Space Exploration Co. Voyager Prices Upsized $383M IPO

By Tom Zanki

Defense and space exploration firm Voyager on Tuesday priced a larger-than-projected $383 million initial public offering above its marketed range, guided by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters' counsel Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. 

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Healthcare, Tech-Focused SPAC Prices $220M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Special purpose acquisition company Blue Water Acquisition Corp. III began trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday after pricing its $220 million initial public offering.

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Trump's CFTC Pick Won't Push To Fill Leadership Vacancies

By Jessica Corso

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission told senators Tuesday that the financial regulator would likely need to beef up its staff should Congress grant it more authority over the cryptocurrency industry, but he would not commit to pushing the president to fill vacancies at the top of the agency.

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House Ag Committee Advances Crypto Market Structure Bill

By Aislinn Keely

The House Committee on Agriculture on Tuesday advanced a bill to regulate digital asset markets with broad bipartisan support despite concerns from Democrats that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission will need more funding to accomplish the broad crypto mandate contemplated by the bill.

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Chamber Calls On Justices To Hear Auditor Fraud Case

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among the parties calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case accusing BDO USA LLP of securities fraud, telling the justices that allowing a Second Circuit ruling to stand could lead to more lawsuits against accountants, lawyers and underwriters.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery showed new resistance to suits alleging corporate weaponizing of advance notice bylaws, and a new report highlighted the high fees that attorneys are cashing in on in Delaware courts compared to the federal court system. Several new suits were also filed concerning allegedly under- or overvalued sales and acquisitions being pushed through.

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SEC's Investment Management Chief Greiner To Leave Agency

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission veteran Natasha Vij Greiner is stepping down as the director of the agency's investment management division, ending a nearly 24-year career serving the SEC in multiple roles, regulators announced Tuesday.

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Brief

SEC To Resume Review Of Swiss Adviser Registrations

By Tom Zanki

Switzerland-based investment advisers seeking to do business in the U.S. can immediately resume submitting new and pending registration applications for consideration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators said Tuesday.

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Senate Dems Seek To Slow GOP Roll On CFPB Defunding Bill

By Jon Hill

Senate Banking Committee Democrats are demanding a hearing on GOP budget legislation that would defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and make other financial agency cuts, arguing that its "sweeping" plans should be scrutinized before going to the floor.

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Orrick-Led AI Time Tracking Co. Nabs $100M In Funding

By Benjamin Morse

Artificial intelligence time tracking company Laurel, advised by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, has raised $100 million in Series C funding, the company announced Tuesday.

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9th Circ. Revives Real Estate Investor Securities Suit, Again

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday once again revived a proposed securities class action accusing investment guru Grant Cardone of making misleading social media statements to sell interests in his companies' real estate investment funds, holding, among other findings, that the complaint sufficiently alleged Cardone "subjectively disbelieved" certain stated projections.

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Match.com Settles Reverse Spinoff Suit For $30M In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

A mediator-recommended, $30 million settlement proposal has tentatively ended a five-year Delaware Court of Chancery stockholder challenge to the fairness of Match.com's 2019 reverse spinoff from the Barry Diller-controlled IAC/Interactive.

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First Republic Brass Beat Investor Suit Over Bank Failure

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge dismissed for good a shareholder suit against the former directors and officers of now-failed First Republic Bank and its auditor over the lender's 2023 collapse, finding that the plaintiffs failed to first exhaust their required administrative remedies and, therefore, the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

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Edward Jones Among 5 Firms Paying $9.3M Over Inflated Fees

By Zach Dupont

Edward Jones, TD Ameritrade and three other wealth adviser firms have reached a $9.3 million settlement with the North American Securities Administrators Association after having been accused of overcharging fees for small-dollar investors.

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Electric Truck Co. Lordstown Wants Investors' Suit Tossed

By Sydney Price

Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors Corp. has asked an Ohio federal judge to dismiss consolidated class claims from investors alleging the company misrepresented its production capacity and demand, saying it made no misleading representations about pre-orders.

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Shaq To Pay $1.8M Over FTX Investors' Promotion Claims

By Aislinn Keely

Retired NBA star Shaquille O'Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve claims he promoted crypto exchange FTX to the detriment of investors prior to its stunning collapse.

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Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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ABA 'Surprised And Disappointed' By DOJ Shunning

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association on Tuesday defended its long-standing process for reviewing judicial nominees and said Attorney General Pam Bondi was wrong to call the group an "activist organization."

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Analysis

Feds Reboot FCPA Agenda With Narrower Enforcement Focus

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released new and tightened guidelines for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a four-month pause on such prosecutions, centering prospective investigations on situations that affect U.S. competitiveness and national security as well as transnational cartels.

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Top CFPB Enforcer Quits Over 'Devastating' Agency Pullback

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top enforcement official resigned Tuesday, saying she can no longer effectively do her job under leadership that "has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way."

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Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

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NJ Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted Over ICE Facility Incident

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver has been charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during her inspection of a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention facility last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Wis. Judge Can't Wield Immunity For Obstructing ICE, DOJ Says

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a Wisconsin federal judge to reject a state court judge's argument that judicial immunity blocks her prosecution for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse, saying that while judges may be immune from civil liability for official acts, they are not shielded from prosecution for supposedly criminal conduct.

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State Chief Justices Blast Plans To Cut Legal Services Corp.

By Hailey Konnath

A coalition of 37 state Supreme Court chief justices have asked federal lawmakers to reject President Donald Trump's plans to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., arguing that the "justice system is hobbled when citizens are deprived of legal counsel."

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Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

By Julie Manganis

Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

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House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

By Courtney Bublé

House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

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Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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