Securities

  • June 11, 2024

    SIFMA, Missouri Seek Early End To Anti-ESG Rules Suit

    The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and Missouri state officials have filed dueling summary judgment bids in SIFMA's suit over the state's anti-ESG rules for brokers and advisers, with SIFMA claiming the rules violate the First Amendment, and both sides painting the issue as a matter of states' rights versus federal preemption.

  • June 11, 2024

    Fed's New Internal Trading Policy Full Of Loopholes, Sens. Say

    Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have called on Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell to repeal what they say is a "failed approach" to addressing allegedly illicit trading by Fed officials, saying the long-awaited policy is riddled with loopholes, contains weak penalties and requires no transparency for officials who violate the trading rules.

  • June 11, 2024

    DC Circ. Affirms Petrobras' Immunity Denial In Fraud Case

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the denial of Petrobras' immunity defense against an investor fraud lawsuit filed after the petroleum company was implicated in a sprawling bribery scheme, ruling that the alleged fraud caused a direct impact on the United States sufficient to pull Petrobras into the court's jurisdiction.

  • June 11, 2024

    Hedge Fund Anson Settles With SEC Over Cannabis Shorts

    The American and Canadian entities overseeing hedge fund Anson Funds agreed on Tuesday to pay $2.25 million to end a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into their allegedly hidden relationship with an activist investment firm that shorted a pair of cannabis stocks.

  • June 11, 2024

    9th Circ. Judge On Theranos Appeal: 'Good Story' For Holmes

    Two Ninth Circuit judges on a three-judge panel expressed concerns Tuesday that the district judge presiding over convicted former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' criminal trial erred by allowing a layperson witness to offer expert testimony at trial, with one judge saying, "There's a pretty good story here for Ms. Holmes."

  • June 11, 2024

    HashiCorp Hit With Investor Suit Over $6.4B Sale To IBM

    Software company HashiCorp Inc. and its board members face an investor suit seeking to halt an upcoming shareholder vote on a proposed $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp by tech giant IBM, alleging the deal would unfairly benefit company insiders and hasn't been properly detailed in required filings.

  • June 11, 2024

    Moelis-Inspired Del. Corporate Law Bill Clears Senate Panel

    A string of law professors turned out Tuesday to oppose a Delaware Senate bill that would let boards cede some governance rights to big stockholders and some Delaware Court oversight to other jurisdictions, with the measure nevertheless cleared for a full Senate vote.

  • June 11, 2024

    Roblox Based Forecast On 'Tenuous' Factors, Investor Says

    A Roblox Corp. shareholder accused the online gaming platform in California federal court Monday of misleading investors with projected online sales revenue that came in at least $100 million short, boasting of its technology developments and advertising efforts despite knowing those revenue opportunities were "tenuous at best."

  • June 11, 2024

    Travelers Says No Coverage For Investment Bank's Bond Row

    A Travelers unit said it doesn't owe directors and officers coverage to an investment bank accused of misleading bondholders into investing in a sports complex development project, telling an Illinois federal court the policy bars coverage for claims arising from the bank's performance of services for a client.

  • June 11, 2024

    Ex-Kirkland Partner Gets Second Term As PCAOB Chair

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday it has selected onetime Kirkland litigation partner and former Obama administration counsel Erica Y. Williams for a second term as chairperson of its Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, keeping her heading up the board through October 2029.

  • June 11, 2024

    SEC Probing Autodesk After Accounting Practices Report

    Autodesk Inc. said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the software corporation after it voluntarily contacted the regulatory body to inform it of the company's own internal investigation into its free cash flow and non-generally accepted accounting principles operating margin practices.

  • June 11, 2024

    AES Sued In Del. For 'Weaponized' Advance Notice Bylaws

    Global utility and power company The AES Corp. has "weaponized" advance notice requirements in its bylaws to make it "unreasonably difficult, if not impossible," for stockholders to nominate candidates for the company's board, a stockholder has alleged in a new Delaware Court of Chancery suit.

  • June 11, 2024

    AI Hiring Platform's Ex-CEO Charged With $27M Fraud

    The founder of hiring startup Joonko Diversity Inc. has been charged with fraud, with prosecutors saying Tuesday that she deceived investors into dumping $27 million into a platform that supposedly used artificial intelligence to help companies recruit diverse job candidates. 

  • June 11, 2024

    FINRA Fines Brokerage TradeZero Over 'Finfluencer' Promos

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined broker-dealer TradeZero America Inc. $250,000 for allegedly failing to properly supervise its influencer partners, who promoted the firm on their social media accounts.

  • June 11, 2024

    Mattel Wants Out Of Suit Over Forfeited 401(k) Funds

    Mattel urged a California federal court to throw out a lawsuit a former employee launched alleging the company should have used former workers' forfeited 401(k) funds to cover plan expenses, saying its decision to use that money to satisfy its own contributions is in line with federal benefits law.

  • June 11, 2024

    Retrial Begins In NJ Fraud Case Over COVID Test Kit Deal  

    The painstaking process of jury selection got underway Tuesday in the retrial of a securities fraud case that ended with a dramatic mistrial after a juror announced in open court that he disagreed with the guilty verdict that had just been delivered by the jury forewoman.

  • June 11, 2024

    Justices Urged To Review Fee Denial In DOL Stock Plan Case

    A construction design firm is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its fight for attorney fees after beating an enforcement case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging the company and its founders mismanaged an employee stock ownership plan, with the firm arguing the Ninth Circuit erred in siding with the DOL.

  • June 11, 2024

    SEC Asks For $1.1M Insider Trading Penalty For Ex-Apple Atty

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is again urging a New Jersey federal court to levy a roughly $1.1 million civil penalty on a former Apple Inc. senior attorney who already pled guilty and was sentenced for criminal charges related to a lucrative insider trading scheme.

  • June 11, 2024

    Uniswap Taps Coinbase Atty To Be CLO As SEC Fight Looms

    The firm behind decentralized marketplace Uniswap has brought on a senior Coinbase attorney and seasoned litigator to helm its legal operations as it stares down a potential enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • June 11, 2024

    Dentons Hires Former In-House Compliance Chief In Indy

    Dentons has brought on a seasoned corporate attorney with close to two decades of in-house and government experience as of counsel in the firm's Indianapolis office, focusing on transactional matters like contracts, corporate governance and securities law.

  • June 11, 2024

    Archegos Boss Got Angry Over Bathroom Breaks, Jury Told

    A former protégé of Archegos founder Bill Hwang told the Manhattan federal jury hearing the $36 billion market distortion case against Hwang on Tuesday that his former boss was so hands-on that he would get mad when workers used the bathroom.

  • June 11, 2024

    Elon Musk Sued Anew In Del. Over $16B Tesla Stock Sale

    A Tesla shareholder has hit Elon Musk with a lawsuit over his 2021 sale of $16 billion worth of stock just before his purchase of Twitter, claiming the billionaire profited by concealing his intent to buy the social media platform and made the purchase in part to reinstate former President Donald Trump's account.

  • June 10, 2024

    Voyager Crypto Investors Get Initial OK For $2.4M Deal

    A Florida federal judge gave the first green light on Monday to a $2.4 million settlement reached between retired football star Rob Gronkowski, NBA player Victor Oladipo and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill and a class of Voyager Digital Holdings Inc. investors over claims that the men helped promote the failed cryptocurrency exchange.

  • June 10, 2024

    Gemini Says Jury Must Weigh Alleged 'Omissions,' Not Judge

    Gemini Trust Co. has told a Manhattan federal judge that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's claims that the crypto exchange omitted key information related to a proposed bitcoin futures contract isn't ripe for a pretrial decision because the claims involve "hotly disputed factual questions."

  • June 10, 2024

    Pension Fund Repays PBGC $8M In Excess Financial Aid

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a pension provider for workers in graphic communications has paid back more than $8 million in excess funds it received through a financial assistance program administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Expert Analysis

  • Mitigating Incarceration's Impacts On Foreign Nationals

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    Sentencing arguments that highlighted the disparate impact incarceration would have on a British national recently sentenced for insider training by a New York district court, when compared to similarly situated U.S. citizens, provide an example of the advocacy needed to avoid or mitigate problems unique to noncitizen defendants, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Del. Dispatch: Chancery's Evolving Approach To Caremark

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    Though Caremark claims are historically the least likely corporate claims to lead to liability, such cases have been met in recent years with increased judicial receptivity — but the Delaware Court of Chancery still expressly discourages the reflexive filing of Caremark claims following corporate mishaps, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • A GC's Guide To Multijurisdictional Regulatory Compliance

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    Overlapping cybersecurity regulation has created an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape with elevated oversight for organizations across the globe, but general counsel can help develop a best-in-class approach to manage these complexities by building a compliance strategy holistically, say David Dunn and Meredith Griffanti at FTI Consulting.

  • Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

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    The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • Clarity Is Central Theme In FCA's Greenwashing Guidance

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    Recent Financial Conduct Authority guidance for complying with the U.K. regulator's anti-greenwashing rule sends an overarching message that sustainability claims must be clear, accurate and capable of being substantiated, say lawyers at Cadwalader.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome

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    The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Pay-To-Play Deal Shows Need For Strong Compliance Policies

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, through its recent settlement with Wayzata, has indicated that it will continue stringent enforcement of the pay-to-play rule, so investment advisers should ensure strong compliance policies are in place to promptly address potential violations as the November elections approach, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 7 Effects Of DOL Retirement Asset Manager Exemption Rule

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    The recent U.S. Department of Labor amendment to the retirement asset manager exemption delivers several key practical impacts, including the need for managers, as opposed to funds, to register with the DOL, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Standardizing Early Case Appraisal In Securities Class Actions

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    While an initial economic assessment of securities class action litigation is far too often not undertaken, it's an important step in planning the defense strategy that can provide counsel, clients and insurers with a much clearer view of the case, and can be simplified through standardized analyses, says Assen Koev at SCA iPortal.

  • Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures

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    The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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