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Compliance
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April 30, 2024
Sen. Warren Probes Annuity Cos. Over Use Of 'Secret' Perks
Large annuity providers are using lavish vacations and other kickbacks to drive sales that disadvantage consumers, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Tuesday, demanding information from more than a dozen companies on the heels of a new Labor Department rule aiming to ramp up scrutiny on financial advisers.
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April 30, 2024
UK Fund Cites Jacobs' Qatar Oversight Failings In Del. Suit
A UK pension fund investor in the U.S.-based business that oversaw construction of 2022 World Cup soccer facilities in Qatar has sued the company's directors in Delaware's Court of Chancery, seeking recovery of damages arising from director failures to monitor human rights violations reported by workers.
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April 30, 2024
$626M Fee Award In BCBS Deal Is Unjust, High Court Told
A member of the class that settled multidistrict litigation with Blue Cross Blue Shield for $2.67 billion over anti-competitive practices has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his challenge to the $626 million attorney fees award in the settlement, arguing the Eleventh Circuit's approval of the award runs counter to high court precedent.
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April 30, 2024
FTC To Help FCC Enforce 'Net Neutrality' Rules
The Federal Communications Commission has called on a sister agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to cooperate on enforcing the FCC's restored "net neutrality" rules to require the free flow of network traffic.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Continues To Target 'Junk' Drug Patents
Federal trade officials told a series of pharmaceutical companies — including the makers of the controversial diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic — that they may have listed faulty patents in a key register of a federal drug database.
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April 30, 2024
Pa. Schools Say Railcar Cos. Must Face Derailment Claims
Pennsylvania school districts have told a federal judge that railcar companies cannot evade allegations they negligently shipped toxic chemicals in retrofitted tank cars during last year's Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, saying the environmental and health harms in their communities can be tied to the companies' conduct.
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April 30, 2024
10th Circ. Says Biden Can Raise Contractors' Minimum Wage
President Joe Biden's minimum hourly wage increase for federal contractors to $15 is intertwined with furthering the economy and is therefore supported by the Procurement Act, a split Tenth Circuit panel ruled Tuesday, agreeing with a Colorado federal court to keep the wage bump.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Digging Into $2.3B Walmart-Vizio Deal
The Federal Trade Commission wants information about Walmart's $2.3 billion plan to take over smart television maker Vizio before it decides whether to sign off on the controversial acquisition.
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April 30, 2024
Crypto Exec Denies $2B Laundering Charges, Is Out On Bail
The CEO of crypto mixer Samourai Wallet has pled not guilty to charges he helped facilitate over $2 billion in illegal transactions and was released on $1 million bail after surrendering to federal authorities voluntarily.
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April 30, 2024
EPA Chief Faces House Appropriators Hostile To Agency Regs
Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke grilled U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan at a congressional budget hearing Tuesday, telling him a new coal-fired power plant emissions rule threatens to increase ratepayer costs.
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April 30, 2024
8th Circ. Orders BASF Damages Trial In Herbicide Row
An Eighth Circuit panel on Tuesday once again directed a Missouri federal court to hold a trial to assess punitive damages for BASF Corp. in litigation alleging the sale of herbicide-resistant seeds led to the destruction of a farm's peach trees when herbicide drifted from neighboring farms.
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April 30, 2024
Dechert Adds Wilson Sonsini, Ex-SEC Crypto Expert In DC
A cryptocurrency and financial technology attorney who spent nearly six years with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has left his most-recent role as a partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC to join Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Tuesday.
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April 30, 2024
Feds Endorse Easing Marijuana Status In Big Policy Shift
Federal drug enforcers will recommend loosening restrictions on cannabis for the first time since the drug was made federally illegal decades ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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April 30, 2024
Goodwin Private Funds Partner Joins Fried Frank In NY
Fried Frank has announced it hired a New York-based asset management attorney who spent more than a decade at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and was most recently a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP.
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April 30, 2024
IRS Updates Guidance For Clean Jet Fuel Tax Credits
The Internal Revenue Service released guidance Tuesday that updated an environmental model that manufacturers of a low-carbon alternative to conventional jet fuel, such as ethanol, can use to qualify for a new tax credit and provided a safe harbor for producers to meet the incentive's requirements.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Says Novant Wants Court To Ignore Local Competition
Novant Health can't ask a federal judge to ignore evidence that buying two North Carolina hospitals will stymie competition in the region just because those facilities are supposedly struggling and the proposed deal might shore up resources, the Federal Trade Commission said in a brief doubling down on its bid to block the $320 million buyout.
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April 30, 2024
Binance Founder Gets 4 Mos. For Lax Money Laundering Policy
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison for his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at the global crypto exchange, as a federal judge rejected a more severe punishment sought by the government citing concerns about sentencing disparity.
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April 30, 2024
High Court Won't Stay Texas' Porn Site Age Check Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay a Fifth Circuit decision that allowed a portion of a Texas law requiring visitors to adult-oriented websites to prove their age before accessing content.
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April 30, 2024
EPA Finalizes Methylene Chloride Ban
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized a rule banning all consumer uses and most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride, a chemical regulators say can increase cancer risks and cause reproductive damage with repeat exposure.
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April 29, 2024
ReNew Health To Pay $7M To Settle COVID-19 FCA Claims
ReNew Health Group LLC has agreed to pay the federal government and California $7 million to settle whistleblower allegations that the healthcare provider misused a COVID-19 waiver intended to free up hospital beds by submitting fraudulent claims for nursing home residents, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
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April 29, 2024
Judge Rejects 2 Challenges To Medicare Drug Price Talks
A New Jersey federal judge on Monday shot down a pair of challenges to the Medicare drug price negotiations, extending a string of court victories for the Biden administration as it defends the talks as entirely voluntary.
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April 29, 2024
Google Hit With Copyright Claims Over AI Image Generator
A group of visual artists has filed a proposed class action claiming Google's text-to-image artificial intelligence tool Imagen is trained by copying "enormous amounts" of artists' copyrighted works without authorization, the latest suit challenging the use of vast datasets for AI training.
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April 29, 2024
5th Circ. Urged To Block CFPB's Credit Card Late Fee Rule
Banking industry trade groups have called for the Fifth Circuit to act quickly to put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard on hold, arguing that large credit card issuers stand to suffer "substantial" losses if it goes into effect even for just one day.
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April 29, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds NRC's Exemption For Diablo Canyon Plant
A Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when it allowed Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to belatedly renew its license to continue operating California's last remaining nuclear power plant.
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April 29, 2024
TD Ameritrade Fined $600K Over Flawed Automated Approvals
TD Ameritrade Inc. has agreed to pay a $600,000 fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which alleged the online stock trading platform relied on an inadequate automated approval system for options trading that allowed risk-prone customers to be approved for certain trades despite red flags.
Expert Analysis
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At 'SEC Speaks,' A Focus On Rebuilding Trust Amid Criticism
At the Practising Law Institute's SEC Speaks conference last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leadership highlighted efforts to rebuild and restore trust in the U.S. capital markets by addressing investor concerns through regulatory measures and enforcement actions, emphasizing the need for cooperation from market participants, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI
A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Series
NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
The first quarter of 2024 saw a number of notable legal and regulatory developments that will significantly affect New York's financial services industry, including the New York Department of Financial Services' finalized novel guidance directing banks to continuously monitor the character and fitness of key personnel, say Brian Montgomery and Nathan Lewko at Pillsbury.
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Weisselberg's Perjury At Trial Spotlights Atty Ethics Issues
Former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg’s recent guilty plea for perjury in the New York attorney general's civil fraud trial should serve as a reminder to attorneys of their ethical duties when they know a client has lied or plans to lie in court, and the potential penalties for not fulfilling those obligations, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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Texas Hair Bias Ruling Does Not Give Employers A Pass
A Texas state court’s recent decision, holding that a school could discipline a student with locs for refusing to cut his hair, should not be interpreted by employers as a license to implement potentially discriminatory grooming policies, says Dawn Holiday at Jackson Walker.
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When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge
The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting
While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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How Banks Should Respond To Calif. AG's Overdraft Warning
Banks and credit unions should heed recent guidance from California’s attorney general, along with warnings by consumer regulators of all stripes, regarding unfair fee practices by properly disclosing their fees and practices, and ensuring the amounts charged mirror federal benchmarks, say Brett D. Watson and Madeline Suchard at Cozen O'Connor.
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Calif. Verdict Showcases SEC's New 'Shadow Trading' Theory
Last week's insider trading verdict, delivered against biopharmaceutical executive Matthew Panuwat by a California federal jury, signals open season on a new area of regulatory enforcement enabled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's shadow trading theory, say Perrie Weiner and Aaron Goodman at Baker McKenzie.
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Cos. Should Prepare For Foreign Data Transfer Regulations
A new regulatory regime designed to protect U.S. sensitive data from countries of concern may complicate an already intricate geopolitical landscape and affect even companies beyond the data industry, but with careful preparation, such companies can endeavor to minimize the effect on their business operations and ensure compliance, say David Plotinsky and Jiazhen Guo at Morgan Lewis.
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Climate Disclosure Mandates Demand A Big-Picture Approach
As carbon emissions disclosure requirements from the European Union, California and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission take effect, the best practice for companies is not targeted compliance with a given reporting regime, but rather a comprehensive approach to systems assessment and management, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Series
Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.
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A Closer Look At Antitrust Agencies' Chat Platforms Guidance
Following the U.S. antitrust agencies' clarification that companies' preservation obligations extend through applications that automatically delete communications, firms should look at new compliance measures, including keeping control over retention settings, say John Ingrassia and Tim Burroughs at Proskauer.
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Expect CFPB Enforcement To Continue Ramping Up
From hiring and structural changes to continuous external pressure from a variety of sources, all signs indicate that the recent rise of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public enforcement activity will continue throughout the rest of the year, despite ongoing litigation that could upend everything, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.