U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said Tuesday that the Department of Justice has completed its investigation into his stock trading in the run-up to the COVID-19 pandemic and that it will not file charges.
A New York federal judge threw out a U.K. businessman's multimillion-dollar fraud suit against a former high-level cabinet member of the Trump administration, finding Tuesday that the businessman failed to allege a pattern of racketeering.
The aggressive enforcement approach that helped Gary Gensler revitalize the once-sleepy Commodity Futures Trading Commission is expected to soon permeate the nation's top securities regulator.
Minority investors in online professional education venture Pluralsight Inc. opened a proposed class suit in Delaware's Chancery Court on Tuesday to block a $3.5 billion go-private sale to Vista Equity Partners.
Investors in financial services firm Towers Watson & Co. asked a Virginia federal judge Friday to grant initial approval to a $90 million settlement deal that would end federal and Delaware Chancery lawsuits over the company's 2016 merger with risk adviser and insurance brokerage Willis Group Holdings.
A retirement fund leading a proposed class action accusing drugmaker Endo International of artificially inflating its stock price is fighting to remain as the lead plaintiff and urged a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday to reject competing bids to replace the fund.
Trading app Robinhood was hit with a proposed class action in federal court in San Francisco, alleging the app lured in inexperienced investors and then profited off policies that garnered those "young adults" less bang for their buck.
A New York federal judge has tossed a proposed investor class action accusing a tobacco and hemp biotechnology company of hiding a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting problems, finding that the company had already told investors about the underlying issues.
Real estate investors have urged a Florida federal judge not to toss their proposed class claims that a DLA Piper attorney and his previous firm, Fox Rothschild LLP, took part in a Ponzi scheme, arguing the complaint adequately alleges how the lawyer helped sell securities he purportedly knew were illegal.
Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen promoted the economic and tax policies of President-elect Joe Biden during a Senate hearing Tuesday to confirm her nomination as Treasury secretary, pledging targeted small-business tax relief and higher tax rates for corporations.
A Brooklyn federal judge has rejected "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli's newest plea to be released early from his seven-year prison sentence, saying the controversial former pharmaceutical executive hasn't shown how his mental health supposedly weakens his immune system and heightens his risk from the coronavirus.
Deutsche Bank AG has urged an Illinois federal judge to toss a proposed class action seeking to hold it responsible for two former traders' alleged 2013 illegal spoofing schemes, arguing the Commodity Exchange Act doesn't allow for such claims.
King & Spalding announced Tuesday that it bolstered its government investigations group with former U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, a President Donald Trump appointee who will leave behind the District of New Jersey to tackle pandemic-era private practice as a partner in the international firm's New York office.
Gary Gensler's nomination as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman could lead the agency to bolster investor protections, including providing stronger disclosure of climate risks, and pare back or reverse Trump-era rulemaking seen as friendly to business.
A court in the German city of Braunschweig has dropped securities law charges against the former chief executive officer of the carmaker Volkswagen as prosecutors continue to pursue more serious charges, including tax evasion, against him.
The First Circuit affirmed a decision Friday to allow Porsche U.S. discovery of John Hancock Life Insurance affiliates' trading activity and strategies for use in a securities fraud action brought in Germany related to the Volkswagen-led emissions cheating scandal.
Grubhub investors urged an Illinois federal judge Friday not to toss out their securities fraud suit claiming the company lied about its ability to attract high-quality diners, arguing their complaint lays out a legal theory "far from 'fraud by hindsight.'"
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to approve a $1.2 million judgment against broker defendants in litigation concerning the Woodbridge Group of Companies Ponzi scheme, citing the Supreme Court's June decision that the regulator can seek disgorgement in federal court.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday filed suit against a father-son duo behind a California wealth management firm, accusing the father of impersonating his son to advise clients despite being banned from broker-dealer platforms.
Investors suing Swiss blockchain technology company Status Research urged a New York federal judge Thursday not to toss their proposed class action, arguing U.S. securities laws apply to the foreign company's unregistered digital tokens.
Several current and former executives of mall owner CBL & Associates will get a 90-day reprieve from a federal stockholder lawsuit, after a Texas bankruptcy court judge extended the stay on litigation during CBL's Chapter 11 reorganization.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network hit Capital One with a $390 million fine on Friday evening over admitted shortcomings in its anti-money laundering program from 2008 to 2014 that the agency said allowed millions of dollars in suspicious transactions to go unreported.
A Nevada entrepreneur charged with looting $17 million from NS8 Inc., a cyberfraud protection company he founded, is considering a possible plea deal amid ongoing investigations by prosecutors and in bankruptcy court, a Manhattan federal judge heard Friday.
Three Concho Resources Inc. shareholders sued it in Delaware late Thursday, demanding company records on the eve of a stockholder vote on a $9.7 billion, all-stock tie-up with ConocoPhillips so they can verify their concerns that executives pursued personal benefits while inking a deal that undervalued the company .
California cannabis regulators on Friday proposed regulations implementing a new state law intended to ease access to financial services for businesses, codifying the types of otherwise confidential information the state can release at the request of licensees.
No U.S. law firm has its shares listed on a public stock exchange unlike some lucrative overseas counterparts, but by allowing nonattorneys to become stakeholders in law firms, Arizona may have paved the way for this to change should other U.S. states — particularly New York — follow suit, says Marc Lieberman at Kutak Rock.
Tom Selman at Scopus Financial suggests three ways the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission might reconcile the rights of market participants with the regulator's responsibility to protect investors, on the heels of Commissioner Hester Peirce's recent remarks calling out this "inherent conflict."
Although justices asked difficult questions of both sides at the recent U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in AMG v. Federal Trade Commission, they expressed significant skepticism of the FTC's implicit authority to seek restitution and disgorgement of the proceeds of fraud and other misconduct, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.
In this brief video, Peter Chan and Karl Egbert at Baker McKenzie, and Suzan Rose at the Alternative Investment Management Association discuss fund manager compliance and monitoring issues related to state and federal rules on campaign contributions, particularly in light of the recent election cycle.
Opinion
As the Biden administration prepares to take office, financial regulators must resolve to collaborate with each other and industries to manage the financial risks from climate change after years of obstruction by the Trump administration, says New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell.
Some recent litigation developments demonstrate efforts by law firms and their clients to search for opportunities in the COVID-19 economic fallout, while others — such as the rise of contingency fee arrangements — reflect acceleration of tendencies that were already underway, says William Weisman at Therium Capital.
Multi-asset real estate funds may provide investors with opportunities to deploy capital during the pandemic-induced market downturn, but several structural questions should be considered before raising a fund, say Matt Ertman and Max Brunner at Allen Matkins.
In the face of rising client demands due to the pandemic and the changing regulatory environment, and with remote work continuing for the foreseeable future, lawyers should invest in their well-being by establishing inspiring yet realistic goals for 2021 — one month at a time, says Krista Larson at Morgan Lewis.
Life sciences companies can draw important insights from the many dismissal opinions that federal courts issued during 2020 in securities actions arising from adverse U.S. Food and Drug Administration actions and clinical development setbacks, say Yvonne Puig and Peter Stokes at Norton Rose.
Opinion
Fundamental differences between whistleblower provisions in the recently passed Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Dodd-Frank Act will render the new law ineffective until Congress amends it to fully conform to Dodd-Frank's highly successful reward provisions, says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.
"Confidential" and other search terms commonly used to locate privileged documents during e-discovery are pretty ineffective, so practitioners should consider including specific types of keywords that are demonstrably better at targeting privilege, say Robert Keeling at Sidley and Rishi Chhatwal at AT&T.
A recent shareholder lawsuit against First American Title Insurance Co. highlights that securities litigation prompted by regulatory actions may become increasingly prevalent in the cybersecurity context, say attorneys at Pasich.
A review of state attorney general actions in 2020 addressing consumer concerns including data privacy, product safety and marketplace competition can help companies prepare for the expected regulatory enforcement wave in 2021, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
Lawyers working remotely during the pandemic while physically outside the jurisdictions in which they are licensed will find some comfort in a recent American Bar Association opinion sanctioning such practice, but there is ambiguity regarding the contours of what's allowed, say attorneys at Harris Wiltshire.
By using the novel prosecutorial tactic known as access theory, President-elect Joe Biden can initiate a 2021 offensive to stop ransomware, says John Stark at John Reed Stark Consulting.