Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Securities
-
April 17, 2024
Karuna Investor Ends Suit After Bristol-Myers Seals $14B Deal
A Karuna Therapeutics shareholder has dropped her proposed class action after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. completed its $14 billion purchase of the biotechology company, a deal the suit alleged was brought about by misrepresentations to investors to gain their support.
-
April 17, 2024
Wells Fargo Headed To Trial In Ex-Exec's COVID-Era ADA Suit
Wells Fargo is headed to trial over a former investment director's Americans with Disabilities Act claim in a suit alleging he lost his job following an accommodation request after his employer prepared to mandate a return to office, with a North Carolina federal judge also trimming the former employee's age discrimination suit.
-
April 17, 2024
New Stablecoin Bill Eyes Investor Protections, AML Regime
Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R.-Wyo., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., have unveiled their long-awaited proposal to regulate stablecoins, which would require issuers to hold full reserves, ban algorithmic stablecoins and define the authority that state and federal banking regulators will have over the tokens.
-
April 17, 2024
Judge Won't Toss Any Expert In Under Armour Securities Suit
The opposing parties in a suit related to Under Armour Inc.'s allegedly inflated stock prices can keep their expert witnesses, a Maryland federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying he was mostly unswayed by the arguments from both sides.
-
April 17, 2024
Judge Says Ex-Bank Rep Worse Than Robber For Film Fraud
An Illinois federal judge handed down a 2½-year prison sentence Wednesday for a former Citigroup and Wells Fargo financial adviser who admitted to swindling clients out of nearly $1.5 million by soliciting them to invest in purported movie productions, saying the only difference between her and a bank robber is that "she didn't have a mask and a gun."
-
April 17, 2024
SEC Has Careful Eye On Disclosures Amid Israel-Hamas War
Against the backdrop of protracted war, the U.S. securities watchdog is urging U.S.-listed Israeli companies to disclose more details describing how the Israel-Hamas conflict is affecting their operations in order to keep investors apprised of risks, lawyers say.
-
April 17, 2024
Trader's Alleged $110M Mango Markets Fraud In Jury's Hands
A Manhattan federal jury weighed charges Wednesday against a cryptocurrency trader accused of illegally squeezing $110 million out of Mango Markets by inflating the finance platform's tokens, then borrowing against them, allegedly taking "supply and demand into his own hands."
-
April 17, 2024
Bankman-Fried Appeal May Cite Unusual Preview Testimony
Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal of his conviction and 25-year prison sentence may cite a "rather unprecedented" trial procedure in which the FTX founder gave provisional testimony before officially taking the witness stand last year, one of his attorneys said Wednesday.
-
April 17, 2024
Panel Agrees Pot Investor's Deal In 2017 Suit Nixes 2019 Suit
A Washington state appeals court has thrown out an investor's suit alleging that a cannabis venture failed to follow through on a deal to acquire ownership interest in exchange for a $650,000 investment, finding his settlement of a prior suit block his claims.
-
April 17, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec's Contempt Plea Rejected By Judge
A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday rejected a former pharmaceutical executive's agreement to plead guilty to contempt for using an alias to get around a consent judgment in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case, saying both the former executive and the government knew he'd view the sentence as too low.
-
April 17, 2024
Tesla To Vote On Reviving Musk's $55B Pay, Moving To Texas
Attorneys for Tesla Inc. notified Delaware's chancellor Wednesday that the company will seek stockholder approval June 13 for the same $55.8 billion Elon Musk compensation plan voided by Chancery Court on Jan. 30, along with reincorporation of Tesla as a Texas company.
-
April 17, 2024
Elliott Waives BioMarin Board Deal, Moots Del. Suit
Elliott Investment Management LP has waived an agreement with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. that gave the activist investor three new seats on the biopharmaceutical company's board, mooting a Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit that a BioMarin shareholder filed earlier this month.
-
April 16, 2024
Autonomy CEO Pressured JPMorgan Over Analyst, Jury Told
An ex-JPMorgan stock analyst testifying Tuesday in the criminal fraud trial of former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch told jurors that the software company founder responded with hostility when his research reports questioned its growth, and that Lynch offered JPMorgan millions in business if he were taken off the Autonomy beat.
-
April 16, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Won't Rehear Case Over Agency Protections
A divided Fifth Circuit on Tuesday denied en banc rehearing of a panel decision that likely sets up a U.S. Supreme Court challenge of long-standing limits to the president's power to fire executive branch subordinates.
-
April 16, 2024
Crypto Co. Can't Be Sued Over 'Scam Token,' 2nd Circ. Hears
The business, founder and venture capital backers behind decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap Labs told the Second Circuit that a New York federal judge was right to dismiss a suit from investors who claimed they bought scam tokens on the platform since the business didn't enter into any contract with buyers.
-
April 16, 2024
Israeli Ad Tech Co. Overhyped Microsoft Ties, Investor Claims
Ad tech company Perion Network and some of its current and former executives face a proposed class action alleging its investors were damaged after its strategic partner Microsoft Bing "unilaterally" changed its search advertising pricing.
-
April 16, 2024
'Wide As The Ocean': Apple Judge Pans Investor Deal Release
A California federal judge declined Monday to preliminarily approve Apple's nonmonetary settlement in a derivative-shareholder suit over claims it secretly slowed iPhones, criticizing the deal's release of claims that "relate" to the case as overbroad and noting that, "in practice, lawyers argue that 'relate' is as wide as the ocean."
-
April 16, 2024
Businessman Urges Calif. Court To Refuse $4.4M Award
A businessman who signed agreements with a Chinese energy management company on behalf of two different investment funds has told a California federal court that he never received proper notice about an arbitration that resulted in a $4.4 million award against him.
-
April 16, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds Tossing Skillz Gaming Tech Investor Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a decision to toss a proposed class action claiming that mobile gaming company Skillz Inc. misled investors about its technology prior to a 2021 merger with a special purpose acquisition company, ruling that issues with the gaming software do not make the company' statements false or misleading.
-
April 16, 2024
SEC Hit With Class Action Over Database Privacy Concerns
A conservative think tank filed a lawsuit in Texas federal court Tuesday hoping to put an end to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission market surveillance tool known as the consolidated audit trail, arguing in the proposed class action that the database threatens to subject the personal information of tens of millions of American citizens to a possible data breach.
-
April 16, 2024
Genesis To Return $2B Of Crypto Under Gemini Settlement
Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis will return 97% of digital assets from a customer program with crypto platform Gemini by early May after a New York bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a settlement that attorneys for Genesis said closes out bitter disputes and sets it up to repay other creditors under a Chapter 11 plan.
-
April 16, 2024
Under Armour Insurers To Cover Disputes In 2 Policy Periods
Under Armour's excess insurers must provide additional coverage to the company in connection with a consolidated securities class action, derivative matters and government investigations, a Maryland federal court announced.
-
April 16, 2024
Hedge Fund Asks Court To Toss REIT's Suit In Takeover Row
New York hedge fund Blackwells Capital LLC fired off the latest shot in its ongoing board takeover spat with a Texas-based hotel real estate investment trust, asking Monday for a federal judge to toss a lawsuit aimed at warding off the proxy contest.
-
April 16, 2024
Chancery Orders Closer Look At Crown Castle Proxy Moves
A Delaware vice chancellor has ordered a preliminary injunction hearing ahead of a contested board proxy vote for cell tower operator Crown Castle Inc., after the company's co-founder objected to Crown's unilateral addition of an extra, filled board seat in the midst of a proxy fight.
-
April 16, 2024
Terraform Creditors Say All Clear To Hire Crypto Tracing Firm
The creditors committee for bankrupt cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. said on Tuesday it had resolved the only issues the U.S. Trustee's Office had with the committee's request to hire an investment bank to advise it on tracing cryptocurrency in Terraform's Chapter 11 case.
Expert Analysis
-
Predicting DeFi Regulations At Home And Abroad In 2024
Though decentralized finance has advocates on both sides of the Atlantic in figures like U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, DeFi in 2024 seems likely to be folded into existing regulatory frameworks in the U.K. and EU, while anti-crypto scrutiny may discourage DeFi’s growth in the U.S., say Daniel Csefalvay and Eric Martin at BCLP.
-
Opinion
Exxon Court Should Clarify Shareholder Proposal Exclusion
ExxonMobil last month took the unusual action of asking a Texas federal judge whether a proposal from climate activists seeking to limit oil and gas sales could be excluded from its 2024 proxy statement, and the court should use this opportunity to reevaluate SEC policy and set clear limits on when shareholder proposals can be included, says Stephen Bainbridge at UCLA School of Law.
-
Mitigating The Risk Of Post-Closing M&A Earnout Disputes
Today's uncertain deal environment makes a well-crafted earnout an excellent way for parties to accomplish a desired transaction that would not otherwise occur, but transacting parties also need to take key steps to avoid the risk of post-closing disputes that earnouts can present, say Chad Barton and Claire Lydiard at Holland & Knight.
-
Understanding SEC's Focus Amid Lack Of Final AI Rules
Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rules to govern artificial intelligence are likely far from being finalized, understanding existing regulatory provisions that could address AI risks with respect to development, disclosure, compliance and data protection could help firms anticipate and avoid pitfalls, say attorneys at Skadden.
-
Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases
After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
-
How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.
-
Open Questions After Elastos Crypto Class Action Settlement
The recent settlement in Owen v. Elastos Foundation resolving a class action fight over whether Elastos was required to register an initial coin offering with U.S. regulators has raised several questions that may be of interest to lawyers litigating cryptocurrency-related cases, including whether a crypto token constitutes a security under U.S. law, says Bradley Simon at Schlam Stone.
-
Del. Segway Dismissal Suggests Execs Not Liable For Biz Risk
While the debate continues within the Delaware Chancery Court over whether Caremark liability applies to matters of pure business risk, the court's recent rejection of Segway’s suit against the ex-president who oversaw financial difficulties suggests the court is uninterested in undermining the deference the business judgment rule grants corporate fiduciaries, say attorneys at Dechert.
-
$32.4M Fine For Info Disclosure Is A Stark Warning For Banks
The New York State Department of Financial Services and the Federal Reserve's fining of a Chinese state-owned bank $32.4 million last month underscores the need for financial institutions to have policies and procedures in place to handle confidential supervisory information, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
Exxon ESG Proxy Statement Suit May Chill Investor Proposals
Exxon Mobil’s recent use of a Texas federal lawsuit to intimidate shareholders into withdrawing a climate-friendly proxy proposal could inspire more public companies to sue to avoid adopting ESG resolutions — a power move that would chill activist investor participation and unbalance shareholder-corporate relations, say Domenico Minerva and James Fee at Labaton Keller.
-
Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
-
Implications For Digital Assets After SEC Settlement With DAO
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's December settlement with BarnBridge — finding that the decentralized autonomous organization's products were securities under federal law — foreshadows increased enforcement attention on digital assets, and reveals arguments the SEC may use in similar disputes with decentralized finance protocols, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
-
SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
-
Bitcoin ETF Approval Doesn't Mean SEC Approves Of Crypto
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval last month of 11 applications for spot exchange-traded funds tracking bitcoin is a landmark moment for the crypto-asset industry, investors who are hopeful that the SEC will approve similar crypto-based ETFs may be disappointed, says attorneys at Mintz.
-
A Closer Look At Novel Jury Instruction In Forex Rigging Case
After the recent commodities fraud conviction of a U.K.-based hedge fund executive in U.S. v. Phillips, post-trial briefing has focused on whether the New York federal court’s jury instruction incorrectly defined the requisite level of intent, which should inform defense counsel in future open market manipulation cases, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.