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Fintech
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August 27, 2024
SEC Says Adviser Touted AI Project, Phony IPO To Fleece $6M
The U.S. Securities and Exchange is accusing a China-based asset management firm of absconding with $6 million in client funds after making a rash of false claims about investing the money with the aid of artificial intelligence and after attempting to drum up interest in an initial public offering that never materialized.
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August 27, 2024
Nasdaq Seeks SEC's Green Light To Launch Bitcoin Options
The Nasdaq stock exchange said Tuesday it is seeking regulatory approval to allow the listing of an options tool that tracks the price of bitcoin, a move designed to expand institutional and retail trading of cryptocurrency-related assets.
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August 27, 2024
Global Payments' $3.6M Deal Gets Initial OK
A Georgia federal judge has given preliminary approval to a $3.6 million deal between Atlanta-based Global Payments Inc. and investors who allege a subsidiary of the payment tech company "tricked" consumers into signing up for a program that had undisclosed fees.
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August 27, 2024
Duane Morris Hires Ex-Dickinson Wright Fintech Expert
A former financial institutions mergers and acquisitions and regulatory enforcement partner from Dickinson Wright PLLC who also has experience at the Federal Reserve Bank has joined Duane Morris LLP's corporate practice group in Chicago.
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August 26, 2024
'Jarkesy 2.0': SEC Sees New Attack On In-House Courts
A new lawsuit calling into question the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to boot alleged lawbreakers from the securities industry follows a long line of attacks on the regulator's use of its in-house courts, including a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited the SEC's ability to litigate fraud cases via administrative proceedings.
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August 26, 2024
US Trustee Raises Release Concerns With FTX Ch. 11 Plan
The U.S. Trustee's Office has lodged an objection to FTX's Chapter 11 plan with 10 reasons why the proposed resolution for the mammoth crypto bankruptcy is flawed, including releases that are overbroad and don't carve out a high-profile data breach from their terms.
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August 26, 2024
CFPB Defeats Challenge To Small-Biz Lending Rules
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau landed an early win Monday in an industry-backed challenge to its reporting requirements for small business lenders, with a Texas federal judge finding the rule "is much more modest than plaintiffs would lead the court to believe."
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August 26, 2024
SEC Claims Crypto Bros. Raised Millions With Lies
The SEC on Monday filed suit against two brothers in Georgia federal court, claiming they ran a Ponzi scheme under the guise of a crypto asset lending pool and misspent millions of dollars of investors' money, including on vehicle purchases and a penthouse condo in Miami.
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August 26, 2024
Crypto Lender Abra Settles SEC's Unregistered Securities Suit
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it's settled with the business entity behind crypto lending platform Abra over alleged failures to register its lending product.
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August 26, 2024
Shkreli Must Give Up Copies Of Unique Wu-Tang Clan Album
Martin Shkreli must hand over any copies he made of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album while a challenge from the crypto project that holds the sole physical copy plays out, a New York federal judge ordered Monday.
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August 26, 2024
Telegram CEO Arrested In French Probe Of Messaging App
The founder and CEO of messaging platform Telegram has been arrested in Paris as part of an investigation into allegations the company is complicit in illegal transactions, child pornography and organized fraud, French prosecutors said Monday.
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August 26, 2024
JPMorgan Cash Sweep 'Shortchanged' Customers, Suit Says
JPMorgan Chase has been hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court alleging its securities branch "shortchanged" customers by automatically "sweeping" their uninvested cash balances into deposit accounts at its affiliate, Chase Bank.
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August 26, 2024
Texas Bitcoin Miner Hits Ch. 11 With More Than $50M In Debt
Cryptocurrency miner Rhodium filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court with more than $50 million in debt.
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August 23, 2024
FDIC Says Ex-Lender Can't Have 3rd Bite At In-House Apple
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., federal judge to reject a former small-business financier's bid to immediately halt an agency enforcement proceeding against him, saying a key recent U.S. Supreme Court decision doesn't apply to his case.
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August 23, 2024
Kraken Must Face SEC's Crypto Case Over Platform Sales
A California federal judge on Friday denied a bid by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to ditch a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement suit, finding the regulator plausibly alleged that "at least some" of the digital currency transactions on Kraken's online platform constitute investment contracts.
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August 23, 2024
SEC Awards Nearly $100M To 2 Whistleblowers
Two whistleblowers will receive more than $98 million for providing information the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission used to carry out an enforcement action, the agency said Friday.
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August 23, 2024
Crypto Founder Says SEC 'Twists' Claims To Make Suit Stick
The cryptocurrency founder accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of misappropriating $12 million in customer assets from an alleged billion dollars in unregistered crypto securities offerings told a Brooklyn federal judge that the regulator "twists its timelines" to tie his conduct to the U.S.
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August 23, 2024
PayPal Ducks Antitrust Suit Over Merchant Rules
A California federal judge on Friday granted PayPal's motion to dismiss a proposed class action alleging the financial tech giant illegally boosts online retail prices by enforcing restrictive merchant agreements, saying the plaintiffs have failed to adequately plead that their injury "flows" from the alleged misconduct.
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August 23, 2024
Hong Kong Relaxes Listing Rules For Tech Startups, SPACs
Hoping to spur more investment into emerging businesses amid a dry spell, Hong Kong's securities watchdog and stock exchange leaders on Friday unveiled relaxed listing rules for technology startups and eased requirements needed to clear mergers involving special purpose acquisition companies.
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August 23, 2024
CFTC Says Gemini's Appeal Bid Wouldn't Nix Need For Trial
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has told a New York federal judge that even if the Second Circuit found crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. didn't have ultimate responsibility over allegedly misleading statements about a proposed bitcoin futures contract, there would still be disputed facts requiring a trial.
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August 23, 2024
Western Union Seeks To Toss Most Claims In $8M Breach Suit
Western Union looks to shake off the bulk of a point-of-sales device manufacturer's $8.1 million breach of contract case, telling a Colorado federal court that much of the suit arose from purchase orders to which the financial services company hadn't been party.
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August 22, 2024
9th Circ. Rebuffs Crypto Law Firm's Bid To Revive SEC Suit
A Ninth Circuit appeals panel said Thursday that a California federal judge was right to toss a crypto-focused law firm's preemptive challenge to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since the firm failed to show it faced any "realistic danger" of catching an enforcement case over its use of the ethereum network.
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August 22, 2024
State Bank Coalition Establishes AI Advisory Group
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors has created a new advisory group to guide it on the development and use of artificial intelligence in the financial services sector, according to a Thursday statement.
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August 22, 2024
Feds Seize $5M In Crypto 'Pig Butchering' Scams
Federal prosecutors in North Carolina snagged nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency that they said on Thursday came from crooks masquerading as lovers, luring starry-eyed paramores into phony investments, in what's known as a "pig butchering" scam.
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August 22, 2024
Feds Ask For $395M Forfeiture In Bitcoin Fog Case
A D.C. federal judge said he was inclined to side with prosecutors seeking a $395 million forfeiture order for convicted Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov, at least as a preliminary step ahead of the 35-year-old's sentencing for money laundering.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Synapse Bankruptcy Has Ripple Effects For Fintech Industry
Synapse Financial Technologies’ recent bankruptcy filing marks a significant moment in the fintech industry's evolution, highlighting that stringent compliance and risk management in fintech partnerships are essential to mitigate risk and protect consumers, say Joann Needleman and Ryan Blumberg at Clark Hill.
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Opinion
Discount Window Reform Needed To Curb Modern Bank Runs
We learned during the spring 2023 failures that bank runs can happen extraordinarily fast in light of modern technology, especially when banks have a greater concentration of large deposits, demonstrating that the antiquated but effective discount window needs to be overhauled before the next crisis, says Cris Cicala at Stinson.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms
The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.
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Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal
Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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CFPB's New Registration Rule Will Intensify Nonbank Scrutiny
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recently finalized nonbank registration rule aimed at cracking down on repeat offenders poses significant compliance challenges and enforcement risks for nonbank financial firms, and may be particularly onerous for smaller firms, say Ketan Bhirud and Emily Yu at Cozen O'Connor.
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Dapper Settlement Offers Rules Of The Road For NFT Issuers
The terms of a $4 million settlement in a class action alleging that Dapper Labs sold its NBA Top Shot Moments as unregistered securities may be a model for third parties that wish to avoid securities liability in connection with offering digital asset non-fungible token collectibles, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation
As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.