President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was asked by senators on Wednesday whether the agency has enough money and staff to be handed the keys to crypto market oversight, but Michael Selig declined to commit to pushing for additional funding or for a full complement of commissioners if confirmed.
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Trump's CFTC Nom Grilled On Possible Crypto Leadership

By Jessica Corso

President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was asked by senators on Wednesday whether the agency has enough money and staff to be handed the keys to crypto market oversight, but Michael Selig declined to commit to pushing for additional funding or for a full complement of commissioners if confirmed.

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Crypto Exchange Kraken Files Confidential IPO Plans

By Aislinn Keely

Crypto exchange Kraken said Wednesday that it has confidentially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, hot off an $800 million funding round.

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Samourai Wallet Tech Gets 4 Years In Crypto Laundering Case

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a self-taught coder who managed the day-to-day tech side of crypto mixer Samourai Wallet to four years in prison Wednesday, after he admitted that he knew the business facilitated bitcoin transfers derived from criminal activity.

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YouTube's 'Nelk Boys' Can't Nix Crypto Fraud Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

The influencers behind the YouTube channel "Nelk Boys" must face civil fraud and conspiracy claims stemming from a $23 million offering and sale of digital assets, in a lawsuit a buyer has brought alleging they largely failed to make good on delivering certain perks they promised purchasers.

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Charlie Javice's Redo Bid Says Clerks Had Davis Polk Conflict

By Lauren Berg

Charlie Javice, who faces a seven-year sentence for conning JPMorgan Chase & Co. into buying her college financial aid startup Frank, asked a Manhattan federal judge Wednesday for a new trial, arguing that two clerks who worked on the trial had accepted jobs with the bank's firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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MVP

MVP: Milbank's Joshua Sterling

By Emilie Ruscoe

Josh Sterling of Milbank LLP helped secure the reversal of a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission order barring political event contracts on a derivatives exchange and has represented exchange platform Kalshi in disputes with state regulators in New Jersey and Nevada, earning himself a spot among the 2025 Law360 Fintech MVPs.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Trump's New Pick For CFPB Director Is OMB Energy Official

By Jon Hill

President Donald Trump has tapped an energy official at the Office of Management and Budget to become permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a key regulator whose future remains in doubt after months of turmoil and dwindling finances.

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FDIC's Hill Advances In Senate Amid Dem Stonewalling Claims

By Jon Hill

Acting Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill's bid for a permanent term cleared a key hurdle Wednesday as the U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced his nomination along with several other picks from the Trump White House.

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FDIC Can't Have Advisory Jury In $1.9B Fight With SVB Trust

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge Wednesday denied the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s request that she empanel an advisory jury in a suit looking to force the agency to return some $1.9 billion in frozen deposits to the former operator of Silicon Valley Bank, finding "no compelling reasons" to do so.

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Justices Told Presidential Firing Limits Is An 'Originalist' Idea

By Katie Buehler

A bipartisan collection of current and former government officials has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a 90-year-old ruling that empowers Congress to prohibit the president from firing certain agency officials at will, claiming the precedent has roots that date back to the country's founding and reflects key separation of powers principles.

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Kalshi Says Sports 'Swaps' Not Bets In Bid To End Mass. Suit

By Julie Manganis

Prediction market KalshiEX asked a Massachusetts state court to throw out a suit by state regulators alleging that its sports "event contracts" are illegal gambling, saying the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has already given its imprimatur to the products.

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ENFORCEMENT & COMPLIANCE

SEC Enforcement Actions Plunged After Gensler, Report Says

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought far fewer enforcement actions against public companies and subsidiaries after its Biden-era leader Gary Gensler departed, with the former chair bringing 52 of the 56 actions the agency initiated in fiscal 2025 despite stepping down in January.

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Trio Accused Of $30M Crypto Theft Can't Dodge Wiretap Claim

By Joyce Hanson

Three individuals accused of conspiring to steal approximately $30 million in cryptocurrency via decentralized artificial-intelligence collaboration hub Bittensor have failed to convince a California federal judge to toss a wiretap claim against them.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Evaluating Nasdaq Tokenization Rule's Potential Impact

Nasdaq's recently proposed rule would enable settlement of tokenized equity securities and exchange-traded products using blockchain technology, which could lead to dramatic improvements in market efficiency, settlement speed and market access, but prudent skepticism about timelines and implementation capabilities is warranted, says James Brady at Katten.

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When Mortgage Data Can't Prove Discriminatory Lending

As plaintiffs continue to use Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data as grounds for class actions, attorneys must consider the limits of a statistics-only approach and the need for manual loan file review to confirm indications of potential discriminatory lending, say Abe Chernin, Shane Oka and Kevin Oswald at Cornerstone Research.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Bonus Spotlight

Law Firms Begin Upping The Ante For Associate Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Wilkinson Stekloff LLP is exceeding the year-end associate bonus scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, announcing bonuses late Wednesday that are 150% of market.

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Analysis

Trump's Epstein Directive Puts SDNY Prosecutor In A 'Pickle'

By Phillip Bantz

Manhattan chief federal prosecutor Jay Clayton appears to have been backed into a "horrible" corner with a "no-win" outcome as a result of a directive from President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, experts say.

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Comey Says DOJ's Conduct 'Shocks The Conscience'

By Hailey Konnath

James Comey on Thursday reiterated his request that the U.S. Department of Justice be forced to disclose all grand jury materials related to his indictment, noting the government has conceded that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment and saying the purported misconduct "shocks the conscience."

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NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

By Rose Krebs

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

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X Corp. Ends $90M Fee Suit Against Wachtell

By James Mills

X Corp. has ended its California state lawsuit against Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees tied to the fight over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, according to a court filing.

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Senate Panel OKs Miss. Judge, US Atty Nominees After Delay

By Courtney Bublé

After weeks of holdup, nominees for Mississippi federal courts and U.S. attorneys were voted out of committee on Thursday, following an impasse between Republican senators.

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DOJ Antitrust Chief Says Agriculture A 'Top Priority'

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said enforcers have already opened several investigations in the agriculture sector, including into meatpackers at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called the industry a "top priority" for the agency.

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Brief

Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

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Analysis

Meta Loss Shows Time Not On Enforcers' Side In Tech Cases

By Bryan Koenig

Meta's triumph over a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case Tuesday hinged on a D.C. federal judge's finding that the company lacks a monopoly in the present day, highlighting some of the challenges of using slow-moving litigation to challenge fast-moving markets.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Above the Law

Agri Stats Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Economic Liberties Project

Apple Inc.

Baker Hughes Co.

Binance Holdings Ltd.

BitGo Inc.

BlackRock Inc.

Cargill Inc.

Citadel Securities LLC

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.

Coinbase Global Inc.

Competitive Enterprise Institute

Computer & Communications Industry Association

Consumer Bankers Association

Cornerstone Research Inc.

Corteva Inc.

Deere & Co.

Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

Franklin Resources Inc.

George Washington University

Google LLC

Instagram Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Koch Foods

Meta Platforms Inc.

Nasdaq Inc.

New York University

Pilgrim's Pride Corp.

RealPage Inc.

SVB Financial Group

Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits LLC

Stanford University

Syngenta AG

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

TikTok Inc.

Twitter Inc.

Tyson Foods Inc.

UCLA School of Law

Wells Fargo & Co.

X Corp.

YouTube Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

ArentFox Schiff

Bailey & Glasser

Cadwalader Wickersham

Carmagnola & Ritardi

Carmichael Ellis

Cooley LLP

Cravath Swaine

Davis Polk

Dechert LLP

Dilworth Paxson

Dorsey & Whitney

Foley Hoag

Fried Frank

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Hart

Hoppin Grinsell

Jones Day

Katten Muchin

Keker Van Nest & Peters

McCarter & English

McDermott Will & Schulte

Milbank LLP

Mintz Levin

Morrison & Foerster

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Reid Collins

Ropes & Gray

Sawyer & Labar

Seila Law

Shapiro Arato

UB Greensfelder

Wachtell Lipton

Waymaker LLP

Wilkinson Stekloff

Willkie Farr

Zuckerman Spaeder

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Judicial Center

Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

Louisiana Supreme Court

Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina

Massachusetts Gaming Commission

Mississippi Supreme Court

National Economic Council

National Labor Relations Board

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

New Jersey Legislature

New Jersey Supreme Court

New York Attorney General's Office

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court of the District of New Hampshire

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Mint

U.S. Postal Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget