Senate Crypto Bill Moves Toward Markup Sans Ethics Rules

By Aislinn Keely

Senate banking committee Republicans released the latest version of a bill to regulate crypto markets that will serve as the base text for a Thursday markup, which could be complicated by Democrats' calls for ethics provisions and banks' opposition to language around stablecoin rewards.

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DC Circ. Asks Why Gov't Used 'Toxic' Detail In Crypto Trial

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. Circuit didn't seem sure which way to come down Tuesday morning on the various arguments put forth by the convicted operator of the Bitcoin Fog crypto mixer in an attempt to overturn his conviction.

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Online Betting Co. Kalshi Must Face Wis. Tribe's IGRA Claim

By Joyce Hanson

A Wisconsin federal judge has ruled that the Ho-Chunk Nation can sue prediction market platform Kalshi under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, but he stripped racketeering and false advertising allegations from the tribe's gambling lawsuit targeting the company's sports event contracts.

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PayPal Settles Gov't DEI Probe With Small Biz Program

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with PayPal Inc. to end an investigation into what the department said was a discriminatory investment program for Black- and minority-owned businesses.

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CFTC's Selig Says AI Regulations May Be On The Horizon

By Jessica Corso

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig said Tuesday that his agency may introduce regulations regarding the use of artificial intelligence by exchanges and other regulated entities as a newly created innovation task force has started meeting with companies expressing an interest in the new technology.

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Senate Puts Warsh On Track To Replace Powell As Fed Chair

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Trump nominee Kevin Warsh to a board seat at the Federal Reserve, moving him one step closer to taking over from Jerome Powell as chairman of the central bank.

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Brief

Trump Admin Will Take CFPB Funding Fight To 9th Circ.

By Jon Hill

The Trump administration will challenge a California federal court decision that ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to continue drawing funding from the Federal Reserve, setting the stage for renewed litigation over the agency's access to cash.

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Shopify Must Face Most Buy Now, Pay Later Antitrust Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

E-commerce company Shopify Inc. can't shed monopolization claims brought by buy now, pay later payment platform Sezzle Inc., although a Minnesota federal judge has trimmed the dispute.

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Google, Apple, Lenovo Hit With IP Suits Over Tap-To-Pay Tech

By Theresa Schliep

A Delaware company has lodged lawsuits against Google, Apple and Lenovo alleging that they have infringed its patents covering contactless payment technologies, targeting the use of tap-to-pay systems in their smartphones and wearable devices.

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Bitcoin Depot Allowed Crypto Scam Via ATMs, Couple Says

By Zak Kostro

Bitcoin Depot systematically facilitated fraud involving cryptocurrency through its bitcoin ATM network, which targeted consumers who have lost thousands of dollars through the machines, according to a proposed class action in Idaho federal court brought by a couple who alleged they fell victim to such a scam.

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Blockchain Analytics Biz Raises $120M Series D Funding

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic on Tuesday announced that it has hit a valuation of $670 million after closing its latest funding round with $120 million of investor commitments.

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Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

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Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

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CFPB Rule Recalibrates Fair Lending Compliance

A close reading of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new final rule on fair lending enforcement reveals a thoughtful and disciplined effort to realign enforcement with statutory text, evidentiary rigor and practical compliance realities, says Alan Kaplinsky at Ballard Spahr.

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Mass. Draft Regs Signal Nationwide Scrutiny Of Junk Fees

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's new draft regulations for assisted living facilities is only her latest move in the war on junk fees — and part of a national reordering of consumer protection enforcement in which states are aggressively and creatively asserting authority, says Steve Provazza at Arnall Golden.

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4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

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Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned By SC High Court

By Parker Quinlan

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a double murder conviction and ordered a new trial for disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, finding the jury in his first trial was biased by a clerk of court who allegedly sought a guilty verdict in a ploy to juice sales of her book about the trial.

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Texas Atty Must Pay $5M For Groping Opposing Counsel

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas state appellate court on Wednesday refused to disturb a $5 million jury verdict against a San Antonio lawyer for grabbing the buttocks of opposing counsel at the courthouse where they were arguing a family law proceeding in 2019.

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DOJ Goes After DC Bar, Courts For Discipline Of Ex-DOJ Atty

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, D.C. Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia, claiming that they were "punishing" a former Trump administration DOJ official and trying to "control the executive branch."

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DOJ Fraud Division Set To Shake Up White-Collar Enforcement

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's administration created the U.S. Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division with a narrow focus on combating government program fraud, but a move to retain federal prosecutors focused on other types of fraud could signal a wider scope with potential ripple effects across white-collar enforcement.

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Arbitrators See Global Stakes In Trump BigLaw EO Fight

By Caroline Simson

Ahead of a D.C. Circuit hearing on Thursday in the Trump administration's effort to revive executive orders imposed against four BigLaw firms, an official at the College of Commercial Arbitrators told Law360 this week there are several things arbitrators are going to be watching for.

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Apple Targets Hagens Berman 'Gamesmanship' In ICloud Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Apple has lashed out at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to withdraw a named plaintiff from an iCloud antitrust case in California federal court without discovery into any directions she received to preserve now-deleted emails, raising concerns that the withdrawal is meant to "paper over lost evidence."

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Michigan Federal Judge Gets Probation For Drunken Driving

By Susan Smiley

Michigan federal Judge Thomas L. Ludington was sentenced by a state judge Wednesday to six months probation and fined $1,175 in after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge last month in Emmet County.

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6th Circ. Says Kentucky Judicial Hopefuls May Tout Ideology

By Emily Sawicki

Kentucky judicial hopefuls are cleared to discuss their political leanings on the campaign trail, according to a precedential ruling by the Sixth Circuit, which permanently enjoined the state's Judicial Conduct Commission from pursuing an enforcement action against two candidates who described themselves as "conservatives" and "Republicans" amid the 2022 election season.

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Judge Says LegalForce Must Pay $93K After Losing TM Suit

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge on Wednesday ordered LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC to pay nearly $93,000 in fees and costs to the company that operates LawFirms.com, finding the case to be exceptional because LegalForce alleged facts it knew were false and took steps to obscure other facts that showed its case was meritless.

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CORRECTED: Senate Advances 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to advance the nomination of 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the status of the nominees in the Senate.

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