Paul Weiss-Led OceanSound Nets $3.4B For 3rd Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP-advised OceanSound Partners on Wednesday revealed that it clinched its third fund and related co-investment vehicles, with $3.4 billion in tow to invest across the aerospace, defense, government and highly regulated enterprise end markets.

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Reps. Probe Hegseth's Attempted Investment Pre-Iran Strikes

By Madeline Lyskawa

Democratic lawmakers have kicked off a probe into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's purported attempt to place a multimillion-dollar investment in a BlackRock fund specializing in defense industry companies just weeks before the U.S. military conducted airstrikes in Iran.

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Veterans Say Synchrony Arbitration Order Defies MLA

By Sydney Price

Synchrony Bank customers said a North Carolina federal judge erred when directing them to arbitrate claims accusing the bank of promoting a misleading 0% interest rate for veterans, arguing the order contains several misinterpretations of the Military Lending Act.

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SpaceX Confidentially Files Plans For Blockbuster IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Elon Musk's SpaceX has reportedly filed confidential plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a blockbuster initial public offering that could value the private space exploration company at up to $1.75 trillion, setting up the highly anticipated IPO to be one of the largest ever.

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Bank Must Turn Over $1.68B To Iran Terror Attack Victims

By Lauren Berg

A Luxembourg-based bank must turn over nearly $1.7 billion in Iranian assets to victims of terrorist attacks that a D.C. federal court previously connected to Tehran, a New York federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying the litigation can proceed despite the absence of Iran's central bank.

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FCC Strives For 'Supremacy' In US Drone Manufacturing

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission's leadership wants the public to weigh in on how regulators can help the U.S. private sector reach global dominance in drone manufacturing and operations.

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US Shipowner Says Boat Was Sunk As Part Of Iran-China Scheme

By Jack McLoone

The Texas owner of a shipping company accused the government of Iran and Chinese state-owned entities of running a conspiracy to control commercial shipping in the Red Sea, saying Houthi rebels sank his vessel as part of the scheme.

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Ex-Diplomat Says Rep. Rivera's Liaison Was Out For Himself

By Carolina Bolado

A retired diplomat Wednesday described former Florida congressman David Rivera's Venezuelan contact Raúl Gorrín as a wealthy businessman "distrusted by everybody," telling jurors in the criminal trial against Rivera that Gorrín was willing to work with the Venezuelan regime when financially beneficial.

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Nuclear Co. Seeks More Damages For DOE Disposal Delays

By Tom Lotshaw

Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. has asked a federal judge to award a sixth round of damages for spent nuclear fuel storage costs stemming from the government's breach of an obligation to accept and dispose of the material.

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Fed. Circ. Tosses Attorney's Appeal To Win Back Fee Award

By Ganesh Setty

The Federal Circuit has rejected an attorney's appeal challenging a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs order to return attorney fees he'd won in a disability case after the VA later determined they were unreasonable, finding that no appellate jurisdiction exists.

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Evita Boss Admits To Russia-Linked Crypto Laundering Ruse

By Stewart Bishop

The founder of crypto payments firm Evita on Wednesday admitted to what prosecutors say was a scheme to launder over half a billion dollars in cross-border transactions through the U.S. financial system, including funds held by sanctioned Russian banks.

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GAO Denies Protest Over $16.7M Corps Facility Contract

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Government Accountability Office upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' selection of a $16.7 million proposal to provide facility maintenance services, finding that the protester's arguments didn't rise beyond disagreement with the Corps' conclusions.

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Trump Announces Texas, Ohio, Florida Judicial Picks

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced four judicial nominees for Texas, Ohio and Florida. 

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State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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