Prediction Market Policing Getting 1st Test In Maduro Bet Case

By Aislinn Keely

The insider trading case against a U.S. Army sergeant who helped plan the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro presents a compelling test for the statutory tools the government can use to police prediction markets, and it sends a message there's more to come, former prosecutors say.

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NYSE Ready To Start Tokenized Securities Pilot Program

By Bonnie Eslinger

The New York Stock Exchange on Thursday said it's ready to launch a pilot program trading tokenized securities, in a notice to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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CFPB Slashes Small-Biz Lender Reporting In Newly Final Rule

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday finalized a major rollback of its Biden-era rule on small-business loan data collection, sharply narrowing the scope of financial institutions and activity subject to the statutorily mandated reporting regime.

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Senate Bars Itself From Prediction Markets

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. senators voted unanimously on Thursday to ban themselves and their staff from trading on prediction markets.

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Senate Dems Press Lutnick On Stablecoin Co.'s Loan To Trust

By Joyce Hanson

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Thursday told Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the CEO of El Salvador-based Tether that they want information about the stablecoin company's reported loan to a trust benefiting Lutnick's four children.

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Tribes Back Michigan In Robinhood, Polymarket Betting Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

A coalition of tribal gaming groups and federally recognized tribes won permission on Thursday to file briefs backing Michigan officials in suits by Robinhood Derivatives LLC and Polymarket US over sports-related event contracts, arguing the companies' claims threaten to upend tribal-state gaming regulation and siphon revenue from tribal governments. 

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Brief

Gemini Gets CFTC Sign-Off To Clear Derivatives

By Aislinn Keely

The Winklevoss-led Gemini said Thursday that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has granted the crypto firm a license to act as a clearinghouse for derivatives contracts, marking a step forward in the build-out of its prediction market offerings among other derivatives products.

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Crypto Co. Fights Shkreli's Counterclaims In Album Case

By Elliot Weld

A cryptocurrency company suing "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli over ownership of a coveted Wu-Tang Clan album has asked a Brooklyn federal judge to dismiss his counterclaims, calling his claim seeking a declaration that he didn't steal trade secrets related to the album a "mirror image" of the company's claim saying he did.

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How Banks And Fintechs Can Build COPPA-Ready Youth Apps

Recent Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and state law activity expanding children's data protections underscore compliance considerations for bank-fintech partnerships offering digital financial tech products for youth, including age-gating, data minimization and parental control, says Erin Illman at Bradley Arant.

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Why The Wells Process Is No Longer A One-Sided Exercise

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently revamped Enforcement Manual rewrites the informational asymmetry that has defined SEC defense for decades, providing counsel with several new strategies to produce better submissions, give better advice and achieve better outcomes, says Ashwin Ram at Buchalter.

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Opinion

Tribal Gaming Law Is Paramount In Prediction Market Cases

Whatever the outcome of the preemption question in prediction market litigation involving states and the federal government, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act deals very specifically with gaming on Indian lands and almost certainly trumps the general federal laws at issue, says Kevin Washburn at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Series

Playing Magic: The Gathering Makes Me A Better Lawyer

The competitive card game Magic: The Gathering offers me a training ground for the strategic thinking skills crucial to litigation, challenging me to adapt to oft-updated rules, analyze text as complicated as any statute and anticipate my opponent’s next moves, says Christopher Smith at Lash Goldberg.

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How They Won It

How Sullivan & Cromwell Won An $18B 'Bet The Country' Case

By Chris Villani

It is not often that a Second Circuit ruling is hailed as "the greatest legal achievement in national history" by a country's president, but that's what happened after a team from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP persuaded the appellate panel to nix an $18 billion judgment against Argentina.

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Jones Day Beats Sanctions Bid In $2M Fee Dispute

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois state judge has ruled that Jones Day can pursue punitive damages on several of its claims in a lawsuit alleging a former client made a series of unlawful transactions to avoid paying over $2 million in legal fees, and also denied sanctions sought by the ex-client against the firm.

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Google $700M Deal Nears Approval As Judge Questions Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge said Thursday he would likely give final approval to Google's $700 million antitrust deal with states and consumers, but criticized the accompanying request for $85 million in attorney fees, calling the 100,000 hours the consumers' counsel said they spent on the case "grotesquely bloated."

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'Christian Witch' Says Jenner & Block Must Face Vax Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A former Jenner & Block LLP employee told an Illinois federal judge that she didn't need to disclose that she's a "Christian witch" in order to seek an exemption to the law firm's COVID-19 vaccine requirement, urging the court to reject her ex-employer's bid to toss the case.

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Senate Advances Mont. Judge Pick Rated Unqualified By ABA

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for the District of Montana who was the only nominee of the second Trump administration so far to receive a "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association advanced out of committee on Thursday.

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Judge Denies Push To Stop Closed Immigration Hearings

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. federal judge denied a Minnesota human rights organization's request to block immigration judges from restricting public and press access to proceedings, ruling that it failed to show an immediate threat of future harm from unlawful hearing closures.

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J&J Says Ill. Ruling Backs Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Suits

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson told a New Jersey federal court that a recent ruling in Illinois backs the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over its talcum powder.

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LSC Decries House Subcommittee's Proposed Budget Cut

By Marco Poggio

The nation's largest funder of civil legal aid condemned a House appropriations proposal to slash its budget for fiscal year 2027 by more than half, warning Thursday the reduction could leave nearly 3 million Americans without help for critical civil legal problems.

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Ex-Husch Blackwell Partner Urges Discovery In ERISA Dispute

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner has urged a Missouri federal court to ignore the firm's request for summary judgment in a dispute over employee retirement benefits, arguing discovery should proceed in the proposed class action.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

A pair of door manufacturers ended a landmark private merger challenge, state enforcers are gearing up for a potential Live Nation breakup bid following a crucial jury win, and a separate group of states and DirecTV are challenging Nexstar's $6.2 billion deal for rival broadcaster Tegna.

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Hub Hires: Weil Gotshal, Reed Smith, Morgan Lewis

By Chris Villani

April showers bring legal hires in Boston, with several attorneys on the move. Weil Gotshal snagged an international trade lawyer from Kirkland & Ellis, Morgan Lewis added an attorney from Hunton, and Reed Smith continued to expand its new Boston office.

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