A New York judge had to order Venezuela's national oil company to repay about $40 million it owed to a Portuguese pipeline company on a defaulted bond, saying the oil giant failed to prove that it was impossible to repay the debt due to U.S. sanctions.
If Gary Gensler is confirmed as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's next chair, regulators could delve deeper into the explosion of blank-check entities and their subsequent acquisitions to examine where investor protections can be strengthened. Here are four areas where regulators could step up scrutiny of special purpose acquisition companies.
Latham & Watkins LLP has represented Airbnb Inc. in the pricing of $2 billion in convertible senior notes in a private offering to institutional buyers, with issuance and sale of the home rental giant's notes scheduled to settle on Monday, according to the law firm.
Bitfury Group subsidiary Cipher Mining said Friday that it's aiming to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company to forge a $2 billion Bitcoin mining company, in a deal guided by Latham & Watkins, Schiff Hardin and Mayer Brown.
Private equity firm InterPrivate launched three blank-check companies into the public markets Friday after the companies raised a combined $700 million in White & Case LLP-guided initial public offerings.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against AT&T and three of its investor relations executives Friday for allegedly making selective disclosures of nonpublic information to research analysts.
Second Circuit Judge Peter W. Hall took senior status on Thursday, giving President Joe Biden a third opening on the New York-based appeals court and his first opportunity to "flip" a circuit to a majority of Democratic appointees.
Antivirus software innovator John McAfee and his bodyguard have been indicted on fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges for fraudulently touting various cryptocurrencies on Twitter to further two separate schemes, Manhattan federal prosecutors said Friday.
A New York federal judge on Thursday threw out a consolidated shareholder lawsuit against Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and two former Merrill Lynch traders over alleged spoofing in the precious metals futures market, ruling that the shareholders waited too long to bring their claims.
Robinhood is expected to file for an IPO that could value the online trading app at $20 billion, Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart is considering a SPAC merger, and Permira has offered to buy a $3.7 billion medical device maker. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other deal rumors from the past week that you need to be aware of.
The two top executives of Ripple have asked a New York federal judge to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's individual claims against them in its landmark enforcement action over the firm's embattled digital asset.
Shares for a senior care enterprise that provides in-home support jumped on the stock exchange Thursday after the Apax Partners-backed company raked in roughly $350 million as part of its initial public offering guided by Kirkland & Ellis and underwriters' counsel Simpson Thacher.
Amazon-backed U.K. online food delivery company Deliveroo said Thursday it is eyeing a London Stock Exchange initial public offering that will include dual-class shares, following a U.K. proposal to ease rules on such voting arrangements in order to attract more technology companies.
A pair of joint whistleblowers operating abroad were awarded more than $5 million for information that led to a successful U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action, but two additional individuals who claimed that their tips to the "news media" had assisted the agency were denied, according to an order published Thursday.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it has created a new task force to clamp down on environmental, social and governance-related disclosure violations, a move that drew an immediate rebuke from two Republican commissioners who suggested the enforcement initiative was premature without any changes to existing rules.
Insurance technology company Hippo, guided by Latham & Watkins, has agreed to merge with a Sullivan & Cromwell-advised special purpose acquisition company that is led by the co-founder of LinkedIn at an enterprise value of $5 billion, the companies said Thursday.
A blank-check company sponsored by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started trading Wednesday after raising $300 million in an Ellenoff Grossman-led initial public offering.
Technology hardware company Nvidia Corp. beat an investor suit alleging that it understated over $1 billion in sales to cryptocurrency miners, after a federal court in California found that investors hadn't proved any deliberate recklessness by the company's directors.
A federal judge in the Southern District of New York has announced plans to take senior status this spring, opening up yet another sought-after spot for President Joe Biden to fill in one of the most influential courts in the country.
The nation's top securities regulator will step up its focus on climate risks and digital assets as it probes regulated companies in the year ahead, according to the annual report released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's examinations unit on Wednesday.
Citibank NA moved Tuesday for an injunction while it appeals its fight to recover more than $500 million it inadvertently transferred to creditors of Revlon Inc., urging a New York federal judge to keep the funds under a court-ordered freeze after he ruled the bank isn't entitled to get them back.
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has brought on a Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP partner who's experienced in advising publicly traded real estate investment trusts on real estate-related transactions to the firm's tax practice in New York.
Venture-backed health insurer Oscar Health Inc. went public on Wednesday after pricing an upsized $1.4 billion initial public offering, guided by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters' counsel Goodwin Procter LLP.
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court's $22.7 million disgorgement order against a trader and his two companies in connection to a civil case brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, finding that he failed to provide credible evidence to justify an offset for business expenses.
The British government is considering a catalog of new rules for stock exchange listings, including provisions to attract special purpose acquisition companies, in a move to boost the London market's global competitiveness after Brexit.
A New York federal court's recent ruling that Citibank could not claw back funds it mistakenly wired to Revlon lenders contains several legal issues an appellate court will likely review without deference to the lower court — and could lead to the lenders being ordered to return the payments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
Opinion
A recent increase in denials of research and development tax credits to small businesses in the architectural, engineering and construction community shows the Internal Revenue Service should issue new guidance to ensure a fair playing field and an opportunity to continue innovating in the U.S., says Julio Gonzalez at Engineered Tax Services.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will be hard-pressed to argue Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent tweets about cryptocurrencies amounted to illegal communication of material information to investors, or constituted market manipulation, say Kenneth Breen and Phara Guberman at Paul Hastings.
Attorneys working remotely from jurisdictions in which they are not admitted should take precautionary steps to avoid engaging in unauthorized practice of law, say John Schmidt and Michael Seaman at Phillips Lytle.
Opinion
In-court M&A challenges that benefit plaintiffs counsel more than shareholders continue unabated, demonstrating the need for federal securities law reform to prevent what amounts to a deal tax on companies forced to pay mootness fee settlements and higher directors and officers insurance premiums, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
In a welcome development for defendants, a New York state court's back-to-back rejections of Securities Act class claims in Sundial Growers and Lyu v. Ruhnn Holdings signal a growing judicial backlash against the flood of similar litigation following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Cyan, say Israel Dahan and Alexander Noble at King & Spalding.
Parenting during the pandemic has introduced a series of competing personal and professional obligations for attorneys and professional staff, and even organizations that are supportive of their parent employees can take steps to do better, says Meredith Kahan at Saul Ewing.
As President Joe Biden seeks to ramp up renewable energy development, the industry's risk managers must not only rely on traditional insurance and contractual warranties, but also explore new risk management products like proxy revenue swaps, say Leslie Thorne and Andrew Van Osselaer at Haynes and Boone.
Although a California federal court recently ruled a donor-advised fund sponsor did not breach prudent investor standards in Fairbairn v. Fidelity Charitable, the case shows that disgruntled donors may initiate claims against charities over nonbinding advisory privileges, and could introduce a wave of litigation over alleged investment mismanagement, says Karl Mill at Adler & Colvin.
The prospect of joining a law firm during the pandemic can cause added pressure, but with a few good practices — and a little help from their firms and supervising attorneys — lawyer trainees can get ahead of the curve while working remotely, say William Morris and Ted Landray at King & Spalding.
Attorneys at Nossaman look at how President Joe Biden’s ethics pledge goes beyond those of his predecessors by imposing post-employment shadow lobbying and golden parachute restrictions on his administration’s appointees — and how a House bill proposing expansion of federal ethics law could affect enforcement.
Opinion
Law graduates across the states are sitting for the grueling two-day bar exam this week despite menstruation-related barriers, such as inadequate menstrual product and bathroom access, which could be eradicated with simple policy tweaks, say law professors Elizabeth Cooper, Margaret Johnson and Marcy Karin.
As transaction disputes rise amid evolving market conditions, certain strategies can help companies mitigate risk while remaining live to M&A opportunities, say attorneys at Freshfields.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division report on the Fraud Section's accomplishments in 2020 reveals impressive enforcement productivity, despite pandemic-related limitations, and we should expect to see a significant increase in prosecution later this year, say Kevin Muhlendorf and Holly Wilson at Wiley.
Banking regulators will likely start issuing regulations and guidance on assessing climate-related risks soon, so bank directors and senior management must incorporate climate change into their risk assessments and mitigation frameworks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.