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Securities
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September 26, 2023
Axsome Beats Securities Suit Over Migraine Drug, For Now
A New York federal judge on Monday tossed a proposed securities class action alleging that biopharmaceutical company Axsome hid issues about its migraine drug, leading to a significant stock price drop, saying the lead plaintiff suffered no loss since he sold his shares at an inflated price.
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September 26, 2023
AssetMark To Pay $18M Over SEC Financial Conflict Charges
Investment adviser AssetMark Inc. agreed on Tuesday to pay more than $18 million to settle charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the firm didn't disclose conflicts of interest related to an affiliated custodian's cash sweep program.
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September 26, 2023
SEC Says Purported Real Estate Investor Ran $17.5M Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has leveled fraud allegations against a Los Angeles man and his purported real estate investment companies, alleging they raised $17.5 million from over 150 investors in part by touting their reputed securities as "recession-proof."
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September 26, 2023
Music Co. Fights Firm's Bid To End Ex-Fugees Rapper's Suit
A Georgia entertainment company asked a federal judge to reject New York-based Davis Shapiro Lewit & Grabel LLP's bid to free itself from claims that it fraudulently helped a member of the hip-hop group the Fugees sell music catalog assets that served as security on an unpaid $6.5 million loan.
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September 26, 2023
BlockFi's Ch. 11 Plan Confirmed With Opt-Out Releases Intact
A New Jersey bankruptcy judge approved the Chapter 11 plan of cryptocurrency platform BlockFi Inc. on Tuesday, overruling opposition from the Office of the United States Trustee to the releases being granted by third parties because they had the opportunity to opt out of the release provisions.
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September 26, 2023
Pilgrim's Pride Says No Meat On Investors' Price-Fixing Claim
Pilgrim's Pride and two of the company's former executives urged a Colorado federal judge to end a nearly 8-year-old putative class action for good, arguing in a brief that the judge should follow the lead of courts that have tossed similar price-fixing claims against it over a lack of meat behind the allegations.
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September 26, 2023
SEC Fines Asset Manager For Undisclosed Business Interests
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday fined an asset management firm and its principal $250,000 to settle claims they used $6.1 million in proceeds to invest in companies the principal and his family members held significant ownership interests in despite not disclosing that information to clients.
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September 26, 2023
Prosecution Seeks To Delay Ex-Cognizant Execs' Bribery Trial
The criminal trial of two former Cognizant executives accused of arranging a $2 million bribe to an Indian government official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may be postponed past its scheduled Oct. 3 start date over matters related to witnesses.
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September 26, 2023
Accounting Board Fines BDO $2M Over Missed Red Flags
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced a $2 million civil penalty against Chicago-based auditor BDO USA PC, saying the firm failed to detect red flags that should have alerted it to the fact that one client was overestimating its expected revenue by $30 million.
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September 26, 2023
Crypto Law Firm Wants 9th Circ. To Push SEC On Ether Rules
A crypto-focused law firm plans to ask the Ninth Circuit to compel the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to clarify how securities laws apply to activity on the Ethereum network after a California federal judge said the challenge was premature.
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September 26, 2023
Sports NFTs Not Securities, DraftKings Argues In Exit Bid
The non-fungible tokens on DraftKings' marketplace don't qualify as securities because buyers do not share in the profits and risks of the company by purchasing them, the sports betting giant argued in a motion to dismiss in Massachusetts federal court.
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September 26, 2023
SEC Says Diamond Seller Used Investor Funds To Gamble
A former diamond dealer and his now-defunct Florida jewelry trading business have been hit with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit alleging he bilked at least $2.2 million from investors to cover his gambling debts.
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September 26, 2023
Feds Say Race Played No Role In Charging Ozy Media Boss
Federal prosecutors told a Brooklyn federal judge to deny claims by the Black founder of startup company Ozy Media that his fraud case is motivated by racial bias, calling the accusation "unfounded."
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September 26, 2023
Kodak Scores Exit From Investors' COVID Supply Deal Suit
Eastman Kodak Co. has escaped a shareholder derivative suit alleging that current and former officers and directors of the company engaged in insider trading tied to a COVID-19 medical supply deal with the federal government, after a New York federal judge ruled that the company's board determined in good faith and after a reasonable investigation that the suit's claims wouldn't be in Kodak's "best interest."
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September 26, 2023
Astellas Sued In Del. Over Millions In Drug Milestone Payouts
A post-merger representative for former shareholders of biomedical firm Potenza Therapeutics Inc. has sued Astellas Pharma Inc. in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging failure to deliver millions in payments due after Potenza met merger-deal milestones for prospective cancer treatments.
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September 26, 2023
Airbit Founder Gets 12 Years As Feds Eye More Crypto Scams
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a California man who co-founded the $100 million Airbit Club cryptocurrency scam to 12 years in prison Tuesday after a prosecutor warned that the profusion of "dangerous" Ponzi-like frauds targeting bitcoin investors has not abated.
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September 26, 2023
SiriusXM Enlists Debevoise To Weigh Liberty Biz Combo Offer
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it is working with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as it weighs an offer from its majority stockholder, Liberty Media Corp., to combine the satellite radio company with the Liberty SiriusXM tracking stock group.
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September 26, 2023
Don't Believe SEC Witnesses In $144M Fraud Case, Jury Told
The trial of two Canadian nationals accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of participating in a $144 million penny-stock fraud scheme closed Tuesday, with defense attorneys attacking the government's cooperating witnesses as convicted felons willing to stretch the truth for a lighter sentence.
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September 26, 2023
Bittrex To Move Ahead On Ch. 11 With DOJ Objection Dropped
A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday approved cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex's Chapter 11 disclosure statement after the company resolved a formal objection from the U.S. Department of Justice over information about customers in sanctioned countries, allowing Bittrex to proceed with a confirmation hearing set for late October.
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September 26, 2023
Polsinelli Adds Private Equity Pro In Houston From Willkie
Polsinelli PC has bulked up its private equity practice with a shareholder in Houston who came aboard from Wilkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
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September 26, 2023
SEC Suspends Ex-Marcum Partner, Ga. CPA For Audit Failures
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposed sanctions on two accountants, including a former Marcum LLP partner, alleging violations of securities laws and agency rules with their misrepresentations about audit work at their respective firms.
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September 26, 2023
The 2023 Law360 Pulse Social Impact Leaders
Check out our Social Impact Leaders ranking, analysis and interactive graphics to see which firms stand out for their engagement with social responsibility and commitment to pro bono service.
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September 26, 2023
Why Law Firm ESG Is Likely Here To Stay
As backlash to institutional efforts around environmental, social and corporate governance spreads in the U.S., experts say law firms are likely to take a long-term view and continue focusing on ESG principles, even if some of the wording and messaging around those efforts may change.
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September 26, 2023
Shareholder Says Austin Property Owner Misused Millions
A shareholder in a company that owns apartment complexes in the Austin, Texas, area sued the firm's president for allegedly diverting millions of dollars in revenue for questionable purposes, including hiring a management firm operated by his mistress.
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September 26, 2023
Platinum Co-Founder Gets Overvaluation Verdict Pared To $2.8M
A Manhattan federal judge has slashed last year's $8.2 million asset overvaluation verdict against Platinum Partners co-founder David Bodner to $2.8 million, accounting for settlements previously reached by the defunct hedge fund's other executives and advisers.
Expert Analysis
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Del. Corporate Law Overhaul Delivers On Flexibility For Cos.
Recent amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law provide needed flexibility to public companies, including by making it easier to effect stock splits or changes to authorized shares, and by streamlining the process to ratify defective corporate acts, say attorneys at Venable.
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Corporate Compliance Lessons From FirstEnergy Scandal
Fallout from a massive bribery scheme involving Ohio electric utility FirstEnergy and state officeholders — including the recent sentencing of two defendants — has critical corporate governance takeaways for companies and individuals seeking to influence government policymaking, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Private Fund Advisers Should Prep Now For New SEC Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's final private fund adviser rules place significant burdens on this group, and despite both modifications to the initial ruleset and litigation challenges, advisers should begin developing practices that could comply with these regulations should any of them take effect, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Asset Manager Considerations For Soliciting Calif. Pensions
With California public pension and retirement plans representing close to $1 trillion in assets, managers must understand the lobbying laws that may be applicable to soliciting investments from the state's plans, say Chelsea Childs and Catherine Skulan at Ropes & Gray.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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The Long Reach Of Proposed Security-Based Swaps Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed security-based swap reporting rule's public disclosure provision is novel and contentious, and if it's included in the final rule, it would be a fundamental change in market structure that could chill activity in the space and incentivize market participants to use alternative derivative instruments, says Andrew Blake at Sidley.
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Opinion
Regulators Must Avert Overreach When Targeting AI
As financial regulators pursue artificial intelligence policy and related regulation, they should be wary of counterproductive interventions, which may stymie technology that could enhance forecasts and better reach the historically underrepresented, says Jack Solowey at the Cato Institute.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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How Del. Cos. Weighed Officer Exculpation This Proxy Season
One year after the Delaware General Corporation Law was amended to permit state corporations to exculpate covered officers, results from the 2023 proxy season show that companies are increasingly adopting the practice, despite some hurdles such as the need for supermajority approval, say attorneys at Weil.
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2 High Court Cases Could Upend Administrative Law Bedrock
Next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding two cases likely to change the nature and shape of agency-facing litigation in perpetuity, and while one will clarify or overturn Chevron, far more is at stake in the other, say Dan Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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Future Of NFTs Uncertain As SEC Takes Hawkish Approach
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent and first non-fungible token enforcement action against Impact Theory raises questions about the future of digital assets and the SEC's broad interpretation of securities law, and there will be no safe space for digital assets until courts or Congress clarify the issue, says Alex More at Carrington Coleman.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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5 Takeaways From SEC's First Marketing Rule Action
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent settlement — the first under the amended marketing rule — with Titan Global on charges that the fintech company misled investors shows investment advisers that they should expect close scrutiny of marketing materials and that their questions will only be answered through SEC enforcement, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Previewing Big Changes To NY's Finance Cybersecurity Rules
With the New York State Department of Financial Services likely to significantly amp up its cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions later this year, covered entities should prepare to adapt their technical security safeguards and employee protocols to comply with the proposed amendments, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Lessons From High-Profile Witness Tampering Allegations
As demonstrated by recent developments in the cases against former President Donald Trump and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, allegations of witness tampering can carry serious consequences — but attorneys can employ certain strategies to mitigate the risk that accusations arise, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.