OCC Review Flags Big Banks For Debanking Policies

By Jon Hill

A top U.S. banking regulator said Wednesday that some of the nation's largest banks improperly restricted services to industries including adult entertainment and oil drilling, according to preliminary findings from a White House-commissioned debanking review.

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Feature

Wyoming Charts New Legal Path To Launch Frontier Token

By Aislinn Keely

When a former federal prosecutor, now cryptocurrency regulator, was tasked with writing the rules to govern the first state-issued stablecoin, she looked to the U.S. Constitution and Wyoming's own laws to ensure the legality of the project rather than Congress' stablecoin law.

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10th Circ. Asked To Rehear Colo. Opt-Out Interest Rate Suit

By Katryna Perera

Banking groups have asked the Tenth Circuit for a full court rehearing of their challenge to a Colorado law intended to curb high-cost lending in the state, arguing that a recent panel decision upholding the law restricts state-chartered banks' interstate lending and creates a circuit split over the meaning of where loans are "made."

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Magistrate Backs FinCEN Rules In All-Cash Real Estate Deals

By Nate Beck

A magistrate judge in Florida federal court rejected arguments from a title insurance company in upholding a U.S. Department of Treasury rule establishing new reporting requirements for all-cash residential real estate transactions as a means of combating financial crime.

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Capital One, Influencers Seek OK For Commissions Deal

By Emilie Ruscoe

Financial services giant Capital One has pledged to pay influencers commissions, plus up to nearly $4 million in attorney fees and costs, and make changes to its online shopping browser extension to settle claims that it siphoned commissions away from influencer participants in its affiliate marketing program.

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Regulate AI With Existing Regs, Financial Industry Lobby Says

By Sarah Jarvis

The Financial Services Institute on Wednesday recommended that regulators apply existing rules and standards to artificial intelligence, saying they should use new rules only when AI brings "genuinely new issues or significantly alters existing risks."

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Ex-NY Gov Aide Rips Dearth Of Fact Witnesses In FARA Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Counsel for an aide to two New York governors on Wednesday tore into allegations that she secretly acted as an agent of the People's Republic of China, telling a Brooklyn federal jury that the government's case rests on nothing more than out-of-context chats and little relevant testimony.

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Pennsylvania Panel Backs $931K Fine For Investment Adviser

By Matthew Santoni

A Pennsylvania appellate panel upheld a $931,000 fine for a Gladwyne, Pennsylvania-based investment adviser for selling unregistered securities, agreeing with a Department of Banking and Securities finding that the investments in "merchant cash advance" businesses were not federal securities exempt from the state Securities Act.

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Wells Fargo Says It Didn't Know Ex-Atty Stole From Clients

By Emilie Ruscoe

Wells Fargo is seeking to shed claims in Texas federal court alleging it turned a blind eye to a convicted former attorney's misuse of client funds held in accounts at the bank, arguing that the victims of the lawyer's fraud failed to show it knew of the misconduct.

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Court Asks If Morgan Stanley Liable In Alleged $250M Scheme

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appellate court pressed a company to explain how it seeks to hold Morgan Stanley accountable for an executive's alleged kickback scheme involving $250 million in mineral interests, asking Wednesday how the bank bears responsibility if it didn't take part in the underlying contract.

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Weil, Reed Smith Build WTW's Newfront Buy For Up To $1.3B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Advisory, brokerage and solutions company WTW, advised by Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, announced Wednesday it had agreed to acquire Reed Smith LLP-led broker Newfront for up to $1.3 billion in a deal that will expand WTW's reach in the middle market and presence in technology, fintech and life sciences.

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The Hidden Pitfalls Of Letters Of Credit In Lease Negotiations

Amid a surge in commercial office leasing driven by artificial intelligence firms, it's crucial for landlords to be aware of the potential downside of accepting letters of credit — in particular, for amounts of security that are less than the statutory bankruptcy claim cap, say attorneys at Allen Matkins.

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Identifying And Resolving Conflicts Among Class Members

As the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Nova Scotia Health Employees' Pension Plan v. McDermott International illustrates, intraclass conflicts can determine the fate of a class action — and such conflicts can be surprisingly difficult to identify, says Andrew Faisman, a clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Welcome To Miami

After nearly 20 years in operation, the Miami Complex Business Litigation Division is a pioneer upon which other jurisdictions in the state have been modeled, adopting many innovations to keep its cases running more efficiently and staffing experienced judges who are accustomed to hearing business disputes, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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Bonus Spotlight

Litigation Shops Paying Above-Market Bonuses, Reports Say

By Andrea Keckley

Litigation boutiques Yetter Coleman LLP and Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP are giving above-market bonuses to their associates, according to reports from Above the Law and Bloomberg.

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Jack Smith To Launch Firm With Willkie Partner, 2 Ex-Deputies

By Jack Rodgers

Jack Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel appointed to investigate President Donald Trump, is set to launch his own firm alongside two of his former top deputies and the co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP's investigations and enforcement practice.

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Judge Bove Faces Complaint Over Trump Rally Attendance

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove, who previously served as President Donald Trump's personal defense attorney and a top official at the U.S. Department of Justice, has been hit with a judicial misconduct complaint for his appearance at a Trump event on Tuesday night.

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Analysis

Wanted: Temporary US Attorney, No Experience Needed

By Phillip Bantz

Frustrated by a string of court rulings disqualifying several of his U.S. attorney picks, President Donald Trump lamented recently that he might "just have to keep appointing people for three months and then just appoint another one, another one." Experts say the idea raises legal and practical issues.

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Akerman Beats Healthcare Cos.' Bid To Escape Fee Suit

By Madison Arnold

Akerman LLP can continue its fees lawsuit against Rennova Health Inc. and other defendants after they lost their motion to dismiss the suit for being "facially time-barred, factually flawed and legally indefensible," a Florida state judge has ruled.

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Fla. Atty Faces Bar Referral Over 'Hallucinated' Case In Filing

By Madison Arnold

A Florida appeals court will refer an attorney to the state's Bar after she filed a brief that included a "hallucinated" case.

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AGs Say Judicial Safety Threats Reaching 'All-Time Highs'

By Matthew Santoni

Attorneys general for 43 states, three territories and the District of Columbia signed a letter to Congress urging more financial support for judicial security in the face of threats against judges, including funding for a program that lets judges scrub addresses and personal information from online databases.

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Disciplined Attys Want High Court's Take On Judge Criticism

By David Minsky

A father-daughter team of attorneys have brought a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging their suspensions for criticizing a Florida state judge who reversed a $2.75 million jury verdict in favor of their client in a racial discrimination lawsuit, saying their comments are protected by the First Amendment. 

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McIver's Immunity Disputed In Detention Center Assault Case

By Elizabeth Daley

Federal prosecutors asked a New Jersey federal judge to maintain all charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who was accused in an indictment of assaulting federal officers outside an immigration detention center during a scrum in which the mayor of Newark was arrested in May.

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