Musk Slams SEC's 'Premature' Bid For Twitter Buy-Up Win

By Emilie Ruscoe

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shouldn't be handed an early win on its claims Elon Musk didn't make timely disclosures of his stake in Twitter when the regulator hasn't yet produced discovery in the matter, the tech billionaire has argued.

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House OKs Restricting ESG Investment In 401(k) Plans

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. House of Representatives greenlighted a bill Thursday that would restrict how retirement plan managers can consider environmental, social and governance issues when picking investments, codifying a 2020 U.S. Department of Labor rule requiring a sole focus on financial risk factors.

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EU Greenlights Hedge Fund's $5.89B Bid For Control Of Citgo

By Yun Park

The European Commission has announced its approval of a $5.9 billion bid by hedge fund Elliott Investment Management LP to purchase shares in Citgo's parent company and settle billions of dollars of debt owed by Venezuela and its state-owned oil company.

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Chancery Won't Fast-Track Paramount's Bid For WB Info

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday denied Paramount Skydance Corp.'s request for expedited proceedings in its disclosure suit against Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., ruling that Paramount failed to show it faced irreparable harm from alleged omissions tied to WBD's recommendation against Paramount's hostile tender offer.

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SEC Taps Ex-BlackRock, GSA Atty To Be General Counsel

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday a former BlackRock senior attorney and U.S. General Services Administration top lawyer will be its next general counsel, as the agency gets underway with a regulatory agenda that prioritizes easing administrative burdens and facilitating capital formation.

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Dems Push SEC To Pursue Crypto Case Against Justin Sun

By Aislinn Keely

Three House Democrats on Thursday pressed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reinvigorate its paused enforcement case against Tron founder Justin Sun and address their concerns that the agency's wave of crypto case dismissals coincided with considerable industry donations to President Donald Trump.

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DOL's Benefits Arm Describes New Enforcement Focus

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm Thursday outlined a shift in its enforcement priorities, including by ending a focus on employee stock ownership plans.

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Ex-CEO Of COVID Vax Maker Accused Of Insider Trading

By Sarah Jarvis

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday sued the former CEO of healthcare contractor Emergent BioSolutions Inc., alleging insider trading amid troubles manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, while signing a $900,000 settlement with the company over its approval of an executive trading plan.

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SEC Says Healthcare Exec Misspent $10.6M In Investor Funds

By Katryna Perera

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused a healthcare company CEO of misappropriating over $10 million from investors by falsely claiming the funds would be used to develop cancer screening and treatment technology when in fact they were spent on credit card debt, luxury vehicles and strip club visits.

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Trucking Brokers Ordered To Pay $1.5M Over Ponzi Scheme

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Thursday ordered two men connected to a scheme involving a trucking and logistics business to pay nearly $1.5 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the pair of illegally selling most of the $112 million worth of unregistered securities to victims in a fraud targeting Haitian Americans.

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Carlyle Among Bidders For Lukoil Assets, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity giant Carlyle is among a group of bidders reportedly looking to grab hold of $22 billion worth of Russia's Lukoil assets; Canadian oil and gas company Canadian Natural Resources is looking to acquire Tourmaline Oil Corp.'s $1 billion portfolio of natural gas properties; and Nvidia rival Cerebras eyes a $22 billion valuation after a planned $1 billion funding round.

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Easing Equity Research Firewall Shows SEC Open To Updates

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent agreement to modify a decades-old settlement meant to limit investment bankers’ influence over research analysts within major broker-dealer firms reflects a shift toward a commission that recognizes how rules can be modernized to lighten compliance burdens without eliminating core safeguards, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

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Series

Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

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As Goldstein Trial Begins, Gov't Points To 'Lavish' Lifestyle

By Jared Foretek

An accountant for billionaire investor Alec Gores said that Thomas Goldstein had suggested he open a foreign account for Gores' poker-related transactions or even classify him as a professional player for tax purposes, although Gores was just getting started in the high-stakes poker world.

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Simpson Thacher Offers Stipend To Lure Summer Associates

By Tracey Read

In an effort for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to attract top students who want to pursue public interest work, the firm said it will pay a stipend of $42,500 for the 2026-2027 cycle for those who opt to spend their 1L summer in a qualifying public service, government, academic, in-house legal or nonprofit role.

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Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

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Judiciary AI Rule Draws Fire As Judges Get Deepfakes Survey

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary policymakers heard extensive concerns Thursday regarding high-profile plans to formally screen evidence generated with artificial intelligence, and they set the stage for more feedback by preparing an AI survey for every federal trial judge.

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ICE Detention Facilities Nearly Doubled Last Year, Report Says

By Tom Lotshaw

An American Immigration Council report said the Trump administration detained record numbers of noncitizens last year, most without criminal records, and held them in a rapidly expanding network of facilities that could soon rival the federal criminal prison system.

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Fla. High Court Opens Door To Non-ABA Accrediting Entities

By Carolina Bolado

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday changed the bar exam admission requirements to allow graduates of law schools accredited by entities other than the American Bar Association to sit for the Florida bar exam.

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5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.

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Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

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Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

By Emily Sawicki

A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

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Wash. Judges To Pick US Atty As Floyd's Term Set To Expire

By Gina Kim

The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 

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