The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority notified its members on Thursday that it is investigating broker-dealers that have helped small companies based out of China and other foreign jurisdictions to go public, signaling that it is looking for possible stock manipulation tied to the firms' work. 
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TOP NEWS

FINRA Announces Probe Of Broker-Dealers' China Work

By Jessica Corso

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority notified its members on Thursday that it is investigating broker-dealers that have helped small companies based out of China and other foreign jurisdictions to go public, signaling that it is looking for possible stock manipulation tied to the firms' work. 

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Analysis

Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao

By Aislinn Keely

President Donald Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, a move that could open the door for Zhao to return to Binance if he so chooses, and for the crypto exchange to renegotiate the terms of its own plea deal, experts said Thursday.

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Analysis

Texas Dials Up Exposure With App Store, Telemarketing Laws

By Allison Grande

A new Texas age verification law and sweeping revisions to the state's telemarketing statute are poised to saddle the broad universe of companies that support mobile apps and disseminate marketing texts with new obligations that will open them up to more lawsuits and other legal risks, unless opponents find success with fledgling constitutional challenges.

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FCC's Carr Sees Ongoing Consumer Harm From Shutdown

By Christopher Cole

The head of the Federal Communications Commission warned Thursday that new device and license applications are "just sitting there," creating an FCC backlog, and that other day-to-day but important work remains on hold during the government shutdown.

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Split DC Circ. Won't Lift Block On FTC's Media Matters Probe

By Bryan Koenig

A divided D.C. Circuit panel refused Thursday to let the Federal Trade Commission subpoena Media Matters for America while the agency appeals an order blocking that probe, crediting district courts' findings of "seemingly unusual and unprecedented" facts suggesting the investigation is retaliation for reporting about Nazi content on X.

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Top Calif. Judge Warns Attys On AI, Eyes Antitrust Changes

By Bonnie Eslinger

Speaking at an antitrust law conference Thursday, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero warned Golden State lawyers to use artificial intelligence "cautiously and not cut any corners," and talked about "important work" by the California Law Revision Commission that could result in the state's antitrust law being "untethered" from federal law.

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CORPORATE

Feds, Ex-Magellan CEO Still Split Over Sentencing Factors

By Julie Manganis

Lawyers for a former Magellan Diagnostics CEO and the government are still at odds over whether a judge should consider the product mislabeling charge she pled guilty to in March to be tantamount to fraud — an assertion the defense says is an attempt by prosecutors to "shoehorn" in allegations never put to proof.

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SECURITIES & BANKING

Ex-SVB Top Brass Can't Ditch FDIC Suit Over 2023 Collapse

By Katryna Perera

Silicon Valley Bank's former CEO and several other past members of the bank's top brass must face a suit from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. accusing them of mismanagement that led to the bank's costly 2023 failure, a California federal judge has ruled.

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Full 5th Circ. Asked To Rehear Texas Bankers' OCC Dispute

By Katryna Perera

Two former Texas bankers have asked the full Fifth Circuit to revive their constitutional challenge to an in-house Office of the Comptroller of the Currency enforcement case, arguing that the appellate panel's decision to reject their appeal wrongly stripped them of their right to a jury trial and handed banking agencies "unlimited discretion" to prosecute old misconduct.

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CRYPTO & FINTECH

Jurors See MIT Bros' Chats, Plans For $25M Crypto Gambit

By Stewart Bishop

Jurors weighing the fate of two MIT-educated brothers accused of pulling a $25 million crypto heist on Thursday saw a swath of messages and search history that prosecutors say detail the planning for a high-tech fraud that profited at the expense of other traders on the Ethereum blockchain.

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ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL

Analysis

Energy Cos. Face Permit, Regulatory Delays Due To Shutdown

By Keith Goldberg

Energy companies are starting to feel the pinch of the federal government shutdown, as scaled-back operations and new furlough announcements at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency threaten the approval of needed permits and the issuance of highly anticipated regulations.

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Wash. Judge Halts Feds From Pulling $9M In Climate Funds

By Tom Lotshaw

A Washington federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from scrapping more than $9 million of climate resiliency agreements with Washington state, finding state officials likely to prevail on claims the administration acted unlawfully when it abruptly ended them.

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4th Circ. Pushed To Retain Block On Chemours PFAS Dumping

By Mike Curley

A pair of environmental groups is urging the Fourth Circuit to leave in place an injunction blocking The Chemours Co. FC LLC from continuing to discharge so-called forever chemicals into the Ohio River, saying the company is using strawman arguments to get its way.

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PUBLIC INTEGRITY

Ex-ComEd CEO Asks 7th Circ. For Bail Pending Appeal

By Celeste Bott

Former Exelon Utilities and Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore has renewed her request to remain out of jail while she seeks to unwind her criminal conviction and two-year prison sentence, this time asking the Seventh Circuit for bond ahead of her December surrender date.

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CYBERSECURITY & PRIVACY

Ex-Amazon Coder Says She's Turned Life Around Since Hack

By Ben Adlin

A former Amazon.com Inc. coder who exposed the personal data of nearly 100 million people should be sent to prison, the U.S. government said in a new Seattle federal court filing that seeks a seven-year sentence for her.

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CONSUMER PROTECTION & PRODUCT LIABILITY

OpenAI Reduced Suicide Safety Before Teen Died, Parents Say

By Hailey Konnath

OpenAI decided to remove some longstanding suicide prevention protocols and cut short its safety testing in the months before a California teenager died by suicide, according to an updated version of the wrongful death suit filed by the teen's parents in San Francisco County Superior Court.

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DC Judge Won't Let Meta Claw Back Discovery Docs

By Emily Field

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Thursday said that attorneys for Meta told researchers to modify their research into its platform's effects on teens' mental health to curtail liability, finding that the crime-fraud exception to communications between attorney and client applies.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Tech Org. Calls Next-Gen TV Tuner Mandate Bad Idea

By Nadia Dreid

As the Federal Communications Commission solicits opinions on how to usher the industry into the next generation of television broadcasting, a consumer technology trade group is reiterating its argument that the agency should not rush the process and let companies do what they will.

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Brief

Senate Clears Bill For FCC List Of Foreign Authorizations

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Senate Thursday passed a bill requiring the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of companies with ties to certain foreign countries that hold FCC authorizations.

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TAX

Court Won't Rethink 'Survivor' Winner's $3M Tax Bill

By Anna Scott Farrell

A Rhode Island federal judge won't reconsider his opinion that the first winner of reality show "Survivor" must pay $3.3 million in taxes, maintaining that it is unclear whether the federal government can take his sister's property to pay down the debt.

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PEOPLE

Bradley Arant Adds Atlanta Attys From CFPB, In-House Role

By Emily Johnson

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has boosted the firm's growing Atlanta office with the assistant litigation deputy for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the senior corporate counsel at GoTo Foods, the parent company of brands like Cinnabon.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds Energy Lawyers In NY, DC

By Jack Rodgers

Greenberg Traurig LLP has rehired a former attorney who left to work as general counsel of the New York Public Service Commission, who returns alongside a lawyer joining the firm from the U.S. Department of Energy, in the nation's capital.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Federal Debanking Scrutiny Prompts Compliance Questions

Recent U.S. Small Business Administration guidance sets forth requirements for preventing so-called politicized debanking and specific additional instructions for small lenders, but falls short on clarity for larger institutions, leaving lenders of all sizes with questions as they navigate this unique compliance challenge, say attorneys at Cooley.

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7 Lessons From The Tractor Supply CCPA Enforcement Action

The California Privacy Protection Agency's recent enforcement action targeting Tractor Supply for alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act provides critical insights into the compliance areas that remain a priority for the California regulator, including businesses with significant consumer interactions, say attorneys at Troutman.

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Considering Judicial Treatment Of The 2023 Merger Guidelines

Courts have so far primarily cited the 2023 merger guidelines for propositions that do not differ significantly from prior versions of the guidelines, leaving it unclear whether the antitrust agencies will test the guidelines’ more aggressive theories, and how those theories will be treated by federal judges, say attorneys at Covington.

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Rules Of Origin Revamp May Be Next Big Trade Development

The rules of origin for determining what tariff applies to any given import appear to be on the cusp of an important rethink, and it seems likely that the administration will try to align the rule with its overall tariff strategy in one of three ways, says Ted Posner at Baker Botts.

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Key Lessons From Youths' Suit Against Trump Energy Orders

A Montana federal court's recent decision in Lighthiser v. Trump, dismissing a challenge by a group of young plaintiffs to President Donald Trump's executive orders promoting fossil fuels, indicates that future climate litigants must anchor their suits in discrete, final agency actions and statutory text, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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Series

Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Columbia-Based Advocate Sues For Law Firms' DEI Details

By Grace Elletson

A free speech institute at Columbia University told a New York federal court Thursday that President Donald Trump's administration effectively denied its requests for information related to the government's demands that law firms supply details about their diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

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Judges Admit AI Missteps After Grassley's Oversight Push

By Courtney Bublé

Federal judges in New Jersey and Mississippi admitted their staff used artificial intelligence in faulty orders they had to redo over the summer, according to correspondence released Thursday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is investigating the matter.

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Sanctions Threats Mount For Atty Who Ignored Citation Order

By Emily Sawicki

An attorney who ignored a show cause order earlier this summer after his co-counsel included a fake case citation in a filing for their then-client, a former in-house attorney for Workday Inc., told a San Francisco federal judge Thursday that his failure to respond was a "mistake," in response to a renewed show cause order.

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5th Circ. Vacates Lewis Brisbois' $1.5M Trademark Award

By Elliot Weld

The Fifth Circuit vacated a $1.5 million damages award Thursday that Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP won against three attorneys who registered a business with the same name, saying the Texas federal judge who granted the award had not explained his reasoning under the relevant statutes.

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Baldwin Opposes 7th Circ. Pick For Her State

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., on Thursday officially opposed the nomination to the Seventh Circuit of Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, who would serve in her state.

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Judge Dings Law Profs In Judge-Shopping Sanctions Case

By Ryan Boysen

The federal judge behind a controversial sanctions order accusing three attorneys of judge shopping while challenging an Alabama gender care law is pushing back on claims that he lacked jurisdiction, as the ruling is on appeal in the Eleventh Circuit.

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Derailment Counsel Fee Provision 'Troubles' 6th Circ. Judge

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A three-judge Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday seemed skeptical that counsel representing victims of the fiery 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was blindsided by a "quick-pay" provision in the attorney fee agreement that saw class lawyers get paid before their clients.

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'Civility' A Concern As IP Atty Asks To Depose Party Suing Her

By Lauren Berg

A Florida federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in a patent licensing company executive's defamation suit against a Baker Botts LLP intellectual property litigator told the parties Thursday that she's inclined to appoint a special master to oversee depositions in the case to ensure "the appropriate decorum and civility."

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Quinn Emanuel Loses Bid To Get $1.7M Bill From Sheriff Case

By Rae Ann Varona

A California state appeals court Thursday shot down Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's effort to recover a more than $1.7 million bill for representing a former Los Angeles County sheriff in a suit county supervisors lodged, finding that the sheriff lacked authority to retain the firm.

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Squire Patton Boggs Partner Confirmed To Kentucky Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 48-45, along party lines, on Thursday to confirm former Kentucky Solicitor General and Squire Patton Boggs LLP partner Chad Meredith to the Eastern District of Kentucky.

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McGuireWoods Asks NC Justices To Stay Defamation Case

By Andrea Keckley

McGuireWoods LLP and a former partner are asking North Carolina's highest court to halt a defamation case over statements made in connection with an investigation into the former CEO of a managed care organization, saying they risk permanently losing their immunity defense if the suit is allowed to move forward.

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Ky. Rep. Revives Attempt To Abolish PTAB, Expand Eligibility

By Dani Kass

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Thursday he's again attempting to overhaul the patent system, including abolishing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, normalizing injunctions and broadening what can be patented.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alston & Bird

AltmanNewman

ArentFox Schiff

Arnold & Porter

Bailey & Glasser

Baker & Hostetler

Baker Botts

Bartko Pavia

Bradley Arant

Brownstein Hyatt

Bryan Cave

Clement & Murphy

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

DLA Piper

Davis Wright Tremaine

Dominick Feld

Edelson PC

Fick & Marx

Gibson Dunn

Greenberg Traurig

Hogan Lovells

Jenner & Block

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Levins Tax Law

Lewis Brisbois

Lightfoot Franklin

Mayer Brown

McGuireWoods

Morgan & Morgan

Morrison & Foerster

Munck Wilson

Nossaman LLP

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

Parker Hudson

Paul Hastings

Perkins Coie

Pillsbury Winthrop

Quinn Emanuel

SML Avvocati

Sayer Regan

Shapiro Arato

Sidley Austin

Skadden Arps

Smith Gambrell

Spilman Thomas

Squire Patton

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Taft Stettinius

Troutman

Turning Point Litigation

Walden Macht

Webb Law Group APC

Williams & Connolly

Willkie Farr

WilmerHale

Womble Bond

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Albertsons Cos. Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

Appalachian Mountain Advocates

Apple Inc.

Auntie Anne's

Bayer AG

Bertelsmann AG

Binance Holdings Ltd.

ByteDance Ltd.

California Chamber of Commerce

Cardinal Innovations Healthcare

Cinnabon Inc.

Coalition Inc.

Commonwealth Edison Co.

Computer & Communications Industry Association

Consumer Technology Association

CorMedix Inc.

Costco Wholesale Corp.

Coursera Inc.

Crawford & Co.

Duolingo Inc.

ESPN Inc.

Equitable Holdings Inc.

Essar Steel Minnesota

Ethereum GmbH

FOCUS Brands Inc.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Forensic Risk Alliance Ltd.

GoTo Foods

Google LLC

HDR Global Trading Ltd.

HHI Corp.

Instagram Inc.

Iqvia Holdings Inc.

JELD-WEN Inc.

JetBlue Airways Corp.

Lambda Legal Defense & Educational Fund

Learning Resources Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Meridian Bioscience Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

National Association of Broadcasters

National Association of Insurance Commissioners

National Women's Law Center

Norfolk Southern Corp.

Novant Health Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Public Citizen Inc.

Reddit Inc.

SAP AG

SVB Financial Group

Snap Inc.

Starbucks Corp.

Sysco Corp.

Temple University

Teradata Corp.

The Chemours Co.

The Kroger Co.

The New York Times Co.

TikTok Inc.

Tractor Supply Co.

Twitter Inc.

US Inventor

United States Telecom Association

Workday Inc.

X Corp.

YouTube Inc.

eBay Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alabama Attorney General's Office

California Law Revision Commission

California Privacy Protection Agency

California Supreme Court

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

European Union

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Food and Drug Administration

Internal Revenue Service

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

Los Angeles Superior Court

Mississippi Attorney General's Office

Missouri Attorney General's Office

NAFTA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Office of Renewable Energy Siting

Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Small Business Administration

Texas Attorney General's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island

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

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama

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

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

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

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

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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget

United States District Court for the District of Montana

Washington Attorney General's Office

Washington State Department of Ecology

World Trade Organization