Utah Hits Kalshi With Criminal Charges Over Sports Offerings

By Ganesh Setty

Utah has brought criminal charges in state court against Kalshi and its co-founders under its anti-gambling laws, amid an ongoing jurisdictional battle over whether federal law preempts state and tribal regulation of the prediction market platform's sports event contracts.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FTC, States Allege Toast Trapped Restaurants With Fees

By Carolina Bolado

The Federal Trade Commission and eight states sued Toast Inc. on Thursday, accusing the restaurant software company of saddling restaurants with hidden fees, failing to provide promised customer support and making it difficult to cancel its services.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Reopens $200M Debt Box Case After Sanctions

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reopened a $200 million crypto Ponzi scheme case that landed it in hot water two years ago, saying that the individuals behind the company known as Debt Box misled investors into believing that they were spending on real-world projects.

5 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Cooley-Led Kalshi Hits $40B Valuation With $1B Series G

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Betting platform Kalshi, advised by Cooley LLP, on Thursday revealed that its valuation skyrocketed to $40 billion after it wrapped its latest fundraising round with $1 billion of investor commitments.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CFPB Faces 2nd Suit Over Bid To 'Erase' Fair Lending Rules

By Jon Hill

One of the nation's oldest civil rights groups Thursday sued to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent rollback of longstanding federal protections against lending discrimination, widening the ongoing legal battle against the controversial rule change.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

PCAOB To Consider Easing Path To Semiannual Reporting

By Jessica Corso

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced Thursday that it could soon alter its regulations in a way that could make it easier for companies to choose semiannual reporting should the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopt those changes to the public-company reporting schedule.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Claims Crypto Firms' Bogus Filings Fueled $130M Scam

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hit BG Wealth Sharing Ltd. and crypto-platform DSJ Exchange Pty Ltd. with a civil lawsuit in California federal court Thursday, alleging their scam investment apps defrauded investors out of $130 million by posing as the "world's largest hedge fund" and submitting bogus SEC filings.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Warren Calls For BofA Criminal Probe After $1.2B AML Fine

By Craig Clough

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, called for a federal criminal probe Thursday into Bank of America after the U.S. Treasury Department fined the institution $1.2 billion this month over alleged anti-money laundering failures.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Seems Unswayed By Fears SEC Seeks 'Enemies List'

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday appeared reluctant to block the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's subpoena seeking information about voting advice that proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services gives to institutional investors despite ISS' concerns about political retaliation.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Block Investors Win Cert. In Biz Growth, Compliance Suit

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has certified a narrowed class of investors in Block Inc., the parent company of Square and Cash App, in a suit alleging the company failed to maintain a "strong compliance infrastructure" and misled investors about the growth of Cash App, leading to an 84% stock price decline once the truth came to light.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Binance Says It's Not Liable For Alleged Crypto Laundering

By Katryna Perera

Binance has asked a Florida federal judge to dismiss a consolidated suit accusing it of failing to prevent stolen funds from being moved through its platform, saying that even if it identified the suspicious transactions and reported them, that wouldn't have stopped criminals from stealing the crypto.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

GoFundMe Hires Fiserv Compliance Chief

By Sarah Jarvis

GoFundMe has announced it welcomed the chief compliance officer of Fiserv as its own compliance head to lead the fundraising platform's global compliance strategy, following her previous roles at First Data and Citi.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Coinbase Ruling Showcases A Texas Reincorporation Benefit

The Texas Business Court's recent decision in Guillaume v. Armstrong, finding that a shareholder's claims against Coinbase, originally incorporated in Delaware, are nonetheless subject to Texas presuit demand law if made after reincorporation, provides a procedural advantage for companies that have made the move, say attorneys at Cleary.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Parsing The Lowest SEC Enforcement Stats In Over A Decade

Statistics show that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought a historically low number of enforcement actions during Paul Atkins' first full fiscal year as chairman, delivering on his promise to reduce enforcement in program areas focused on recordkeeping and other technical violations, say attorneys at Covington.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bid Protest Spotlight: Bait-And-Switch, Scope, Performance

In this month's bid protest roundup, Michael Ols at MoFo offers takeaways from recent decisions examining bait-and-switch protest claims, the scope of a contractor teaming agreement and the use of an affiliate’s past performance.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

3 Eligibility Rulings Show Risks Of Broad Claim Constructions

Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, including its ruling in Berkeley v. W.W. Grainger, highlight the importance of identifying the inventive aspects of a patent early in the case so that patentees do not inadvertently read the inventive features out of their own claims, say attorneys at MoFo.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Backs Ex-Wisconsin Judge's ICE Obstruction Conviction

By Andrea Keckley

The U.S. Department of Justice told the Seventh Circuit that the high-profile conviction of a former Wisconsin state court judge for interfering with an ICE arrest was not compromised by her position on the bench or by jury instructions.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Hub Hires: WilmerHale, Womble Bond, Kirkland

By Chris Villani

Falling temperatures didn't bring a cooldown in the Boston legal lateral market as WilmerHale and Robinson & Cole LLP both welcomed former assistant attorneys general, Honigman LLP established its first office in the market, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP snagged a partner from Ropes & Gray LLP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Consovoy McCarthy PLLC and Smith Porsborg Schweigert Armstrong Moldenhauer & Smith lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eighth Circuit struck down the Federal Reserve's regulatory cap on the swipe fees that larger banks may collect on debit card transactions.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Cyberattack Class Action Against Fox Rothschild Dropped

By Madison Arnold

Three data breach victims have dismissed their proposed class action against Fox Rothschild LLP after ransomware group Silent Ransom Group targeted the firm.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ramona Nee, Tapped To Lead Weil, Now In Talks With Kirkland

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Ramona Nee, the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's U.S. private equity practice who had been poised to become its leader, is engaged in talks to join Kirkland & Ellis LLP, a source with knowledge of the situation told Law360 Pulse on Friday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Meta reached a settlement during jury selection in the second Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims its Instagram platform harms the mental health of children, leaving Snap as the lone defendant facing trial. In the meantime, current and former in-house lawyers for Google and Meta said that the ability of AI to write patent applications is rapidly improving, and that in blind tests, experienced attorneys often deem AI-drafted patents to be superior to those from humans. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jackson Walker Inks $500K Deal In EXCO's Ch. 11 Fee Fight

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker has agreed to pay EXCO Resources Inc. $500,000 to end litigation over fees paid to the firm while one of its partners was in an undisclosed relationship with the former bankruptcy judge who mediated in the reorganized oil and gas driller's Texas Chapter 11.

Settlement attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Judge A No-Show Amid Inquiry Into Her Mental Health

By Craig Clough

U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas failed to appear Friday before a judicial investigative committee examining allegations that she abandoned her post and concerns that a mental condition may be interfering with her ability to perform her duties.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

K&L Gates DQ'd In Trust's Mortgage Loan Agreement Dispute

By Isaac Monterose

A Washington federal judge disqualified K&L Gates LLP from a trust's dispute over a residential mortgage loan sale agreement, ruling that the law firm must leave the suit because it drafted the form agreement used in the transaction.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Cruz Counsel Returns To FCC As Space Bureau Chief

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has named a former employee with experience in both the public and private sectors to head the agency's Space Bureau, after a stint as chief telecommunications counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

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.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Kalshi Taps Clement For High Court Sports Contracts Fight

By Elaine Briseño

Kalshi has hired appellate heavyweight Paul D. Clement of Clement & Murphy PLLC to represent the company in its potential U.S. Supreme Court battle over whether the prediction markets platform's sports wagering is subject to state or federal oversight.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »