Fintech

  • April 25, 2024

    Crypto Co. Sues 'Crusading' Gensler Over SEC's Ether Stance

    Cryptocurrency software company Consensys Software Inc. sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday in Texas federal court over the agency's treatment of the Ethereum network's ether token as a security after the company received a so-called Wells notice that agency staff intends to recommend an enforcement action over its products.

  • April 25, 2024

    SEC Says Texas Crypto Mining Co. Execs Ran $5.6M Fraud

    A crypto asset mining and hosting company and two of its principals face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims they defrauded about 64 investors with an unregistered securities offering that raised $5.6 million, spending investor funds lavishly on themselves while neglecting to set up, or in some cases even buy, the mining equipment they had said they would get.

  • April 24, 2024

    FDIC Pushes Back On Lender Groups Suing Over Colo. Law

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has weighed in on a legal challenge to a Colorado law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending in the state, arguing that the lender trade groups behind the challenge are misconstruing the agency's past words to support their case.

  • April 24, 2024

    Kwok Jurors To Be Anonymous Amid Harassment Concerns

    Jurors who will decide the criminal fraud and racketeering case against exiled Chinese billionaire Ho Wan Kwok will be anonymous and partially sequestered, a New York federal judge said on Wednesday, ruing that if their identities are revealed they could face the same harassment that befell Kwok's bankruptcy trustee.

  • April 24, 2024

    Crypto Mixer Execs Arrested Over $2B In Illicit Transactions

    New York federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have arrested the co-founders of crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet over their operation of a crypto service that authorities say executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

  • April 24, 2024

    Instagram Star Gets 7 Years For Multiple Fraud Schemes

    A Brooklyn federal judge on Wednesday imposed a seven-year prison term on a former Instagram influencer who admitted to defrauding members of his Muslim community and others out of over $8 million via a bogus investment fund and Bitcoin theft, saying the crime probably should be featured on the television show "American Greed."

  • April 24, 2024

    Binance Founder Should Get 3 Years, Not Probation, Feds Say

    Federal prosecutors asked a Washington federal judge to sentence Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to three years over his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at his crypto exchange, but the founder said jail time isn't necessary since he's already paid "massive" fines and comparable cases haven't resulted in prison sentences.

  • April 24, 2024

    Pegasystems Cuts $35M Deal To End Investor Suit

    Pegasystems Inc. has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a shareholder suit in Massachusetts federal court alleging the software company failed to properly disclose a rival's trade secret litigation that led to a $2 billion verdict.

  • April 24, 2024

    Feds Nab Latest OneCoin Plea On $35M Laundering Charge

    An eighth defendant has been charged by federal prosecutors over the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam and has pled guilty to laundering about $35 million in illicit proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in China and Hong Kong.

  • April 24, 2024

    King & Spalding Adds Ex-SEC, FINRA Securities Expert In DC

    The former deputy chief counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, who has over 25 years of experience working with securities laws and regulations, has left McGuireWoods LLP to join King & Spalding LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office.

  • April 23, 2024

    SEC Critics Preview Future Challenges To Agency Action

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may face new challenges to its enforcement authority from the way it imposes industry bars to the burden of proof needed to bring its civil cases, two frequent legal opponents of the agency said Tuesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    Ripple Labs Says Its SEC Fine Should Be No More Than $10M

    Blockchain firm Ripple Labs told a Manhattan federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's $2 billion remedies request over the firm's registration violation is proof of its "administrative overreach," and says it shouldn't be forced to pay more than $10 million over a finding related to its sales of cryptocurrency XRP.

  • April 23, 2024

    Texas Orders Digital Gold Vault Scheme To Shut Down

    Texas financial regulators have ordered the operators of a digital gold vault scheme to stop operating in the state, alleging individuals and companies were running a fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme to lure investors in unregistered securities.

  • April 23, 2024

    Levi & Korsinsky To Head Combined Paycom Investor Actions

    An Oklahoma federal judge selected Levi & Korsinsky LLP to lead a consolidated proposed investor class action against human resources technology company Paycom Software Inc. over the company's alleged failure to disclose that the success of its self-service payroll software was hindering the growth of the company's other services and revenue.

  • April 23, 2024

    Crypto Industry Groups Sue SEC Over Dealer Definition

    Two crypto industry groups on Tuesday jointly sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to overturn the regulator's expanded dealer definition, claiming the regulator sidestepped a fair rulemaking process when it declined to address the myriad issues industry participants pointed out during the shortened comment process.

  • April 23, 2024

    JAMS Implements Rules For AI-Related Disputes

    JAMS announced Tuesday that it has implemented new rules governing disputes involving artificial intelligence, making it the first organization in the alternative dispute resolution industry to establish an AI-tailored legal framework.

  • April 22, 2024

    NY's 'Buy-Now, Pay-Later' Oversight Bill Delayed But Not Dead

    A New York state proposal to start licensing and supervising buy-now, pay-later providers didn't make the final cut in lawmakers' just-approved $237 billion budget, but a version being advanced through standalone legislation could still make it into law.

  • April 22, 2024

    Kansas Gov. Signs Earned Wage Access License Bill Into Law

    Kansas has become the fourth state to approve new laws governing so-called earned wage access products, joining Nevada, Missouri and Wisconsin in regulating services for workers seeking cash advances.

  • April 22, 2024

    CFTC Says Gemini Can't Pin Misstatements On 'Intermediary'

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has told a New York federal court that cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust Co. LLC is seeking to "shirk responsibility" for misleading the agency's staff about the risks of a proposed bitcoin futures contract.

  • April 22, 2024

    Robinhood 'Meme Stock' Investors Lose New Class Cert. Bid

    A Florida federal judge has denied a bid from Robinhood investors to file a new motion for class certification in a suit over the trading platform's suspension of so-called meme stock purchases, saying the deadline for class certification has passed and the investors have not shown a good reason to extend it.

  • April 22, 2024

    Feds Want 8-10 Years For Influencer Who 'Ruined Lives'

    Prosecutors told a Brooklyn federal judge on Monday that an Instagram influencer deserves roughly eight to 10 years in prison for using his following to cultivate a persona as a successful businessman in order to dupe investors into giving him money, saying his social media-fueled fraud "ruined lives."

  • April 22, 2024

    Ex-Gov. Huckabee Says Bloomberg Can't Duck Copyright Suit

    Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has urged a New York federal court not to dismiss Bloomberg from his proposed class action alleging copyright infringement of e-books to train the media company's large language model, arguing the business cannot lean on a fair use defense to toss the complaint at this stage.

  • April 22, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.

  • April 22, 2024

    SEC Says Terraform, Founder Owe $5.3B After Fraud Verdict

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a Manhattan federal judge to order bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Terraform Labs and its founder to pay roughly $5.3 billion, weeks after a jury found them liable for a massive fraud.

  • April 22, 2024

    Foley & Lardner Gains Two Perkins Coie IP Partners

    Foley & Lardner LLP has landed two attorneys from Perkins Coie LLP who focus on a range of intellectual property and patent matters and work with clients in the financial technology and software industries, the firm announced Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • Lessons From Country Singer's Personal Service Saga

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    Recent reports that country singer Luke Combs won a judgment against a Florida woman who didn’t receive notice of the counterfeit suit against her should serve as a reminder for attorneys on best practices for effectuating service by electronic means, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • New Tech, Old Tricks: How GCs Can Fight White Collar Crime

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    As emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency provide bad actors with new avenues to commit classic crimes, general counsel should develop a strategy to future-proof their organizations against such threats and prepare for regulatory scrutiny, say directors at FTI Consulting.

  • Series

    Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.

  • Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?

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    Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

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    New York's banking and financial sector saw a number of notable regulatory and legislative changes in the final quarter of 2023, including guidance on climate risks and heightened cybersecurity protocols issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, as well as final revisions to virtual currency listings in the state, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Why CFTC Whistleblowers Are Crucial To Crypto Regulation

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's whistleblower program has proven to be a key tool in the U.S.' efforts to police cryptocurrency, but a funding issue shows that it has become a victim of its own success, says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Securities Class Actions Show No Signs of Slowing In 2024

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    Plaintiffs asserted securities class actions at elevated levels in 2023 — a sign that filings will remain high in the year ahead — as they switched gears to target companies that allegedly have failed to anticipate supply chain disruptions, persistent inflation, rising interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • How Corp. Transparency Act Can Unmask Crypto Owners

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    With the federal Corporate Transparency Act in effect as of Jan. 1, litigants may now have a less burdensome path toward determining the identities of owners behind convoluted corporate entities, and, by extension, any digital assets they own that could be subject to a potential judgment, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.

  • Major EU AI Banking Ruling Will Reverberate Across Sectors

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    Following the European Court of Justice's recent OQ v. Land Hessen decision that banks' use of AI-driven credit scores to make consumer decisions did not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, regulators indicated that the ruling would apply broadly, leaving numerous industries that employ AI-powered decisions open to scrutiny, say lawyers at Alston & Bird.

  • CFPB As Pay App Watchdog May Invite More Fintech Regs

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    While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to enhance federal oversight of the biggest consumer payment applications would impose no new regulatory obligations, the rulemaking could provoke heightened scrutiny for all participants in the digital payments market, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

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    Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • Bank-Fintech Partnerships Can Thrive Despite A Tough 2023

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    Many banking-as-a-service players experienced regulatory enforcement activities in 2023, including consent orders and more targeted, detailed guidance aimed at bank-fintech partnerships, and while it seems this trend will continue in 2024, savvy banks can use the turmoil of last year as a guide for how to better manage the risks inherent in partnerships, says Justin Steffen at Barack Ferrazzano.

  • A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come

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    The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers On Alert

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    Recent government actions against FTX and other crypto companies have put a laser focus on corporate compliance failures, with added pressure on compliance officers — making the need for personal risk assessment particularly acute given today's novel anti-money laundering issues, say Poppy Alexander at Constantine Cannon and Caleb Hayes-Deats at MoloLamken.

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