Q&A

Cleary FCA Task Force Head On Enforcement Trends To Watch

By Phillip Bantz

Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, who now leads a False Claims Act task force at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, is predicting a continued surge in enforcement as the Trump administration wields the law in new ways.

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3rd Circ. Backs Kalshi In Prediction Markets Battle With NJ

By George Woolston

A split Third Circuit panel on Monday backed a lower court's order blocking New Jersey from enforcing a sports gambling ban on trading platform KalshiEx, with the dissenting judge calling Kalshi's actions a "performative sleight" meant to hide that its products are sports gambling.

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Trump Admin Seeks $25M FinCEN Budget Boost

By Sarah Jarvis

The Trump administration's latest budget plan calls for a more than 13% increase in spending for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, with nearly half of its total requested staffing increase for the agency slated for positions focused on deregulation related to the Bank Secrecy Act.

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Florida Insurance Co. To Plead Guilty In $102.7M ACA Fraud

By Rae Ann Varona

A Florida insurance company will plead guilty to defrauding the federal government out of more than $100 million in federal subsidies by targeting unhoused and other vulnerable people for enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans they did not qualify for, according to a notice filed Monday in Florida federal court.

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Musk Slams 'Premature' Judgment After Twitter Stock Verdict

By Dorothy Atkins

Elon Musk objected Friday to a California federal judge entering judgment against him following a securities fraud verdict over tweets about his $44 billion Twitter acquisition, arguing there are still numerous unresolved issues and entering a final judgment on a classwide basis at this stage is "premature and improper."

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket this past week featured a mix of high-profile corporate disputes, insider trading allegations, contract fights and significant rulings shaping fiduciary duty and deal litigation.

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Citi Tells 2nd Circ. EFTA Exempts Wire Transfers 'End-To-End'

By Katryna Perera

A Second Circuit panel Monday seemed responsive to Citibank's arguments that consumer-initiated electronic wire transfers are carved out from the Electronic Funds Transfer Act under a longstanding exemption in the statute, in a suit from the New York attorney general over the bank's response to online wire transfer fraud incidents.

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Ill. AG Urges 7th Circ. To Uphold Landmark Swipe-Fee Law

By Jon Hill

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has urged the Seventh Circuit to rule that his state may fully enforce its Interchange Fee Prohibition Act against national banks and other financial institutions, defending its ban on tax-and-tip swipe fees amid a banking industry appeal.

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JPMorgan's Dimon Has 'Mixed' Feelings On Capital Revamp

By Jon Hill

The head of the nation's largest bank on Monday raised doubts about the Trump administration's plan to overhaul bank capital rules, casting it as an improvement on a Biden-era draft while saying it still includes some "frankly nonsensical" aspects.

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M&T Beats Investor Suit Over Delayed $3.7B Hudson Merger

By Sarah Jarvis

M&T Bank Corp. has beaten investor claims that it hid regulatory problems that led to delays in its $3.7 billion merger with Hudson City Bancorp Inc., with a federal judge in Delaware finding that investors failed to show M&T made material misrepresentations or omissions.

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Judge Won't Alter $631K SEC Penalty Against Atty

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Connecticut attorney found liable for violating securities laws as a part of an alleged sham merger agreement can't get his $631,000 penalty modified after a Boston federal judge rejected the attorney's argument that the penalty sum reflects an unjust "double-count[ing]" error.

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Crypto Lobby Pushes Back On Call For Rules, Not Exemptions

By Aislinn Keely

The Blockchain Association on Monday urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to stay the course on its plans to issue exemptions for crypto projects, firing back at Citadel Securities' assertions that decentralized projects should broadly face the same obligations as traditional SEC-regulated intermediaries.

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FERC Unlawfully Revived Pipeline Project, DC Circ. Told

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission flouted the Natural Gas Act and National Environmental Policy Act when it reauthorized a previously abandoned pipeline upgrade project in the Northeast, environmental and homeowner groups have told the D.C. Circuit.

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Interior Dept. Will Reunite Offshore Permitting, Safety Arms

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Department of the Interior plans to reunite its offshore energy permitting and offshore energy safety agencies, 15 years after they were split apart in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

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DOJ Rips Challenge To Anti-DEI Rule For Child Safety Grants

By Gina Kim

The federal government has moved to end San Diego and San Jose's challenge to Internet Crimes Against Children grants requiring recipients to certify they don't operate DEI programs that violate nondiscrimination laws, arguing they aren't required to sign onto the Trump administration's viewpoints on DEI, only to follow existing federal laws. 

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Research Group Seeks To Block Fed's Divestment Efforts

By Rachel Konieczny

Federal actions threaten the National Center for Atmospheric Research's ability to forecast and prepare for weather disasters, a nonprofit research consortium said, urging a Colorado federal judge to block federal agencies and their leadership from taking further steps to dismantle the center.

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RFK Jr. Tweaks HHS Vaccine Policy Panel Membership Criteria

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making changes to a key federal vaccine advisory panel's charter, according to a renewal notice the agency published Monday, after a Massachusetts federal judge last month declared Kennedy's committee picks "appear distinctly unqualified."

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1st Circ. Suggests It May Resurrect AdTech Wiretap Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

A panel of the First Circuit appeared receptive Monday to reinstating federal wiretap claims leveled against a Massachusetts healthcare system over its use of online tracking tools, despite arguments that such a ruling could cripple the industry amid an influx of similar cases nationwide.

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Sen. Blumenthal Demands DOJ Probe Into WNBA's Sun Sale

By David Steele

The Women's National Basketball Association "abused its monopolistic control" of women's pro basketball when it allowed the Connecticut Sun to be sold to an owner who is moving it to Houston, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told the U.S. Department of Justice in a letter on Monday.

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States, AEG Say Live Nation Sanctions Bid Is Nonsense

By Stewart Bishop

A coalition of state-level enforcers and AEG Worldwide on Monday separately pushed back against accusations of witness tampering from Live Nation Entertainment Inc. amid a trial accusing the live entertainment giant and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of anticompetitive conduct, saying the defense allegations of undue influence are false.

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RealPage Flags Justices' Therapy Ruling In NY Law Challenge

By Grace Dixon

RealPage Inc. alerted a New York federal court to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling against Colorado's conversion therapy ban, saying the decision clarifies which standard should be applied in its First Amendment challenge to a state ban on certain rental software.

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Prison Phone Co. Given More Time On Video Call Rate Cap

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission exempted a prison phone service provider for now from a per-minute cap on video call rates under the Martha Wright-Reed Act.

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SpaceX Seeks C-Band Airwaves For Next-Gen Satellite

By Christopher Cole

SpaceX called on the Federal Communications Commission to make sure an upcoming auction of airwaves in the upper C-band allows next-generation satellite services to flourish alongside terrestrial wireless.

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NHTSA Closes Probe Into Tesla Remote Driving Feature

By Emily Field

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday said it was closing an investigation into a Tesla feature that allows users to remotely move their car with a phone app, finding that all the reported crashes involved minor property damage with no injuries.

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Justices Urged To Curb Post-Mallory Forum Shopping

By Linda Chiem

Rail industry and legal advocates contend the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Mallory ruling unleashed a wave of forum-shopping by plaintiffs lawyers using states' business-registration laws to sue out-of-state companies, and the justices must intervene and stop litigants from unconstitutionally interfering with interstate commerce.

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WilmerHale Adds Regulatory Atty From Mayer Brown In DC

By Christine DeRosa

WilmerHale announced Monday it has hired a veteran U.S. Food and Drug Administration and life sciences regulatory attorney from Mayer Brown LLP.

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Senior DOJ, White House Nat'l Security Pro Joins Covington

By Tracey Read

Covington & Burling LLP has hired the former chief of the Foreign Investment Review Section in the U.S. Department of Justice's National Security Division as a partner in the firm's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States practice.

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How SEC And CFTC Are Attempting To End Their 'Turf War'

Through coordinated examinations and a shared aim to end duplicative regulation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent memorandum of understanding could represent a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for market participants subject to the jurisdiction of both agencies, say attorneys at Jenner.

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Regulators' Basel Pitch May Bring Banks Capital Relief

The prudential banking agencies' new proposals to implement the so-called Basel III endgame rules — which would modify the approach to risk-based capital, among other notable changes — represent a fundamental directional shift in bank capital requirements aimed at increasing lending capacity, says Chen Xu at Debevoise.

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What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

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Pregnant DLA Piper Atty Recounts Firing: 'This Feels Wrong'

By Pete Brush

A former associate who claims DLA Piper unlawfully fired her after she announced she was pregnant told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that she got positive feedback as she worked with large corporate clients and was "shocked" when she was terminated.

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5 Firms Advise On Gilead's Up To $5B Tubulis Acquisition

By Al Barbarino

Gilead Sciences Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire German clinical-stage cancer biotechnology company Tubulis for up to $5 billion, in a deal steered by five law firms.

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Audio

Approach The Bench: Judge Robinson On Community Court

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Judge Devin Robinson's courtroom at the Red Hook Community Justice Center looks and feels very different from the courthouse archetype.

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Kirkland Adds DLA Piper Gov't Contracts Attys In Texas, DC

By Lynn LaRowe

Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced Tuesday that it has strengthened its government contracts practice group with an Austin, Texas-based partner and a Washington, D.C.-based associate who both came aboard from DLA Piper.

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Calif. Lawmakers Advance Bill To Curtail PE Role In Litigation

By Emily Sawicki

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to the state Senate, backed by bipartisan support from the Assembly.

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Goodwin Grows Restructuring Team In New York And Boston

By James Boyle

Goodwin Procter LLP has grown its financial restructuring practice with the addition of attorneys in the New York and Boston offices with more than 40 years' combined experience at WilmerHale.

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Blanche Says Only Trump Knows Why Bondi's Leaving DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he is now acting attorney general and no one, beyond the president, knows why Pam Bondi is out and he is in.

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DOJ Pushes To End Former Immigration Judge's Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

The U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss a former Ohio immigration judge's discrimination suit in D.C. federal court this week, calling the complaint "heavy on conclusory statements and speculation and light on allegations of fact."

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States, DC Back NY AG James In DOJ Probe Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

Backed by amici including the attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia, New York Attorney General Leticia James is fighting the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to reopen an investigation into her office launched by a federal prosecutor found to have been serving unlawfully.

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Judge Who Quit Bench Amid Ethics Probe Hired By Fani Willis

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia trial court judge who resigned this year before facing the prospect of removal from the bench over a range of misconduct charges has been hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a spokesperson for Willis confirmed Tuesday.

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Texas Panel Keeps Ex-GC's Suit Over Unpaid Bonuses Alive

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas appeals court on Tuesday kept in play a suit by a dairy equipment manufacturer's former general counsel over unpaid bonuses, holding that updated anti-SLAPP rules applied to newly added claims in the suit and that the company failed to meet procedural requirements in trying to dismiss them.

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