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Compliance
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June 29, 2022
Lowenstein Sandler Finds No Impropriety In FINRA Arbitration
Lowenstein Sandler LLP's independent review of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's arbitration system has found no evidence of an improper agreement to remove certain arbitrators from cases, contradicting the findings of a Georgia state judge earlier this year.
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June 28, 2022
Texas AG Investigates Walmart's Opioid Sales Practices
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday said his office is investigating Walmart for potential violations of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act in the retail giant's sales of prescription opioids.
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June 28, 2022
High Court's CSA Decree Augurs Opioid Upheaval For DOJ
The U.S. Supreme Court's demand for a rock-solid showing of intentional impropriety when federal opioid prosecutors target pills-for-profits schemes under the Controlled Substances Act will send the U.S. Department of Justice scrambling to salvage its less sensational suits, attorneys say.
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June 28, 2022
CFPB Urged To Scrap Anti-Bias Revamp Of Exam Manual
Major banking trade groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called Tuesday for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to scrap new examination policies that broaden the scope of the agency's anti-discrimination policing, hinting at a potential for legal action if the agency doesn't reverse course.
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June 28, 2022
FTC Claims Walmart Facilitated $197M Money Transfer Fraud
The Federal Trade Commission sued Walmart in Illinois federal court on Tuesday, claiming the retail giant allowed its money transfer services to be used by fraudsters who cheated customers out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
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June 28, 2022
Enviro Groups Say Texas Refuses To Follow Air Permit Rules
A cohort of environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to require Texas' environmental regulator to increase public participation and consider environmental justice impacts during its air permitting program.
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June 28, 2022
Davis Polk Brings On Ex-Cooley Capital Markets Partner
Corporate firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP said Monday it has hired former Cooley LLP partner and capital markets veteran Nicole Brookshire, bolstering its New York practice.
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June 28, 2022
DC Circ. Backs FERC's Approval Of $468M Gas Pipeline
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a $468 million natural gas pipeline project, disagreeing with environmental advocates that developers were permitted to collect excessive returns and environmental concerns weren't given proper scrutiny.
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June 28, 2022
EPA Can't Justify Lax Airline Greenhouse Gas Rule, Court Told
Blue states and environmental groups have told the D.C. Circuit that federal rules for airline greenhouse gas emissions are too lax, won't meaningfully address the climate crisis and are an abdication of clear statutory requirements of the Clean Air Act.
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June 28, 2022
CFPB Says States Can Write Stricter Credit Reporting Laws
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday that states can enact tougher credit reporting restrictions than are provided for under federal law, endorsing a limited federal preemption view favored by consumer advocates.
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June 28, 2022
US Seeks To Enforce Summonses In Captive Insurance Probe
A Florida business owner refused to provide the Internal Revenue Service with all the documents it needs to investigate captive insurance transactions his companies made, the U.S. said in a federal court filing calling for their release.
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June 28, 2022
Window Co. Settles Lead Paint Violation Allegations With EPA
A window and door replacement company agreed to pay a civil penalty to resolve allegations brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it violated a federal lead paint rule for work done out of a Northeast Ohio location, the EPA said Monday.
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June 28, 2022
Mass. Gas Plant Pays $44M To End FERC Payment Probe
A bankrupt Massachusetts gas-fired power plant has agreed to pay a $17.1 million fine and disgorge $26.7 million in profits to resolve Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allegations that it improperly reaped over $100 million in electricity market payments despite not yet being in service.
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June 28, 2022
Feds Ask For Vigilance On Russian Export Sanctions
Bureaus of the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Commerce Department urged financial institutions Tuesday to monitor for efforts of Russia and Belarus to evade export sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, providing some pointers that could help keep certain equipment out of the hands of Russia's military.
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June 28, 2022
Troutman Pepper Pipeline Attys Join Bracewell In DC
Two attorneys who focus on pipeline and liquefied natural gas safety have joined Bracewell LLP's Washington, D.C., office as partners, the firm announced Monday.
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June 28, 2022
Ernst & Young Fined $100M For Cheating On CPA Exams
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hit Ernst & Young LLP with a $100 million fine on Tuesday after the accounting giant admitted that its audit professionals cheated on certified public accountant license exams, and that it also withheld evidence of the cheating from the agency.
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June 27, 2022
Biofuel Group Fights Blending Pass For Refiners At DC Circ.
A biofuel trade association is accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of wrongfully affording small refiners a get-out-of-jail-free card by not requiring them to honor past years' biofuel mixing requirements even after the refiners' exemption requests were denied.
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June 27, 2022
La. Enviro Agency Can't Join Pollution Suit, 5th Circ. Told
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality can't be sued for allegedly failing to inform landowners about pollution at a valve plant because the law doesn't allow tort claims against state agencies, Dresser LLC, Baker Hughes and others have told the Fifth Circuit.
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June 27, 2022
Sustainability Group Sees 'Clear' US Progress On Climate Risk
U.S. financial regulators have made big strides over the past year in moving to monitor and mitigate the risks that climate change poses to the financial system, but they're still way behind some of their peers internationally, according to a report released Monday by an influential sustainability group.
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June 27, 2022
No-Poach Case Nears Plea In Would-Be 1st DOJ Win
A health care staffing company and its former regional manager indicated Friday that they were nearing a Nevada federal court plea deal for allegedly scheming to suppress wages for Las Vegas school nurses, a resolution that would be the U.S. Department of Justice's first successful criminal prosecution of labor-side antitrust violations.
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June 27, 2022
UK Watchdog Ends Probe Of Vet Merger After Sale Promised
The U.K.'s competition enforcer will not deepen its investigation into the completed £20.4 million ($27.8 million) acquisition of a veterinary chain after the buyer agreed to unload the business in response to the agency's concerns about the tie-up.
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June 27, 2022
DOL Seeks To Toss 'Downright Bizarre' ERISA Guidance Suit
The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Florida federal court to toss an American Securities Association suit claiming agency guidance illegally imposed new obligations under federal benefits law, arguing that the guidelines weren't required to go through formal rulemaking procedures.
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June 27, 2022
Fed Bans Golden Pacific Bancorp Affiliate From Bank Industry
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has prohibited an individual from future participation in the banking industry after he allegedly lied in his application to acquire control of Golden Pacific Bancorp Inc., a former bank holding company in California.
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June 27, 2022
GCs Wrangling With Tangled Fallout Of Roe's Demise
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow states to ban abortions — fraught with all the raw emotions attached to this issue — is also fraught with a multitude of legal risks for general counsel and their companies, ranging from possible criminal prosecution to civil suits to high-pressure proxy fights over political spending.
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June 27, 2022
Ex-Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Atty Joins Orrick
A former senior policy and strategy counsel with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Enforcement has moved to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP after a brief stint with O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
Expert Analysis
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Investment Adviser ESG Lessons From BNY Mellon Case
With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent $1.5 million settlement with BNY Mellon over environmental, social and governance disclosure violations, we appear to be at the dawn of a new era of enforcement — which means investment advisers should take new compliance steps, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.
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Texas Infrastructure Act And Renewables Projects: 1 Year In
A year into implementation of Texas' Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, Jennifer Pier at Husch Blackwell discusses how renewable energy project developers, owners and investors planning projects in Texas can incorporate LIPA-related provisions into transaction and financing documents.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Highlights ERISA Determination Deadlines
As seen in the Second Circuit’s recent McQuillin v. Hartford decision, the deadlines for deciding Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims and appeals have teeth, and there are consequences when a plan administrator fails to comply, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Sherman.
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EPA's New PFAS Listings Raise Enforcement, Litigation Risks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent addition of five per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to a list of risk-based values for regional screening and removal management levels increases the risks of litigation and government enforcement related to PFAS contamination — and companies should prepare for a roller coaster of further regulatory actions, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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What's At Stake In Justices' FCA Qui Tam Dismissal Review
The Supreme Court's decision next term in U.S. v. Executive Health Resources could hold that the government cannot dismiss a qui tam action in which it initially declined intervention, which would mean the government must expend more resources vetting False Claims Act cases and give relators free rein as prosecutors of their cases, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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5th Circ. Ruling Signals Judicial Shift On SEC Admin Process
The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signals a growing discomfort in the judiciary with the SEC's administrative process, and those dealing with enforcement actions should bring their constitutional challenges early and often, say Benjamin Daniels and Trevor Bradley at Robinson & Cole.
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Opinion
Justices Should Resolve FCA Cases' Rule 9(b) Circuit Split
The U.S. Supreme Court should agree to hear three related False Claims Act cases and resolve the circuit split over the level of detail Rule 9(b) requires in qui tam complaints, or the viability of such actions will increasingly depend on where they are filed, say Kenneth Abell and Katherine Kulkarni at Abell Eskew.
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DOT Standards For EV Chargers Address Key Public Concerns
The U.S. Department of Transportation's recently proposed standards for public electric vehicle charging infrastructure reflect the Biden administration's continued effort to encourage EV deployment in the U.S. markets — and speak to some of the most important concerns of EV consumers relating to charging, say Levi McAllister and Maggie Curran at Morgan Lewis.
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Dobbs Ruling Creates Compliance Dilemmas For Hospitals
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, hospitals in states with sweeping abortion prohibitions may struggle to reconcile state and federal legal regimes, including the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Opinion
Now's The Time To Address Archaic Law School Curricula
With law school enrollments jumping significantly ahead of a potential recession and more students graduating than the market can absorb, law schools should turn to creative solutions to teach students how to negotiate, work with clients, specialize and use technology to practice their craft more efficiently, says University of Colorado adjunct professor Jason Mendelson.
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Proposed Online Platform Regs Deviate From Antitrust Norms
The U.S. and EU are on the cusp of adopting digital platform legislation that would impose regulations based solely on firms' size, avoiding traditional antitrust principles and potentially changing the way online platforms' conduct is litigated, say Daniel Fenske at Mayer Brown and Felipe Pereira at Tauil Chequer.
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Lessons From Lawyer Fee-Sharing Agreements Gone Wrong
The recent fee-sharing dispute between Edelson and Girardi Keese is a reminder that lawyers who do not strictly follow the applicable rules may risk a disciplinary complaint, lose their share of the fee, or wind up in costly litigation with co-counsel, says David Grossbaum at Hinshaw.
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LeClairRyan Bankruptcy Highlights Pass-Through Tax Issue
A Virginia bankruptcy court's recent ruling in the case of defunct law firm LeClairRyan shows there may be serious tax consequences for pass-through entity partners who give up their ownership interest without following operating agreement exit provisions and updating bankruptcy court filings, say Edward Schnitzer and Hannah Travaglini at Montgomery McCracken.
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SEC Crypto Unit Expansion Is A Warning To Industry
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision to expand its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit is a clear signal that federal regulators may increase enforcement against those violating securities laws in the digital asset space, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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Potential Next Steps For DOJ's COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement
Although the U.S. Department of Justice's COVID-19 fraud enforcement has so far focused on individuals and entities blatantly abusing pandemic assistance funds, health care and life sciences companies should assess their compliance programs as the DOJ will likely turn to larger-dollar activity at the organization level soon, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.