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Securities
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May 06, 2024
SEC Settles Insider Info Charges With CBD Co.'s Ex-Chairman
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a settlement with the former chairman of Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. to resolve charges that he leaked inside information about the company's then-pending purchase of SugarLeaf Labs Inc. to a friend's wife.
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May 06, 2024
FDIC, OCC Gear Up For Another Shot At Banker Bonus Rules
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Monday revived an Obama-era proposal to set restrictions on incentive-based pay for executives at big banks, a lingering item of unfinished Dodd-Frank Act business, and for now, the Federal Reserve is sitting out.
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May 06, 2024
Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: McKool Smith's Courtney Statfeld
Courtney Statfeld's dad always tells her, "they never see you coming." The McKool Smith principal is one of few female litigators practicing in the male-dominated field of complex financial products, and she has made a conscious decision over the years to be herself — and to let her work speak for itself.
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May 06, 2024
Trump Media Hires Auditor To Replace Firm Accused Of Fraud
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has hired a new auditor, replacing its predecessor firm, which was permanently suspended by securities regulators Friday for alleged "massive fraud" regarding its work with hundreds of clients, according to a filing Monday.
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May 06, 2024
SEC Targets Robinhood's Crypto Unit For Possible Lawsuit
Robinhood Markets Inc. notified investors Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to sue its crypto arm for allegedly failing to register as a securities brokerage firm and clearing agency, saying the agency could go as far as demanding that the platform be shut down.
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May 06, 2024
British National Admits To Coworking Business Ponzi Scheme
A British citizen pled guilty Friday in Manhattan federal court to participating in a scheme to solicit investments using fraudulent misrepresentations about a coworking company where he was a principal.
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May 04, 2024
IRS Seeks More Info On Purpose Test In Buyback Tax Regs
The IRS is seeking more information on fine-tuning a test in proposed rules on the stock buyback tax meant to assess whether the principal purpose of a U.S. subsidiary's funding purchase of its foreign parent's stock is to avoid the tax, an agency attorney said Saturday.
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May 03, 2024
Hagens Berman To Spearhead Litigation Over Skin Tech Woes
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP was appointed lead counsel in securities litigation claiming Beauty Health Co. hid the news of a defective skin care device, beating competing bids from Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP and Pomerantz LLP, according to an order in Delaware federal court.
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May 03, 2024
Binance Founder's Sentence Shaped By Plea And Apology
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao's willingness to cooperate with law enforcement and accept responsibility in court for the crypto exchange's anti-money laundering violations helped the former CEO land a deal with prosecutors that got him a relatively short prison sentence to close out a yearslong investigation.
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May 03, 2024
9th Circ. Orders 2nd Look At Stay In PG&E Wildfire Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday told a lower court to reconsider its order staying claims PG&E investors brought against officers, directors and others over wildfire liability, saying more factors should have been considered before the stay was granted.
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May 03, 2024
'Bud And Breakfast' Cannabis Scammer Gets 2 Years In Prison
An Alaska man who pled guilty to conspiracy stemming from a scam bilking investors out of $722,000 to fund a failed "Bud and Breakfast" tourist lodge and on-site marijuana grow was sentenced to two years in prison in Alaska federal court on Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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May 03, 2024
Goldman Settles Decade-Old Metal-Rigging Class Action
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has settled a decade-old putative class action claiming the investment bank and others conspired to manipulate platinum and palladium market values, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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May 03, 2024
Nikola Ends Board Takeover Suit As Ex-CEO's Noms Withdraw
An Arizona federal judge on Thursday agreed to toss Nikola Corp.'s complaint against its former CEO and convicted felon Trevor Milton and several others accusing them of an illegal board takeover by pushing unqualified candidates, after the defendants withdrew their board nominees and the parties amicably resolved the dispute.
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May 03, 2024
Chancery OKs Extra Digging Into Trump Media Share Dispute
The sponsor of a special-purpose acquisition company that took Donald Trump's social media venture public earlier this year won Delaware Court of Chancery approval Friday to briefly dig deeper into disputed share-exchange terms for the deal, with more than $58 million on the line.
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May 03, 2024
Hess-Chevron Merger Hit With Class Disclosure Suit In Del.
A Hess stockholder sued the energy company in Delaware's Court of Chancery over alleged deal disclosure failures in the proposed $53 billion Chevron-Hess merger, adding to a list of complications that include claims by other energy giants to Hess interests.
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May 03, 2024
Sentencing Delayed For Ex-Fintech Exec In Crypto Case
Sentencing for the CEO of fintech company Hydrogen Technology Corp. was delayed Friday after a dispute over how to calculate the amount of money lost in the conspiracy to manipulate the market for Hydrogen's digital assets.
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May 03, 2024
3rd Circ. Clarifies Review Standard For Derivative Suits
In a precedential ruling Friday declining to revive Cognizant Technology investors' derivative claims over a bribery scandal, the full Third Circuit held that the best way to review such cases on appeal was from the beginning, not giving deference to the lower court's decision or considering whether there was an abuse of discretion.
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May 03, 2024
SoFi Unit To Pay FINRA $1.1M To Settle Customer ID Claims
SoFi Securities has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority claims that it lacked a suitable user verification process for the firm's cash management brokerage business, allowing the opening of 800 accounts used by third parties to illegally transfer $8.6 million from other financial institution accounts.
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May 03, 2024
Chancery OKs Record-Breaking $100M Pattern Energy Deal
A $100 million settlement ending state and federal court litigation over Pattern Energy Group Inc.'s $6.1 billion go-private sale in 2020 got the nod from Delaware's Court of Chancery on Friday, along with a requested $26 million fee award and two $25,000 incentive awards for the lead shareholder plaintiffs.
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May 03, 2024
Tech Security Firm Founder Sues Buyer For Legal Fees In Del.
The founder of security and information technology service venture Counter Threat Solutions sued the company that acquired it for legal fee advancement in Delaware's Court of Chancery, after accusing the buyer in a Delaware Superior Court suit of fabricating post-closing indemnity claims and refusing to honor payment terms.
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May 03, 2024
Brothers Accuse Cos. Of Mishandling $1.1M EB-5 Investments
Two brothers from India sued companies behind a combination residential-resort project they invested in under the EB-5 investor visa program, telling a Florida federal court that their green card petitions were denied because the companies mishandled their $1.1 million investment.
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May 03, 2024
No Retrial Coming After $20M Cannabis Investor Verdict
A Los Angeles judge has denied a bid by CADM Inc. for a retrial following a $20 million verdict against it and its affiliates on claims that they defrauded investors with a real estate scheme, finding that the motion was not served to the proper attorneys on time, and even if it had been, the judgment would stand.
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May 03, 2024
Kwok's Ex-Chief Of Staff Pleads Out Before $1B Fraud Trial
The former chief of staff to exiled Chinese billionaire Ho Wan Kwok pled guilty in Manhattan federal court on Friday to participating in a $1 billion investor fraud, less than three weeks before she was scheduled to go to trial alongside her erstwhile boss.
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May 03, 2024
SEC Fines Trump Media's Audit Firm For 'Massive Fraud'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday that it has fined and permanently suspended the public accounting firm of former President Donald Trump's social media company for allegedly running a "sham auditing mill" by failing to meet industry standards in reviewing the financial statements of hundreds of clients.
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May 02, 2024
Whistleblower Claims Would 'Destroy' Autonomy, GC Was Told
Autonomy's former U.S. general counsel testified Thursday in the criminal fraud trial of former CEO Michael Lynch that the company's chief operating officer didn't want a whistleblower's claims to get into court, telling him that while the "law" was on their side, "the facts look bad" and would "destroy Autonomy."
Expert Analysis
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ERISA Litigation Faces New Frontiers In 2024
As plaintiffs firms explore novel theories for recovery and the Department of Labor attempts to broaden the definition of an investment advice fiduciary, 2024 could see new types of Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation after just 100 class actions were filed last year, say attorneys at Groom Law.
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Del. Ruling Guides On Advance Notice Bylaw Amendments
The Delaware Chancery's Court's recent denial of investment fund Paragon Technologies' injunction motion against Ocean Power Technologies underscores the importance of carefully crafting and enforcing corporate advance notice bylaw amendments, especially in light of universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Venable.
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Series
Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer
After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.
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Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.
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Series
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
New York's banking and financial sector saw a number of notable regulatory and legislative changes in the final quarter of 2023, including guidance on climate risks and heightened cybersecurity protocols issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as final revisions to virtual currency listings in the state, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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4 Questions On Groundbreaking New Foreign Bribery Law
The recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act will significantly alter the anti-corruption landscape under U.S. law by allowing prosecutors to pursue foreign officials for soliciting or accepting bribes, but it’s not yet clear how the statute will be used and by whom, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Why CFTC Whistleblowers Are Crucial To Crypto Regulation
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's whistleblower program has proven to be a key tool in the U.S.' efforts to police cryptocurrency, but a funding issue shows that it has become a victim of its own success, says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.
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Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question
A growing body of case law, including a California state court's recent decision in X Corp. v. Wachtell, holds that incorporation of specific arbitral body rules in an arbitration provision may in and of itself constitute clear and unmistakable evidence of delegation of arbitrability to an arbitrator, and thus such clauses should be drafted carefully, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.
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Securities Class Actions Show No Signs of Slowing In 2024
Plaintiffs asserted securities class actions at elevated levels in 2023 — a sign that filings will remain high in the year ahead — as they switched gears to target companies that allegedly have failed to anticipate supply chain disruptions, persistent inflation, rising interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds, say attorneys at Skadden.
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How Corp. Transparency Act Can Unmask Crypto Owners
With the federal Corporate Transparency Act in effect as of Jan. 1, litigants may now have a less burdensome path toward determining the identities of owners behind convoluted corporate entities, and, by extension, any digital assets they own that could be subject to a potential judgment, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.
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ESG Concerns Can No Longer Be Ignored In 2024
While the long wait for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ESG rule continues, government attention to regulations, increased litigation efforts and shareholder resolutions seeking transparency highlight the importance of placing an emphasis on ESG considerations, say attorneys at Wollmuth Maher.
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2 FCPA Settlements Illuminate Self-Disclosure, Disgorgement
Two of last year’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements — with biomedical company Lifecore and mining company Corsa Coal — suggest that the government will be much more flexible in negotiating disgorgement amounts if an entity voluntarily self-discloses misconduct, say Michael Gilbert and Lucas Amodio at Sheppard Mullin.
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Opinion
Conflicts Abound When Activist Short-Sellers Publish Reports
The self-serving relationship between activist short-sellers and plaintiff-side litigators is conflict-ridden and hinders the fact finder's impartiality when a short report forms the basis for lead plaintiffs' allegations, say Nessim Mezrahi and Stephen Sigrist at SAR.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.