Asset Management

  • September 25, 2024

    Merrill, Harvest To Pay SEC $9.3M For Ignoring Clients' Limits

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced that investment advisory firms Harvest Volatility Management LLC and Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. will pay a combined $9.3 million to settle claims that they exceeded clients' designated investment limits over a two-year period, causing those clients to incur higher fees and losses.

  • September 25, 2024

    7th Circ. Doubts London Depo Should Trigger New Fraud Trial

    Seventh Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of a former investment manager's bid for a new trial after he was convicted of bilking investors of roughly $10 million because he could not physically confront a key witness who testified via deposition in London, saying he failed to adequately object to the circumstance.

  • September 25, 2024

    Cancer Detection Biz To Go Public Via $694M SPAC Merger

    Special purpose acquisition company Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company YD Biopharma Ltd. in a deal that gives the combined company an estimated enterprise value of $694 million and was built by three firms.

  • September 25, 2024

    2nd Circ. Eyes New Trial In Yale Retirement Fee Fight

    The Second Circuit appeared inclined Wednesday to revive a class action against Yale University from employees alleging their $5.5 billion retirement plan was mismanaged, as all three judges on the panel pointed out possible issues with jury instructions before a post-trial verdict in Yale's favor in 2023.

  • September 25, 2024

    NYSE Cancels Proposal To Extend SPAC Merger Deadlines

    The New York Stock Exchange has pulled a proposal that would have provided special purpose acquisition companies with more time to complete mergers while remaining listed, several months after it sought regulatory approval for the extension.

  • September 24, 2024

    Bank Regulators, SEC Face GOP Inquiry Over Crypto Bulletin

    House Republicans have called for the Federal Reserve and other agencies to turn over a host of documents for what the lawmakers say is an inquiry into the origins and behind-the-scenes policymaking impact of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cryptocurrency accounting guidance.

  • September 24, 2024

    'Be Careful What You Wish For' Post-Jarkesy, SEC Atty Says

    A trial lawyer for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told the defense bar Tuesday to "be careful what you wish for" after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the agency's in-house court system, saying cases against gatekeepers "are not going away."

  • September 24, 2024

    'Joker' Producer's Broker To Pay $60M In Ponzi Scheme Suit

    An investor asked an Illinois state judge Tuesday for his early approval of a $60 million settlement with an investment adviser who convinced her and others to put money toward an international Ponzi scheme she says movie producer Jason Cloth carried out by raising new funds to pay off older investors.

  • September 24, 2024

    Ex-Foot Locker Exec To Pay $236K For Insider Trading

    A laid-off Foot Locker executive agreed to pay nearly $236,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he engaged in insider trading during and after his time with the sportswear company, the agency announced Tuesday.

  • September 24, 2024

    'The Predators Are Back,' Mich. Tax Foreclosure Attys Warn

    Lawyers for a proposed class accusing Michigan counties of unlawfully keeping proceeds of their tax-foreclosed home sales urged a federal judge Monday to bar a third-party claims firm and a "conspiring" Michigan attorney from trying to snatch away class members using tactics they called abusive and illegal.

  • September 24, 2024

    SEC Says Blockchain Cybersecurity Co. Ran $5M Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued a former blockchain cybersecurity and supply chain management company and its founder, alleging they deceived investors and fraudulently raised more than $5 million by falsely claiming that the company had secured contracts and that it expected to generate millions in revenue.

  • September 24, 2024

    Norfolk Southern Says Stock Drop Suit Based On 'Hindsight'

    Norfolk Southern Corp. is urging a Georgia federal court to throw out a proposed class action alleging it duped stockholders by misleading them about the safety of its operations, leading to a stock drop after last year's derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, saying the claims are a bid to capitalize in hindsight on the crash.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Slams 'Entitled' Standard General Exec's Race Bias Suit

    Dish Network has called for sanctions against Soo Kim, his hedge fund Standard General and their attorneys, calling Kim's racial discrimination suit against Dish, the Federal Communications Commission and a collection of other media players "an expensive temper tantrum."

  • September 24, 2024

    Star Witness Against Bankman-Fried Gets 2 Years In FTX Case

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison to two years in prison Tuesday, crediting her decision to testify against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried but saying the $11.2 billion fraud was too big to warrant a "get out of jail free card."

  • September 24, 2024

    King & Spalding, Skadden Rep $1.7B DE Shaw-Macquarie Deal

    Australian investment firm Macquarie Asset Management, advised by King & Spalding LLP, on Tuesday announced that it has agreed to take a "significant" minority stake in renewable energy company D.E. Shaw Renewables Investment Group, led by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, for up to $1.73 billion.

  • September 24, 2024

    Commercial REIT Unveils $251M IPO As Pipeline Builds

    Real estate investment trust FrontView Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for an estimated $251 million initial public offering, represented by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP and underwriters' counsel DLA Piper LLP, joining a growing IPO pipeline.

  • September 24, 2024

    3 Firms Rep As Blackstone, Vista Ink $8.4B Smartsheet Buy

    Work management platform Smartsheet Inc. will be purchased by private equity giants Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash, take-private deal valued at around $8.4 billion that was built by three law firms, the companies said Tuesday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Credit Suisse Can't Ditch Investor Fraud Suit, But PwC Can

    A New York federal judge has declined to fully dismiss a proposed class action alleging Credit Suisse misled investors about its condition in the run-up to its collapse and takeover by UBS, ruling that a narrow part of the litigation can proceed while much of it — including claims against PwC — must go.

  • September 23, 2024

    3rd Circ. Revives $60M Moroccan Hotel Award Fight

    The Third Circuit has sent a decision over a $60 million arbitral award favoring the Royal Mansour Hotel's current owner back to a lower court for further consideration, saying the company has plausibly argued that it didn't cause the Moroccan establishment to fall into financial ruin.

  • September 23, 2024

    Coinbase Brings On Ex-Citadel Legal Chief With SEC Chops

    Coinbase announced on Monday it has hired Ryan VanGrack to serve as its vice president of legal, where he will be overseeing civil litigation, regulatory probes, employment and intellectual property matters for the crypto exchange after spending seven years with Citadel Securities as general counsel.

  • September 23, 2024

    Petco, Shareholders Battle In Chancery Over Controller Clout

    Attorneys for Petco Health & Wellness Co. Inc. face an "uphill battle" in branding as "wrongly decided" a landmark Court of Chancery ruling earlier this year that struck down an agreement giving a company's controlling stockholder board-trumping power, Delaware's chancellor cautioned on Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    CFTC Fines Piper Sandler $2M In Latest Text Messaging Action

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission both announced settlements Monday in their ongoing probe into the financial industry's use of personal devices to discuss company business, with the CFTC issuing a fine against a subsidiary of Piper Sandler & Co. while the SEC said that a cooperative investment adviser would not have to pay anything. 

  • September 23, 2024

    DOJ Adds AI Risk To Corporate Compliance Program

    The U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division is now weighing how companies manage risk related to artificial intelligence and potentially stymie whistleblowers, one of several updates to the division's policies on evaluating corporate compliance programs announced by a senior official on Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Del. Justices Uphold Bankrupt Byju's US Lender Takeover

    A panel of Delaware Supreme Court justices on Monday affirmed a lower court's ruling that the American arm of Indian educational technology business Byju's was in default under a $1.2 billion loan and that lenders had the authority to install new directors.

  • September 23, 2024

    Vanguard Agrees To Settle Investors' Tax Liability Suit

    Vanguard agreed to settle a proposed class action by investors who accused the company of violating its fiduciary duties when it triggered a sell-off of assets that left them with massive tax bills, according to a Pennsylvania federal court order Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • 50 Years Later, ERISA Remains A Work In Progress

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    A look at the 50 years since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s passage shows that while the law safeguards benefits through vesting rules, fiduciary responsibilities and anti-discrimination provisions, the act falls short in three key areas, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Dapper Settlement Offers Rules Of The Road For NFT Issuers

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    The terms of a $4 million settlement in a class action alleging that Dapper Labs sold its NBA Top Shot Moments as unregistered securities may be a model for third parties that wish to avoid securities liability in connection with offering digital asset non-fungible token collectibles, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • First-Of-Its-Kind Chancery Ruling Will Aid SPAC Defendants

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    The Delaware Chancery Court's first full dismissal of claims challenging a special purpose acquisition company transaction under the entire fairness doctrine in the recent Hennessy Capital Acquisition Stockholder Litigation establishes useful precedent to abate the flood of SPAC litigation, say Lisa Bugni and Benjamin Lee at King & Spalding.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Opportunities For Change In FHFA Practices

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine should lead to better cooperation between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Congress, and may give the FHFA a chance to embrace transparency and innovation and promote sustainable housing practices, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 36 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

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