Dems Target Ethics, Illicit Finance In Crypto Bill Amendments

By Aislinn Keely

Lawmakers have offered over 100 amendments ahead of the Senate banking committee's Thursday markup of its latest proposal to regulate crypto markets, with Democrats proposing the lion's share of changes in an effort to add ethics language and beef up provisions addressing crypto's use in illicit finance.

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2nd Circ. Backs Fed Reserve's Power To Cut Master Accounts

By Lauren Berg

The Federal Reserve has broad discretion to cut financial institutions off from master accounts, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday, rejecting a Puerto Rico bank's argument that it has a statutory right to what is commonly referred to as "bank accounts for banks."

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FTX Trust Says Crypto Hedge Fund Owes $84M

By Ben Zigterman

The recovery trust of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has called a crypto hedge fund's $200 million claim "frivolous," countering that it is the hedge fund that owes the estate $84 million for a line of credit FTX had extended.

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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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Warsh Confirmed As Trump's Next Federal Reserve Chair

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Senate signed off Wednesday on the White House's choice of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve, capping off a monthslong process that became entangled in the Trump administration's push to criminally investigate outgoing Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

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Pa. Crypto Scam Convict In Custody Over Fake Girlfriend, $60

By Matthew Santoni

A convicted cryptocurrency scammer used a fake girlfriend to convince an old acquaintance to give him money and set up accounts for new crypto investments, which a federal judge said Wednesday was grounds for revoking his release while he awaited sentencing.

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Fintech Inks $8M Mass. Settlement Over 'Lease-To-Own' Biz

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Texas-based financial technology company told a state court Wednesday it has agreed to a $7.8 million resolution of the Massachusetts attorney general's claims that it misled consumers about its "lease-to-own" contracts for consumer merchandise, causing customers to pay "far more than the retail price for their merchandise."

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NHL's Blackhawks Challenge Fintech's Sponsor Deal In Ch. 11

By Clara Geoghegan

The Chicago Blackhawks have told the Delaware bankruptcy court the hockey team needs more information about a potential buyer if troubled crypto financial technology firm Blockfills assigns a sponsorship deal with the hockey team in its Chapter 11 case.

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How Treasury's Stablecoin Test Will Shape State Oversight

The Treasury Department's recently proposed principles for judging whether state stablecoin regimes are "substantially similar" to the federal framework signal that issuers should expect stricter benchmarking against the bank agencies' standards, limited state flexibility and heightened pressure to reassess compliance as rules take shape, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

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