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: 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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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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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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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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Bonus Spotlight

BigLaw Begins To Fall In Line With Cravath Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, McDermott Will & Schulte LLP and Dechert LLP are among the law firms following the lead of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP on year-end associate bonuses this week, with at least five large firms matching the market leader within a day of Cravath's Tuesday announcement.

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Troutman Owes $3.7M In Atty Fees After $1M Malpractice Loss

By Jake Maher

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP must pay $3.7 million in attorney fees to a healthcare tech company that won on malpractice claims against the firm in 2024 after six years of litigation and an eight-day bench trial, a New Jersey state judge has ordered.

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Dissent Accuses Redistrict Ruling Of 'Judicial Misbehavior'

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge denounced the judge who penned a federal court order blocking Texas' newly redrawn congressional map, saying in a Wednesday opinion the order blocking the redistricting amounts to the "most blatant exercise of judicial activism" he had ever seen.

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Halligan Says Grand Jury Never Saw Final Comey Indictment

By Jared Foretek

U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan acknowledged Wednesday that the full grand jury in the James Comey case never saw or voted on the final version of the indictment that was handed up to the court in the case. An attorney for Comey said the clarification was grounds for dismissal.

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Alaska Senator Pushes For Better Vetting After Judge Scandal

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on Wednesday that after a federal judge in his state resigned in disgrace last year, he decided he had to revamp his selection process for judicial nominees.

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Pillsbury Asks 2nd Circ. To Guard $4M Client Fee From SEC

By Aaron Keller

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to allow it to keep a $4 million advance payment retainer from the since-convicted former CEO of a bankrupt cybersecurity company, but the law firm conceded it should have clarified its rights after the government sought an asset freeze.

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Latham DQ'd From Sleep Apnea Device Co.'s Patent Fight

By Madison Arnold

A Delaware federal court has disqualified Latham & Watkins LLP from representing the creator of a sleep apnea implant in its patent dispute after the firm served as counsel to the rival's underwriters, saying the "appearance of impropriety is glaring."

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The House's Plan B For Repealing Provision On DOJ Lawsuits

By Courtney Bublé

If the Senate does not take up a bill to repeal a provision in the government funding package allowing senators investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages, a Republican House member is already making contingency plans.

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