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Securities

  • May 28, 2025

    Ohio Exec Pleads Guilty In Ponzi Scheme Investigation

    A Toledo, Ohio, investment firm executive has copped to a role in a purported Ponzi scheme that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said bilked investors out of $72 million.

  • May 28, 2025

    4th Circ. Backs 5-Year Sentence In $9.3M Ponzi Scheme

    The Fourth Circuit stood by a lower court's decision to imprison a North Carolina man for 63 months after he pled guilty to wire fraud and "use of manipulative and deceptive devices," concluding that the sentence is not unreasonable and was ordered after proper consideration of the public interest.

  • May 28, 2025

    Smartmatic Says Fox Is Trying To 'Bury Proof' In Defamation Row

    Voting technology company Smartmatic has asked a New York state court to lift the "veil of secrecy" on evidence it alleges Fox News is trying to keep hidden from the public as it faces allegations of defamation related to conspiracy theories it aired about a stolen election in 2020.

  • May 28, 2025

    Checkpoint Pharma Sued For Docs On $355M Merger Plan

    Stockholders of cancer drug developer Checkpoint Pharmaceuticals sued the company in Delaware's Chancery Court for documents on its proposed $355 million acquisition by India-based Sun Pharmaceuticals, alleging conflicts and lack of disclosures regarding the role played by Checkpoint's controlling investor, Fortress Biotech.

  • May 28, 2025

    4th Circ. Finds Towers Watson's Merger Deals Not Covered

    Towers Watson's insurers have no obligation to pay out their remaining directors and officers coverage to help fund settlements resolving shareholder litigation over the company's merger with Willis, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Wednesday, saying the deals fall plainly within the scope of a so-called bump-up exclusion.

  • May 28, 2025

    DOL Rescinds Warning Against Crypto In 401(k) Plans

    The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday rescinded guidance by former President Joe Biden's administration that warned against crypto offerings in 401(k) plans, which had sparked a legal challenge from a 401(k) provider against the agency.

  • May 27, 2025

    Proterra Investors Push For Final OK Of $29M Settlement

    Proterra Inc. investors have asked a California federal court to sign off on a $29 million deal resolving allegations that the bankrupt electric-vehicle maker's executives misled them about liquidity issues, according to a motion for final approval of the settlement filed Tuesday.

  • May 27, 2025

    Crypto Industry Urges CFTC Action On Perpetual Contracts

    Derivatives marketplaces and cryptocurrency firms told the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission that setting rules for so-called perpetual derivatives would bring significant crypto trading activity onshore, but the regulator will have to contend with round-the-clock trading, novel risks and characteristics that don't fit neatly into existing classifications.

  • May 27, 2025

    Drone Co. Overhyped Army Contract Prospects, Investor Says

    Drone maker Red Cat Holdings Inc. faced a proposed investor class action alleging it misled investors about its expectations for capitalizing on a prospective U.S. Army contract, hurting shareholders as markets reacted to adverse news about the contract and the company's potential revenue from the deal.

  • May 27, 2025

    Bluebird Bio Beats Investor Suit Over FDA Cancer Warning

    Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Bluebird Bio Inc. has beaten a shareholder suit accusing it of misleading investors about the likelihood of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision requiring a "black box warning" on one of its products due to the cancer risk it posed.

  • May 27, 2025

    Next Meats Beats Investor Suit Over 'Short Swing' Profits

    The controlling shareholders of Japan-based Next Meats have beaten, for good, a suit alleging they collected unlawful short-swing profits after a New York federal judge found the plaintiff could not satisfy the so-called Morrison test of demonstrating a domestic securities transaction that can be tried in U.S. courts.

  • May 27, 2025

    Unlicensed Adviser Charged With $4M Securities Fraud In NC

    Federal prosecutors in North Carolina have charged an unlicensed California investment adviser with fraud and money laundering after he allegedly lured more than 30 victims into investing more than $4 million in bogus commercial real estate opportunities.

  • May 27, 2025

    Chancery Footnotes Raise Post-SB 21 Stir In Delaware

    A Delaware vice chancellor has created a stir with expansive opinion footnotes pushing back on the state Supreme Court's rejection of a controller's liability to stockholders after rechartering a business in more board-friendly Nevada, close on the heels of a bitter legislative debate over reworking Delaware corporate law.

  • May 27, 2025

    CFTC Member Speaks On Agency Exits: 'Not A Great Situation'

    Departing U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Christy Goldsmith Romero said Tuesday that a possible leadership void at the agency could do a "great disservice to regulation" at a time when Congress is thinking of handing the agency the keys to the cryptocurrency industry.

  • May 27, 2025

    Davis Polk-Led Stablecoin Giant Circle Eyes $600M IPO

    Venture-backed stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for an estimated $600 million initial public offering, represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and underwriters' counsel Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, rekindling its IPO after a tariff-related pause.

  • May 27, 2025

    EV-Maker Polestar Faces Investor Suit Over Financial Reports

    Swedish electrical vehicle company Polestar has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of misleading investors by failing to maintain proper internal controls, which caused it to misreport liabilities and assets on its balance sheets for several quarters.

  • May 27, 2025

    Bank Groups Agree To Pause Of Fed Stress Test Suit

    Major banking trade groups and the board of governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System came together to ask an Ohio federal judge to pause their dispute over the board's big bank stress test practices, telling the court that the trade groups' concerns are being addressed.

  • May 27, 2025

    Tesla Asks Delaware Justices To Slash $176M Class Atty Fee

    Attorneys for Tesla Inc. have told Delaware's Supreme Court that counsel for stockholders who secured a disputed $735 million in savings from director cash and options rollbacks deserve less than the $176.2 million fee awarded the team.

  • May 27, 2025

    'I Need To Be Careful': Judge Wades Into Musk-Firm Conflict

    A New York federal judge questioned his authority to weigh in on Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP's hiring decisions after it sought permission to employ a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney who Elon Musk claims could disadvantage him in a shareholder lawsuit, asking the firm and Musk to brief him on what may be an issue of first impression.

  • May 27, 2025

    High Court Passes On Axed $563M BMO Harris Ponzi Verdict

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review the Eighth Circuit's decision to strike down a $563 million jury verdict against BMO Harris NA over claims that a bank it acquired had aided and abetted Thomas J. Petters' multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

  • May 23, 2025

    Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

    This past year, a handful of attorneys secured billions of dollars in settlements and judgments for both classes and individual plaintiffs against massive companies and organizations like Facebook, Dell, the National Association of Realtors, Johnson & Johnson, UFC and Credit Suisse, earning them recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2025.

  • May 23, 2025

    NY Judge Axes $110M Mango Markets Trader's Fraud Verdict

    A Manhattan federal judge on Friday granted a crypto trader's request to overturn a conviction for defrauding platform Mango Markets out of roughly $110 million, finding that prosecutors didn't link his conduct to New York and failed to show he duped the platform.

  • May 23, 2025

    Cooley Beats Malpractice Claim In NJ Investor Suit, For Now

    A New Jersey federal judge on Friday trimmed a securities fraud lawsuit alleging Cooley LLP and its attorneys deliberately hid from an investor fraud claims against a startup's CEO, dismissing legal malpractice allegations against Cooley and four attorneys, but keeping alive other claims and letting the plaintiff amend his suit.

  • May 23, 2025

    SEC Cracks Door For Retail Entry Into Private Funds

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is exploring increasing retail access to private funds, marking one of several pivotal shifts the watchdog is considering that would widen public exposure to the vast but less regulated world of private markets.

  • May 23, 2025

    2nd Circ. Rejects Novel Short-Swing Trading Theory

    Controlling shareholders who sell stock at a time when their company is conducting a share repurchase program cannot be sued to recoup so-called short-swing profits, the Second Circuit said in rejecting a novel legal theory Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Comparing 2 Pending Bills To Regulate Stablecoins

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    Alexandra Steinberg Barrage at Troutman analyzes the key similarities and differences between two payment stablecoin proposals currently pending in Congress — the STABLE and GENIUS acts — as both chambers are forming a working group to deliver a clear regulatory framework for digital assets and bipartisan agreement appears within reach.

  • Series

    Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.

  • How Private Securities Suits Complement SEC Enforcement

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    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement is vital to the healthy functioning of markets, but government enforcement alone is not enough to ensure meaningful monetary recoveries for investor losses due to securities law violations, say attorneys at Bernstein Litowitz.

  • The Case For Compliance During The Trump Administration

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    Given the Trump administration’s shifting white collar enforcement priorities, C-suite executives may have the natural instinct to pare back compliance initiatives, but there are several good reasons for companies to at least stay the course on their compliance programs, if not enhance them, say attorneys at Riley Safer.

  • Corp. Transparency Act's Future Under Treasury's Bessent

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    The Corporate Transparency Act’s ultimate fate faced uncertain terms at the end of 2024, but new U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statements and actions so far demonstrate that he does not intend to ignore the law, though he may attempt to make modifications, say attorneys at Taylor English.

  • A Look At A Possible Corporate Transparency Act Exemption

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    Attorneys at Kirkland offer a deep dive into the application of the Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements specifically to U.S.-domiciled co-issuers in typical collateralized loan obligation transactions, and consider whether such issuers may be able to assert an exemption from the CTA's reporting requirements.

  • Opinion

    Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice

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    A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.

  • In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege

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    Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.

  • What Banks Need To Know About Trump's Executive Orders

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    While the numerous executive orders and memos from the last few weeks don't touch on many of the issues the banking industry expected the Trump administration to address, banks still need to pay attention to the flurry of orders from strategic, compliance and operational perspectives, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • How SDNY US Atty Nom May Shape Enforcement Priorities

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    President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton, will likely shift the office’s enforcement priorities, from refining whistleblower policies to deemphasizing novel prosecutorial theories, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • 4 Potential Effects Of 3rd Circ.'s Coinbase Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent landmark decision in Coinbase v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the SEC's refusal to engage in rulemaking to clarify its stance on crypto enforcement was "insufficiently reasoned" could have wide-ranging impacts, including on other cases, legislation and even the SEC's reputation itself, says Daniel Payne at Cole-Frieman.

  • What Companies Should Consider During FCPA Pause

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    While waiting for updated guidance on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminal investigations after a Feb. 10 executive order froze FCPA enforcement, companies should consider the implications of several possible policy shifts, rather than relaxing internal oversight of questionable business practices, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Takeaways From CFTC's Private Fund Rule Amendments

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently adopted amendments to Rule 4.7 of the Commodity Exchange Act ensure that investors in the complex derivatives markets receive relevant and comprehensive information, and further align suitability criteria for investors in private funds, says Rita Molesworth at Willkie.

  • Series

    Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.

  • Rethinking How To Engage Shareholders, Activists Via Proxies

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    ​​​​​​​This proxy season, companies should consider visually driven proxy statements that highlight the board's strengths, the alignment between executive compensation and performance, and a commitment to sustainability and risk management to earn the support of investors and fend off hostile acquirers, say Craig Clay and Ron Schneider at DFIN.

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