4th Circ. Questions Class Cert. Ruling In Boeing Investor Case

By Jessica Corso

The Fourth Circuit indicated on Thursday it may send an investor lawsuit against Boeing back to a lower court for a second look at class certification, with one judge saying the district court "told us nothing" about what liability theory was being relied on to certify the class.

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Estée Lauder Investors Reach $210M Deal Over Share Inflation

By Lauren Berg

Estée Lauder investors on Thursday asked a New York federal judge to greenlight a $210 million settlement resolving their proposed class claims that the cosmetics company and its top brass announced unrealistic expectations for growth amid the ongoing effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business.

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SEC Fines Ex-BigLaw Atty For Insider Trades On Apollo Deal

By Hailey Konnath

A former Buchalter PC shareholder has agreed to pay $71,625 to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's allegations he purchased stock ahead of Apollo Global Management's $1.5 billion acquisition of Bridge Investment, which the commission said he was representing in an unrelated matter at the time.

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Ex-Beneficient CEO Convicted In $150M Shell Co. Fraud

By Bonnie Eslinger

The former CEO of Texas financial services firm Beneficient was convicted by a Manhattan federal jury on Thursday of securities fraud and other charges connected with a scheme to fraudulently loot more than $150 million from now-defunct GWG Holdings, a publicly traded company for which he served as chairman.

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9th Circ. Backs Lead Choice In Super Micro Investor Fraud Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel has refused to undo a California federal court order rejecting Crain Walnut Shelling's bid to lead a securities class action against Super Micro Computers Inc., concluding Thursday the lower court properly determined other investors had shown the nut processor wasn't fit to spearhead the case.

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Rakoff Expands On Coinbase Securities Suit Dismissal Ruling

By Katryna Perera

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Thursday explained his ruling last month dismissing securities fraud claims against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, brought by investors in a digital asset associated with the now-failed Terraform blockchain ecosystem, stating in a new opinion that the suit fails to plead falsity, among other things.

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Analysis

Why Compliance Is Getting Complicated In Latin America

By Phillip Bantz

White collar compliance is getting trickier for companies that do business in Latin America, according to experts, who say they are seeing big shifts in the region connected to cartel crackdowns and efforts to strengthen corporate regulations, including relatively recent pushes for voluntary self-disclosure.

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Crypto Bill Could Get Senate Banking Markup Next Week

By Aislinn Keely

A bill to regulate crypto markets known as the Clarity Act could be marked up by the Senate Banking Committee as soon as next week, but lawmakers are still finalizing key provisions that could make or break the voting process, policymakers told attendees of the crypto conference Consensus.

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Pentagon Defends Anthropic Security Risk Label At DC Circ.

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Department of Defense told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acted well within his statutory discretion when he labeled Anthropic PBC a supply-chain risk to U.S. national security, rejecting Anthropic's claims of retaliation.

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Financial Cos. Say Atty Can't Represent Self In Securities Suit

By George Woolston

A group of financial services companies fighting an attorney's proposed securities class action has urged a New Jersey federal court to disqualify the attorney from serving as class counsel, arguing that precedent and ethical obligations prevent him from serving as both class counsel and the proposed class's named representative.

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'If It Quacks': Judge Hints Kalshi's Biz Is Sports Gambling

By Abigail Harrison

Fourth Circuit judges appeared dubious Thursday as counsel for Kalshi explained why its "sports event contracts" can only be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission rather than state gambling laws, with one judge remarking, "If it quacks, you know, it's a duck. Right? It's gambling isn't it?"

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Warren Asks Meta About Reported Stablecoin Payment Plans

By Sarah Jarvis

The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee has called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to provide more information about the company's reported plans to introduce stablecoin-based payment features for its users, accusing it of a "deeply troubling" lack of transparency about the project.

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Sanctions Sought For Trader Accused Of Using Frozen Funds

By Carolina Bolado

The receiver overseeing The Traders Domain, a brokerage accused by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of orchestrating a $283 million scheme, pushed Thursday for sanctions against a commodities trader accused of funding a lavish lifestyle with $3.4 million from an entity that is supposed to be part of the receivership.

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Toss Of Ex-Shkreli Atty's Deal May Be Error, 2nd Circ. Hints

By Pete Brush

A Second Circuit judge hinted Thursday that a trial judge may have erred in rejecting a retirement-fund garnishment deal that would have protected Martin Shkreli's convicted former lawyer from a potential $1 million "punitive tax event."

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Calif. Man Gets 2½ Years For Swindling $2M From Ill. Investor

By Celeste Bott

A California man has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bilking $2 million from an Illinois investor through a fraudulent scheme in which he promised a substantial return but instead spent the money on personal expenses, including luxury vintage automobiles.

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Monolithic Must Face Most Nvidia-Linked Investor Claims

By Katryna Perera

A Washington federal judge has largely denied Monolithic Power Systems Inc.'s bid to dismiss an investor suit accusing it of hiding critical defects in power modules used by its largest customer, Nvidia Corp., rejecting the company's argument that the suit's claims amount to "fraud-by-hindsight."

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Chip Co. Must Face Suit Over Apple Biz Loss, Judge Says

By Sydney Price

Semiconductor manufacturer Skyworks must face a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of downplaying the financial impact of its diminished business relationship with Apple, with the court finding the investors plausibly show the company concealed relevant information before revealing last year it would pull back its revenue expectations.

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Pharma Cos. Hit With $2M Judgment Over CBD Investor Fraud

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has issued final judgments against a pharmaceutical company, its CEO and an affiliate on claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they defrauded investors of $6.6 million, hitting them with more than $2 million in damages and civil penalties.

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Frontier Agrees To Settle 401(k) Suit Over Verizon Stock

By Patrick Hoff

Frontier Communications Corp. has agreed to end a proposed class action claiming its employee 401(k) plan was improperly overinvested in Verizon Wireless and other telecommunications stocks, according to a filing in Connecticut federal court.

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PDVSA Says Repaying $95M Debt Is Impossible

By Keith Goldberg

Venezuela's state-owned oil company has insisted it has no way to repay some $95 million in debt to bondholders due to banks being unwilling to work with it given the pariah status of the Venezuelan government.

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Brief

Conn. Investment Firm Settles $70M Client Poach Suit

By Brian Steele

Connecticut investment firm TJT Capital Group LLC and its one-time chief compliance officer have settled a lawsuit accusing the former executive of taking 125 clients with $70 million in assets under management when he left for a new job, federal court records show.

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Opinion

The SEC Should Institute A New Enforcement Scorecard

Amid controversy over the recent release of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's annual enforcement statistics, the SEC should use a new scorecard that measures how well the Division of Enforcement detects and stops intentional fraud in order to refocus on its core mission of investor protection, says Peter Chan at Baker McKenzie.

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Surveying The CFTC Campaign To Control Prediction Markets

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is simultaneously asserting exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and signaling aggressive enforcement within them, a combination that will reshape the regulatory landscape for event contract platforms — pending the outcome of several court cases throughout the country and a likely circuit split, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

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Series

Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Morgan Lewis Hires 2 More Hunton Litigators

By Andrea Keckley

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Friday that it has hired two more attorneys from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to build up its litigation bench.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Paul Weiss Says Atty Cuts Were Part Of Performance Reviews

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP told Law360 on Friday that the firm has parted ways with some attorneys following an annual review process.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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

By Adam LoBelia

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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