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Securities

  • May 28, 2025

    Stay Won't Be Lifted On Claims Over $93M Real Estate Fraud

    Victims of a $93 million Miami real estate development scheme won't be able to pursue their claims — at least for now — against the company's former CEO after a Florida federal judge on Wednesday denied their request to lift a stay on litigation during a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission receivership.

  • May 28, 2025

    French Duo Can't Escape SEC's $40M Real Estate Fraud Suit

    Two French half-brothers whom the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused of misappropriating $40 million from investors in a real estate investment fraud scheme lost their bid to get the suit tossed, with a Florida federal judge ruling Wednesday that the investment contracts at issue in the suit qualify as securities.

  • May 28, 2025

    FINRA Fines Broker-Dealer $350K Over Influencer Promotions

    Trading platform Public Investing is the latest firm to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations that its dealings with so-called social media influencers violated certain FINRA promotion rules.

  • May 28, 2025

    Share Control Key To Archegos Suits, 2nd Circ. Suggests

    Whether a raft of lawsuits can be restored against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC may depend in part on how the law defines and treats a controlling shareholder, a panel of the Second Circuit suggested Wednesday as a group of investors tried to save their securities fraud claims arising from the collapse of Archegos Capital Management LP.

  • May 28, 2025

    High Court's Bid To Save Fed Independence May Backfire

    The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled it may expand President Donald Trump's power to summarily fire independent agency officials while keeping the Federal Reserve in a league of its own, but legal experts say that carveout may still leave the central bank's independence on shaky ground.

  • May 28, 2025

    Class Suit Against AI Drugmaker Back On After Mediation Fails

    After the parties failed to settle through mediation, a Connecticut federal judge has unpaused the latest iteration of a proposed class action accusing artificial intelligence-driven drugmaker BioXcel Therapeutics Inc. of false and misleading statements about U.S. Food and Drug Administration compliance issues surrounding a dementia drug.

  • May 28, 2025

    Sens. Urge Treasury To Rescind Ownership Reporting Rule

    A bipartisan duo from the Senate Finance Committee has urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to fully implement the Corporate Transparency Act, criticizing an interim final rule that exempts domestic businesses from contested reporting regulations.

  • May 28, 2025

    DOL Tells 5th Circ. It Will Craft New ESG Rule For 401(k) Plans

    The U.S. Department of Labor told the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that it will launch new rulemaking and move "as expeditiously as possible" to replace Biden administration regulations on whether fiduciaries can consider issues like climate change and social justice when choosing retirement plan investments.

  • May 28, 2025

    Mallinckrodt Investors Get Initial OK For $5.5M Settlement

    Investors of drugmaker Mallinckrodt received preliminary approval of their $5.5 million settlement with two executives and a director of the company Wednesday, ending the investors' claims they were misled into believing Mallinckrodt had recovered from bankruptcy and would make a $200 million payment to opioid claimants.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 1st Circ. Ruling May Slow SEC Retail Investment Advice Cases

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    The First Circuit's recent ruling, finding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not substantiate its $93.3 million fine against a retail investment adviser, may raise the threshold on materiality findings in these cases and add a speed bump resulting in fewer such actions, say attorneys at Weil.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • How Proxy Advisory Firms Are Approaching AI And DEI

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    Institutional Shareholder Services' and Glass Lewis' annual updates to their proxy voting guidelines reflect some of the biggest issues of the day, including artificial intelligence and DEI, and companies should parse these changes carefully, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance

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    Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Ban On Reputation Risk May Help Bank Enforcement Defense

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    The Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s recent commitment to stop examining banks for reputation risk could help defendants in enforcement actions challenge unfavorable assessments and support defendants' arguments for lower civil money penalties, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Assessing Market Manipulation Claims In Energy Markets

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    Today's energy markets are conducive to sudden price changes, breakdowns in pricing linkages and substantial shifts in trading patterns, so it's necessary to take a holistic view when evaluating allegations of market manipulation, say Maximilian Bredendiek, Greg Leonard and Manuel Vasconcelos at Cornerstone Research.

  • Series

    Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

  • Limit On SEC Enforcement Authority May Mean Fewer Actions

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    Following a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission final rule revoking the Enforcement Division director's long-standing authority to issue formal investigation orders, it's clear the division is headed for a new era of limited autonomy, marked by a significantly slower pace of SEC investigations, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • As SEC, CFTC Retreat, Who Will Police The Crypto Markets?

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    As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pull back from policing the crypto markets, the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have the authority to pick up the slack — although recent events raise doubts that they will do so, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Calif. May Pick Up The Slack On Foreign Bribery Enforcement

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    The California attorney general recently expressed an interest in targeting foreign bribery amid a federal pause in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, so companies should calibrate their compliance programs to mitigate against changing risks, especially as other states could follow California’s lead, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • A Look At M&A Trends In An Uncertain Deal Environment

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    Dealmakers are adopting more cautious and deliberate merger and acquisition practices, such as earnout agreements, joint ventures and strategic partnerships that mitigate risk and bridge valuation gaps, amid the slower pace so far in 2025, says Louis Lehot at Foley & Lardner.

  • Opinion

    Ripple Settlement Offers Hope For Better Regulatory Future

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    The recent settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple — in which the agency agreed to return $75 million of a $125 million fine — vindicates criticisms of the SEC and highlights the urgent need for a complete overhaul of its crypto regulation, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.

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