing With Non-Attys

By Emma Cueto

Colorado has enacted a ban on lawyers sharing fees with nonlawyer-owned firms, such as alternative businesses in Arizona, as well as a prohibition on deals with managed services organizations that involve paying a percentage of firm income.

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Brief

Todd Blanche Officially Nominated To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Monday officially nominated Todd Blanche to be attorney general.

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Trump Taps DC Appeals Court Picks To Fill Final Vacancies

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced two picks for the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will fill the remaining vacancies on the District of Columbia's top court.

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Mich. Dems Back Trump Judicial Pick After Blue-Slip Review

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's Democratic U.S. senators, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, announced on Monday they've returned their blue slips for the nomination of Michael Martin, a veteran career prosecutor, to be a judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Chapman Law School Dean Says He Was Fired For Being Gay

By Hailey Konnath

The former dean of Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law says the university unlawfully fired him because he's gay and married to a man, according to a complaint filed in California state court.

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NJ Senators Advance Litigation Funding Disclosure Bill

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding agreements over the objections of trial lawyers and litigation finance representatives, who warned that the bill could discourage funding for plaintiffs involved in costly cases.

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Law Student's Kirk Comment Discipline Stays During Appeal

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Monday kept intact a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk during an appeal, saying that the student "again seeks the wrong remedy" in her request.

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100+ Ex-Prosecutors Question Chicago US Atty's Leadership

By Celeste Bott

More than 100 former Illinois federal prosecutors issued a statement Monday saying there's been a "failure of leadership" in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago and that "once-forbidden political considerations are infecting prosecutorial decisions" in the wake of an Illinois federal judge accusing the office of mishandling grand jury proceedings in a case against six immigration activists.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein's Sentencing Delayed To July

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge has agreed to push SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's sentencing to July, after federal prosecutors speculated that his defense attorneys might come to the previously scheduled June hearing and declare that they aren't ready to proceed.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Elizabeth Cabraser

By Emily Field

When Elizabeth Cabraser began working with Robert Lieff as a clerk at his small practice in Northern California in the late 1970s, fresh out of law school, her job was to help him dispose of his remaining cases so he could retire early and become a winemaker.

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