CFTC Eyes US Perpetual Derivatives With Kalshi Approval

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday took a leap forward in bringing so-called crypto perpetual derivatives to U.S. traders with a first-of-its-kind approval of Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual futures contract and no-action relief that allows Coinbase to connect U.S. customers with global offerings.

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Wis. Says CFTC Lacks Standing To Block Its Betting Regs

By Ganesh Setty

Wisconsin told a federal judge on Friday that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission failed to specify injuries in a lawsuit seeking to block the state from regulating prediction market platforms, while also arguing against platforms' bid to intervene in the case.

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Binance Beats Claims It Helped Finance Hamas Terror Attack

By Joyce Hanson

A D.C. federal judge on Friday dismissed claims by victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel that corporate entities operating the Binance cryptocurrency exchanges helped the Islamic resistance movement Hamas carry them out by letting terrorist-linked users move money on their platforms.

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FDIC Reaffirms Ex-Bank CEO's Penalty After High Court Trip

By Jon Hill

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has again ordered an industry ban and $125,000 fine for a former Michigan bank CEO following a U.S. Supreme Court remand, finding his handling of a troubled borrower relationship still justified sanctioning him under a stricter legal standard.

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SEC Critic Pushes To Undo $31M Disgorgement Order

By Sarah Jarvis

A litigation group combating what it views as overreach by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is backing a pair of microcap dealers' bid to undo their over $31 million disgorgement order, arguing that recent enforcement changes at the SEC have created "a one-way ratchet" harming small investors and entrepreneurs.

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Chime Can't Dodge Class Action Over 'Refer-A-Friend' Texts

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge on Friday declined to throw out a proposed class action accusing online banking company Chime Financial Inc. of violating state law through its refer-a-friend text messages, ruling that the marketing texts don't fall under an exception to Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: 'The Rip,' Lively, Justin Sun

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a suit by a pair of Miami-Dade police officers over a movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that they said makes them seem like sleazy cops, as well as a case by a Trump family-backed cryptocurrency firm against Justin Sun.

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'Operation Hard Money' Marks New Phase In Synthetic ID Fraud

A recent California mortgage fraud case dubbed "Operation Hard Money" shows synthetic identities are increasingly key to mortgage and money laundering schemes, so lenders would be wise to integrate verification and behavioral monitoring as fraud powered by artificial intelligence creates larger losses and recovery challenges, says Neal Levin at Rimon.

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Recent Actions Signal Increased NYDFS Health Cyber Focus

The New York Department of Financial Services' recent $2.25 million settlement with Delta Dental indicates that it views cybersecurity enforcement in the healthcare and insurance sectors as an ongoing priority, and serves as a road map for the compliance gaps regulators are most likely to target, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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Your Next Litigation Hold Should Cover AI Chat Logs

The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision in Fortis Advisors v. Krafton to treat a CEO’s artificial intelligence chats as substantive evidence is being read as a discovery warning to litigators, but there is a second duty-to-preserve lesson that is especially pertinent to in-house counsel, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

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Double Shooting Renews Courthouse Safety Fears In NC

By Hayley Fowler

The shooting of two Fox Rothschild LLP attorneys outside a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of Memorial Day weekend has renewed calls to protect the safety of judges and lawyers in an increasingly volatile justice system.

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Baker McKenzie Asks Judge Not To Toss Suit Against Ex-Atty

By Alison Knezevich

A lawyer for Baker McKenzie on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., judge not to dismiss the BigLaw firm's defamation suit against a former tax associate who accused a firm office leader of sexual assault, telling the court the accusations were false and made with "malice."

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Bonus Spotlight

Selendy Gay Doles Out Spring Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC paid its associates spring bonuses of as much as $25,000 this week, according to the firm.

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Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

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Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

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NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

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Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

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Civil Rights Icon Clarence B. Jones Dies At 95

By Andrea Keckley

Civil rights icon Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr., died May 22 at an assisted living facility in the Santa Clara County city of Cupertino, California, his family confirmed earlier this week. He was 95.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Kirkland & Ellis says it's investing a half billion dollars into developing its own artificial intelligence platform to better serve clients. And Law360 looks at the general counsel who is guiding BP through its latest leadership crisis after the company abruptly dismissed its board chair.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Hogan Lovells and Watkins & Eager PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black Mississippi death row prisoner who argued racial discrimination tainted his jury selection is entitled to habeas corpus relief.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Boies Schiller's Matthew Schwartz

By Sarah Jarvis

Matthew L. Schwartz oscillated among many career aspirations as a kid, from astronaut to mayor of New York. When it was time to head off to college, the man who would go on to handle the prosecution of employees tied to Bernie Madoff and become chair of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP set his sights on science, earning an undergraduate degree in physics.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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