SEC Brings Fraud Suit Over Bitcoin Latinum Crypto Offering

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday brought a fraud suit over a crypto project known as Bitcoin Latinum, accusing its founder and affiliated business entities of bilking investors out of $16 million with false claims that the token would be insured and "asset-backed."

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Caitlyn Jenner's Crypto Token Isn't A Security, Judge Says

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has permanently tossed a proposed class action against Caitlyn Jenner over the $JENNER cryptocurrency token she created and promoted, finding that the digital assets in question are not securities.

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WDTX Jury Clears Bitcoin Mining Co. In Patent Suit

By Adam Lidgett

A federal jury in the Western District of Texas let bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms off the hook Friday when it found the company didn't infringe a patent owned by Green Revolution Cooling Inc. covering ways to cool down electronics at data centers.

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4 Firms Lead Kraken's $550M Buy Of Crypto Derivatives Biz

By Aislinn Keely

Four firms including Haynes Boone and Jones Day guided Kraken's $550 million acquisition of regulated crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial, according to a Friday announcement from Kraken.

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CFPB Could Soon Issue Overhauled Small-Biz Loan Data Rule

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is awaiting White House clearance to publish a final rule that would complete its revamp of small-business lender reporting requirements issued during the Biden administration, according to a new regulatory notice.

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Crypto Promoter Takes Plea In $45M CoinDeal Fraud Case

By Sydney Price

A Las Vegas man agreed to plead guilty in Nebraska federal court to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for his role in a $45 million CoinDeal investment fraud scheme, admitting that he controlled company bank accounts that took in approximately $14.2 million in investor money obtained through false promises of huge returns.

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Ill. Judge Sentences Texas Man To 23 Years For Crypto Scam

By Celeste Bott

A Texas man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison by an Illinois federal judge for stealing more than $20 million from investors through a cryptocurrency scheme in which he falsely claimed his so-called Meta-1 Coin was backed by $1 billion in fine art and $44 billion in gold.

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Fintech Founder Can't Stay SEC Fraud Case Amid Countersuit

By Emilie Ruscoe

A fintech founder can't hit pause on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims he defrauded investors in a special purpose acquisition company as another court weighs whether to toss his claims that the regulator sued him improperly during last year's government shutdown.

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GMO Trust To Pay $6.8M In Yen Stablecoin Loss Settlement

By Sydney Price

GMO-Z.com Trust has agreed to pay $6.8 million to end a class action from buyers of the GYEN stablecoin who say they suffered losses when the coin was "de-pegged" from the Japanese yen, according to a motion for final settlement approval.

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Polygon Says Ex-Execs Engaged In Self-Dealing

By Katryna Perera

Two former executives of artificial intelligence company Predicate Labs Inc. have been hit with a suit in Delaware Chancery Court alleging that following a $400 million acquisition of the company in 2021, the executives "began a campaign of self-dealings, intentional misrepresentation, deceptive inducement and willful breach."

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How Banks Can React To Risks In FinCEN Whistleblower Rule

Financial institutions should reassess and, if necessary, strengthen existing policies, procedures and other frameworks related to whistleblowers and internal reporting in light of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent proposal to formalize a whistleblower award program, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

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Black McDermott Atty Says White Men Favored For Partner

By Lauren Berg

A Black female McDermott Will & Schulte attorney accused the firm of gender, race and pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit lodged in California state court, saying she has been consistently bypassed for promotion by less-experienced white attorneys and was yanked off casework after taking medical leave following a life-threatening illness during pregnancy.

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'Kind Of Lawyering We Don't Like': Judge Rips Quinn Emanuel

By Bonnie Eslinger

Guardant Health Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to make Quinn Emanuel pay nearly $1.3 million on top of $3 million in sanctions already imposed over misrepresentations lawyers made representing its rival Natera Inc., prompting the judge to criticize Quinn Emanuel lawyers for making distinctions so fine they veer into misrepresentation.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Fish & Richardson's Nitika Gupta Fiorella

By Dani Kass

Fish & Richardson PC principal Nitika Gupta Fiorella is "a no-stone-unturned, always super prepared" lawyer who "epitomizes professionalism and respect," according to Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP partner Cora Holt.

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Fox Lawyer In Dominion Case Confirmed To Texas Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 47-46 Monday evening to confirm Andrew Davis, a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP who defended Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, to serve on the bench in the Western District of Texas.

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Justices Won't Consider IP Theft Allegations Against Akin

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former Cornell University graduate student's petition trying to revive his malpractice suit against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP stemming from patent litigation against Illumina Inc. over DNA sequencing intellectual property.

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DC Ethics Office Says Ex-Interim US Atty Can't Remove Case

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., ethics officials have asked a federal court to send U.S. Department of Justice official Ed Martin's ethics case back to the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, arguing the D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction over a disciplinary matter, which is neither a civil action nor a criminal prosecution.

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Ex-Newman Clerks, Judges Back High Court Suspension Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A group of former clerks for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, as well as former federal judges, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the challenge to her suspension imposed by her colleagues.

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Insurer Intentionally Avoiding $200M Loan Claim, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A litigation funding firm has accused its insurer of wrongfully refusing to pay out its policy's guaranteed $200 million in coverage for an unpaid loan, saying the insurer buried it in duplicative and burdensome information requests to avoid paying a valid claim.

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Judge Says Ill. Justices Can't Fire Him Over MAGA Op-Ed

By Jack Karp

Illinois Supreme Court justices have no authority to remove a state judge from the bench for alleged misconduct, so their effort to dismiss a retired state trial judge's claims that his removal for penning a political opinion column violated his constitutional rights should be rejected, the retired jurist has said.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week delivered another mix of procedural rulings, fiduciary duty disputes and deal litigation, highlighting both the court's gatekeeping role and its continued focus on stockholder rights and transactional fairness.

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