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Securities
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May 24, 2024
Moelis-Inspired Corporate Law Bill Introduced In Del.
Proposed amendments to Delaware's corporate code that some say could potentially upend the traditional power structure within corporations were introduced in Delaware's Legislature, despite outcry from many academics, corporate law attorneys, and some business groups that the changes are going too far, too fast.
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May 24, 2024
Xponential Fitness Sues Ex-CEO In Del. To Avoid Calif. Court
Fitness brand franchiser Xponential Fitness Inc. sued its recently resigned CEO in Delaware Chancery Court Friday, asking the court to find that the First State's laws, not California's, govern a dispute over the former CEO's right to inspect the company's books and records.
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May 24, 2024
CFTC's Johnson Is Under Consideration For FDIC Top Job
The Biden administration is considering Kristin Johnson, a Democratic member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as a possible candidate to replace Martin Gruenberg at the helm of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Law360 has learned.
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May 24, 2024
Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List
President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.
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May 24, 2024
DC Circ. Says Bainbridge Can't Have Argentina's Building
The D.C. Circuit on Friday denied an appeal from Bainbridge Fund Ltd. in a property dispute with Argentina, saying the company can't take possession of the property in an effort to satisfy a $95 million judgment over defaulted bonds.
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May 24, 2024
NYSE Companies Could Face Heat If Business Focus Changes
A New York Stock Exchange proposal seeking additional authority to delist companies that enact wholesale business changes after going public could subject certain companies to more scrutiny, attorneys say, though such drastic actions are expected to be rare.
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May 24, 2024
Exiled Chinese Businessman Is No $1B Fraudster, Jury Told
Exiled Chinese businessman and purported billionaire Guo Wengui ran legitimate companies in support of a broad movement that opposed the Chinese Communist Party, his attorney told a Manhattan federal jury Friday, rather than what prosecutors say was a multifaceted $1 billion fraud.
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May 24, 2024
Coinbase Says Crypto Securities Question Is Ripe For Review
Crypto exchange Coinbase again urged a Manhattan federal judge to send to the Second Circuit the question of whether digital assets meet the definition of investment contracts, saying the question could "shape or distort a multitrillion-dollar industry."
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May 24, 2024
Foley & Lardner Given All-Clear To Exit SEC Suit
A North Carolina federal judge permitted Foley & Lardner LLP on Friday to exit as counsel for a Malta-based registered investment adviser that is defending claims in a $75 million lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, despite the judge's previous concerns about the firm's withdrawal.
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May 24, 2024
DLA Piper Adds Corporate Ace From Goodwin In Calif.
A finance lawyer with deep expertise has joined DLA Piper from Goodwin Procter LLP in its Palo Alto shop, strengthening its offerings in the Golden State.
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May 23, 2024
Ex-Autonomy CEO Lynch Takes Stand In 'Surreal' Fraud Trial
Autonomy founder Michael Lynch took the stand Thursday in a criminal trial in California federal court over claims he lied to HP about his software company's financial health before the tech giant paid $11.7 billion for it in 2011, saying the trial has been "surreal" and he didn't set out to defraud HP.
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May 23, 2024
Ex-Bank CEO Cops To Embezzling $47M To Pay Crypto Scam
Heartland Tri-State Bank's former chief executive pled guilty Thursday in Kansas federal court to embezzling $47 million that he wired to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by fraudsters after falling victim to a "pig butchering" scam, which led to the bank's collapse and subsequent shutdown last summer.
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May 23, 2024
SEC Opens Gate To Ether ETFs, But Firms Await Green Light
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started the process of bringing exchange-traded funds holding the cryptocurrency ether to market on Thursday when it approved a series of filings permitting national securities exchanges to list the products, leaving firms to wait for the next step before trading can begin.
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May 23, 2024
Influencer Can't Duck SEC Suit Over Crypto Sale, Promotion
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scored a partial win in a Texas federal court case in which the agency accused an influencer of unlawfully reselling and promoting cryptocurrencies to followers on social media, with a judge finding the tokens were unregistered securities and the promoter could not escape liability in the lawsuit.
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May 23, 2024
JP Morgan Inks $200M CFTC Deal Over Supervision Failures
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC on Thursday agreed to pay a $200 million civil penalty to resolve charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission accusing the investment management company of more than a decade of trade surveillance failures, including failing to capture billions of orders on one venue.
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May 23, 2024
AdTech Co. Faces Suit As Google's Cookie Support Crumbles
Advertising company Direct Digital Holdings Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it mismanaged its response to an impending major technological change affecting how digital advertisers can target consumers.
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May 23, 2024
Governance In Focus As ESG Gains Ground This Proxy Season
Support for corporate governance and compensation shareholder proposals has reached a five-year high this year, while support for environmental and social proposals has risen slightly after two years of decline, according to a new report.
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May 23, 2024
'Not Us At Our Best:' SEC's Top Cop Talks Debt Box Error
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement director Gurbir Grewal took responsibility Thursday for his agency's sanctioned actions in a lawsuit against crypto project Debt Box, saying that the case did not represent the agency "at our best" but was not a sign that there were any widespread problems with the way it conducts its enforcement proceedings.
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May 23, 2024
Investors Lose $600M Mass Claim Over Cyprus Bank Failures
The Republic of Cyprus said Thursday that an international arbitral tribunal has dismissed an unprecedented $600 million mass claim by Greek depositors and bondholders affected by the restructuring of Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus.
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May 23, 2024
FTX Judge Declines To Undo Ch. 11 Digital Claim Estimation
The judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. on Thursday denied a request to vacate an earlier ruling allowing the debtor to estimate the claims of creditors holding digital assets based on their petition date value, saying the party seeking to undo the order had not provided any new evidence to justify the action.
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May 23, 2024
Big Banks Hit With Claims Of Turning Man Into 'Money Mule'
A wealthy Texas entrepreneur says Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and Deutsche Bank turned him into a "money mule" by using his accounts to launder billions of dollars over multiple decades, alleging a conspiracy also involving his family and a prominent lawyer that cost him millions.
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May 23, 2024
7th Circ. Unsure VIX-Fix Claims Were Wrongly Tossed
The Seventh Circuit seemed unsure Thursday that two investment companies should be allowed to pursue volatility index manipulation claims against Barclays, Morgan & Stanley Co. and other financial institutions after a lower court found that one lacked standing and the other missed a statutory deadline.
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May 23, 2024
TRO Against Ex-TD Bank Employees Revised
A federal judge in Connecticut walked back part of a temporary restraining order against ex-TD Bank employees accused of siphoning $25 million in business to Raymond James Financial, saying the previous order may have been more restrictive than necessary.
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May 23, 2024
Wiz Khalifa Settles Suit Over Cannabis Venture
Rapper Wiz Khalifa has settled a lawsuit filed by the co-owner of his cannabis enterprise who claimed he was cut out of a $20 million deal to license the artist's name and likeness to promote cannabis products.
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May 23, 2024
'New' Facts Don't Permit Do-Over, Kraft-Heinz Tells Chancery
An institutional shareholder of The Kraft-Heinz Co. is not entitled to a "do-over" on an insider trading lawsuit that Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed in 2021 because the supposed "new evidence" it offers isn't actually new and wouldn't have made any difference in the case, the company said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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New Concerns, Same Tune At This Year's SIFMA Conference
At this year's Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on legal developments affecting the financial services industry, government regulators’ emphasis on whistleblowing and AI washing represented a new refrain in an increasingly familiar chorus calling for prompt and thorough corporate cooperation, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: Benefits Of MDL Transfers
A recent order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation highlights a critical part of the panel's work — moving cases into an existing MDL — and serves as a reminder that common arguments against such transfers don't outweigh the benefits of coordinating discovery and utilizing lead counsel, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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An Overview Of Key Financing Documents In Venture Capital
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent Moelis decision highlights the importance of structuring corporate governance around investor demand, meaning early-stage companies seeking venture funding through sales of preferred stock should understand the legal documents needed to do so successfully, say Daniel Bell-Garcia and Tristan Kaisharis at Winstead.
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Reducing Risk While DOJ Plans New Whistleblower Rewards
In light of the Department of Justice's newly announced plan to create a comprehensive whistleblower reward program to fill the gaps in the current patchwork of federal incentives, companies should mitigate their risk of external claims now by implementing internal systems where employees can confidently and anonymously report concerns, say Caleb Hayes-Deats and Walter Hawes at MoloLamken.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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How Activision Ruling Favors M&A Formalities Over Practice
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent nod to a proposed class action, alleging shareholder notice violations in Activision Blizzard’s sale to Microsoft, puts practitioners on notice that customary merger and acquisition market practices do not offer protection from potential liability, say John Stigi and Eugene Choi at Sheppard Mullin.
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Takeaways From The 2023 DOJ Fraud Section Report
Attorneys at Wiley discuss notable trends from the U.S. Department of Justice's recently reported Fraud Section activity last year and highlight areas of enforcement to watch for in the future, including healthcare fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.
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How New SEC Rule May Turn DeFi Participants Into 'Dealers'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced a new rule to amend its definition of a securities "dealer," but the change could have concerning implications for decentralized finance and blockchain, as the SEC has suggested it may subject DeFi participants to registration requirements and other regulations, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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How Harsher Penalties For AI Crimes May Work In Practice
With recent pronouncements from the U.S. Department of Justice that prosecutors may seek sentencing enhancements for crimes committed using artificial intelligence, defense counsel should understand how the sentencing guidelines and statutory factors will come into play, says Jennie VonCannon at Crowell & Moring.
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2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.
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Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference
Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.