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Fintech
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April 02, 2024
Crypto Co. Beats RICO But Not Fraud Claim Over $186M Hack
A Delaware federal judge has significantly trimmed a proposed class action accusing companies behind a blockchain system that enabled users to transfer crypto of running an illegal money-transmitting business and misrepresenting the system's security measures before a $186 million hack, saying the suit's racketeering, negligence and conversion claims all fail.
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April 02, 2024
SEC Republicans Criticize 'Punishing' Rulemaking Agenda
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler opened an annual agency conference Tuesday by defending efforts to write new regulations addressing the changing U.S. capital markets, while his Republican colleagues called on the commission to pare back a "punishing" rulemaking agenda that has included a controversial rule governing climate change disclosures.
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April 02, 2024
5th Circ. Extends Transfer Stay In CFPB Late-Fee Rule Suit
The Fifth Circuit said Tuesday that it would hold on at least a few days longer to a bank industry-backed lawsuit challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard, extending a stay of a Texas federal judge's decision to send the case to D.C. federal court.
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April 02, 2024
Feds Seek 4 Years For Ex-Amazon Coder In Novel Crypto Case
Prosecutors have told a Manhattan federal judge that a former Amazon coder convicted on charges of hacking a "smart contract" should be sentenced to at least four years in prison in order to send a message to other would-be crypto fraudsters.
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April 02, 2024
UK Reaches Landmark AI Risk Testing Agreement With US
The U.K. government said Tuesday it had reached a landmark agreement with the U.S. to share the testing of advanced models for artificial intelligence, after highlighting in a report its increasing use by cybercriminals to attack financial institutions and business.
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April 01, 2024
Musk's X Corp. Helps Ex-Block Worker Fired Over Posts Sue
A former employee at Block Inc., which was founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, alleges the company fired her in retaliation for two posts she made on X, formerly known as Twitter, according to a suit filed in Missouri state court with financial backing from Elon Musk's X Corp.
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April 01, 2024
2 Firms To Rep Marathon Digital Investors In Accounting Suit
Pomerantz LLP and the Schall Law Firm have beaten out two other legal teams to represent a proposed class of investors in a suit alleging crypto miner Marathon Digital misstated its revenue as a result of ineffective financial controls.
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April 01, 2024
FDIC Dings 2 More Banks Over 3rd-Party Relationships
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has ordered an Ohio community bank and a New York digital "hybrid" bank to strengthen their oversight of business partners, the latest in the agency's recent spate of enforcement actions over banks' management of their third-party relationships with financial technology firms and other outside companies.
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April 01, 2024
Skillz Hid 'Rudimentary' Gaming Tech, Investors Tell 9th Circ.
Skillz Inc. investors urged the Ninth Circuit Monday to revive a consolidated proposed class action alleging the mobile-gaming company misled investors about its growth prospects surrounding its 2021 go-public merger with a special-purpose acquisition company — arguing Skillz skewed revenues and misleadingly touted its gaming technology, which was in reality "rudimentary."
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April 01, 2024
Texas Judge Halts New Community Lending Rules For Banks
A Texas federal judge has ordered a halt to the rollout of federal banking regulators' recently revamped rules intended to spur bank lending in underserved communities, granting a preliminary injunction sought by bank industry trade groups suing to overturn the changes.
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April 01, 2024
Spinning For Terraform Was Tough, Crypto Rep Tells Jury
A California man who worked for Terraform Labs and creator Do Kwon told a Manhattan federal jury Monday that doing public relations for the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency startup accused of fraud left him "angry" and confused as he tried to be transparent.
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April 01, 2024
Fed Beats Crypto-Focused Bank's Master Account Suit
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has defeated a suit brought by crypto-focused Custodia Bank over its battle for a so-called master account, with a Wyoming federal judge ruling that Custodia's reading of the law doesn't show it's statutorily entitled to such an account because Congress does not "hide elephants in mouse holes."
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April 01, 2024
Indicted Crypto Whiz Says Software Development Not A Crime
The founder of the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency exchange told a Manhattan federal judge that the government had wrongly charged him with scheming to launder money and dodge sanctions, saying that the only agreement he'd made with others was to build legal, open-source software.
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April 01, 2024
PE Firm Advent Buying Canada's Nuvei In $6.3B Deal
Canadian fintech Nuvei Corp. said Monday it has agreed to be taken private by Advent International through an all-cash transaction that values Nuvei at approximately $6.3 billion, including debt.
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March 29, 2024
PayPal Gets CFPB's Fee Disclosure Rule Cut Down Again
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Friday again sided with payment-processing giant PayPal in striking down attempts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to hold digital wallets to certain disclosure and waiting-period rules that apply to physical prepaid payment cards.
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March 29, 2024
Hogan Lovells Vet's High Court Debut A Study In Contrasts
Several weeks ago, when a Hogan Lovells lawyer finally delivered U.S. Supreme Court arguments after 20 years at the firm, she parsed arcane arbitration issues and her words weren't widely heard outside the courtroom. But weeks later and back at the high court podium, her words were heard nationwide when she pointedly spotlighted a judge's use of "anonymous blog posts" in a bombshell abortion ruling.
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March 29, 2024
5th Circ. Stays CFPB Late-Fee Rule Suit's Move To DC
Bank industry groups challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard have been granted a short-term Fifth Circuit stay of a Texas federal judge's move to send their lawsuit across the country to D.C. federal court.
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March 29, 2024
BitTorrent Owner Says SEC Is Overreaching Its Authority
The owner of file sharing platform BitTorrent asked a Manhattan federal judge to toss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit alleging the fraudulent and unregistered sale of a pair of crypto tokens, saying the agency is trying to extend U.S. securities laws to foreign entities.
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March 29, 2024
What's Next On Courts' Crypto Docket After Bankman-Fried
The 25-year prison sentence for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried left the crypto industry one step closer to putting the fallout of "crypto winter" behind it, but there are still other cases with broad implications for the industry set to take over Manhattan courtrooms soon.
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March 29, 2024
CFPB Probe Of Utah Lender Put On Ice For High Court Ruling
A small-dollar lender can hold off on responding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a pending constitutional challenge to the agency, a Utah federal magistrate judge has decided.
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March 29, 2024
Up Next After Bankman-Fried Sentencing: FTX Cooperators
Now that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an $11 billion fraud on the collapsed crypto exchange, it's time for the three top lieutenants who testified against him at trial to face their own judgments — and experts say the cooperators are well positioned to avoid jail time.
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March 29, 2024
Tenant Screener To Pay $2.2M Over Race Bias Claims
A tenant screening company has reached a settlement in Massachusetts federal court to end claims brought by a class of housing applicants who alleged its practices disproportionately exclude Black and Hispanic renters.
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March 28, 2024
CFPB Scores Win As Banks' Late Fee Rule Lawsuit Sent To DC
A Texas federal judge ruled Thursday that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups suing to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late-fee standard must take their case to D.C. federal court, granting the agency's bid to fight the challenge on its home turf.
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March 28, 2024
Judge Doubts NBA NFT Licensors Belong In Meta Privacy Suit
The developer of non-fungible token marketplace NBA Top Shot must face a proposed class action claiming it violated state and federal laws aimed at protecting video consumers, with the National Basketball Players Association and NBA Properties Inc., which handles the NBA's merchandising and licensing, escaping the suit for now.
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March 28, 2024
FTX Investors To Settle With Ex-Execs, Crypto Promoters
Investors who launched a multidistrict litigation over cryptocurrency exchange FTX's collapse have reached a set of settlements with the former inner circle of founder Sam Bankman-Fried as well as seven promoters who, together, have agreed to pay over $1.3 million to resolve claims that they boosted a massive fraud scheme at the company.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.
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What Financial Cos. Must Know For Handling T+1 Settlements
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted a groundbreaking new T+1 settlement rule for securities transactions in order to improve market efficiency — but it presents significant challenges for the financial services industry, especially private equity firms, hedge funds and institutional asset managers, says Adam Weiss at Petra Funds Group.
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Breaking Down FDIC's New Advertising And Signage Rule
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s final rule on signage and advertising, coming on the heels of a campaign against nonbank businesses purporting to offer FDIC-insured deposit products, introduces important new requirements and clarifies existing regulations for both traditional depository institutions and novel digital platforms, say attorneys at Venable.
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The Double-Edged Sword Of Biometrics In Financial Services
Financial institutions are increasingly turning to biometrics for identity verification and fraud prevention, and while there are many benefits to such features, banks must remain vigilant against growing AI technologies that could make users' information vulnerable to biometrics hackers, say Elizabeth Roper at Baker McKenzie and Chris Allgrove at Ingenium Biometric Laboratories.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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As Promised, IRS Is Coming For Crypto Tax Evaders
The IRS is fulfilling its promise to crack down on those who have neglected to pay taxes on cryptocurrency earnings, as demonstrated by recently imposed prison sentences, enforcement initiatives and meetings with international counterparts — suggesting a few key takeaways for taxpayer compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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Following Banking Regulators' Breadcrumbs To 2024 Priorities
Through blog posts, speeches, and formal guidance and regulations, prudential and other federal and state financial regulators laid out a road map last year pointing to compliance priorities that should be reflected in financial institutions' planning this year, say Laurel Loomis Rimon and Gina Shabana at Jenner & Block.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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The Questions Around Prometheum's SEC-Compliant Strategy
While the rest of the crypto industry has been engaged in a long-running battle to escape the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's jurisdiction, a once-obscure startup called Prometheum has instead embraced the SEC's view to become the first crypto special-purpose broker-dealer, but it's unclear whether it can turn its favored status into a workable business, says Keith Blackman at Bracewell.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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Ex-OpenSea Staffer Case May Clarify When Info Is Property
In considering the appeal of a former OpenSea manager’s wire fraud conviction in U.S. v. Chastain, the Second Circuit may soon provide guidance about whether economic information is traditional property in certain insider trading prosecutions — a theory of fraud that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly narrowed, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Money Transmitter Licensing: An Issue Too Costly To Ignore
Money transmitter licensing has become particularly relevant in recent years as digital currencies and payment technologies have piqued regulator interest, and companies should consider whether they need to be licensed to avoid disruption of operations, as well as significant fines and penalties, says Clayton Swears at Hudson Cook.
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CFPB's Proposed Overdraft Rule Evokes A Dickensian Tale
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new proposed rule, declaring overdraft credit to be under Truth In Lending Act protection, creates tension between vigorous agency action and judicial concerns about administrative overreach that calls to mind Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," say Eric Mogilnicki and David Stein at Covington.
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Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial
Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.