Asset Management

  • December 10, 2024

    SEC Says Ex-Rep Defrauded Investors With Short-Term Bets

    A former registered representative of broker-dealer Western International Securities Inc. has agreed to pay over $2.1 million to end U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations he orchestrated a scheme to defraud retail clients by recommending costly investment strategies, and then covered up their "substantial" losses with phony financial statements.

  • December 10, 2024

    SEC Outlines Municipal Adviser Exam Process

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Examinations has issued a risk alert outlining its process for selecting municipal advisers to examine, how advisers can prepare for exams, and the types of information examiners may request.

  • December 10, 2024

    4th Circ. Casts Doubt On Broker's FINRA Challenge

    A Fourth Circuit panel wondered Tuesday whether it was too soon to hear one North Carolina broker's constitutional challenge against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, with the circuit judges pointing out that FINRA's case against the broker was not yet over.

  • December 10, 2024

    Nippon Life In Late Talks To Buy Resolution Life For $8.2B

    Global insurer Resolution Life said Tuesday that it was in the "final stages of discussions" to sell the business to Nippon Life Insurance, reportedly for $8.2 billion. 

  • December 09, 2024

    Blockchain Co. IP Fight With Investment Firm Teed Up For Trial

    A California federal judge has said a jury should decide whether the investment firm Franklin Templeton misappropriated trade secrets of Blockchain Innovation LLC and breached its fiduciary duty and contract with the firm when it shut down a digital asset startup that Blockchain later acquired.

  • December 09, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Pays SEC $15M Over Theft By Ex-Reps

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $15 million penalty against a Morgan Stanley subsidiary Monday, saying the company failed to put in place procedures that may have earlier caught four former employees who spent years stealing from clients.

  • December 09, 2024

    Kellogg Retirees Say DOL's Brief Backs 6th Circ. Revival

    A proposed class of married Kellogg retirees alleging their pension annuity payouts were lowballed by the cereal company due to outdated mortality assumptions used in conversions is urging the Sixth Circuit to heed a recently filed brief from the U.S. Department of Labor backing workers seeking to revive a similar dispute in the Eleventh Circuit.

  • December 09, 2024

    Bed Bath & Beyond Irons Out 401(k) Fee Suit Deal

    Bed Bath & Beyond has agreed to settle a suit from workers alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan, according to a joint filing from the parties entered Monday in New Jersey federal court.

  • December 09, 2024

    SEC's Trading And Markets Director Zhu To Leave Agency

    Haoxiang Zhu is stepping down as head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets, the agency announced Monday, leaving the group that oversees orderliness of U.S. markets as leadership continues to change at regulatory bodies following President-elect Donald Trump's election victory.

  • December 09, 2024

    Barington And Thor Invest In Macy's, Push For New Direction

    Barington Capital Group LP and Thor Equities LLC said Monday they've taken a position in Macy's as they pushed the storied retailer to make strategic changes to help "improve shareholder value," while Macy's acknowledged the development and disclosed it was being counseled by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz on the matter.

  • December 09, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Massive Class In Fringe Benefits Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a challenge to a 290,000-worker class in a suit alleging excessive health and retirement plan fees, despite an argument from benefits plan managers that the Fifth Circuit used the wrong standard to greenlight the massive suit.

  • December 06, 2024

    Allianz Exec Avoids Prison For $7B Investor Fraud

    A New York federal judge on Friday declined to sentence a former portfolio manager for Allianz SE's U.S. unit to any time in prison for lying to investors about the riskiness of a group of private investment funds that lost over $7 billion when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

  • December 06, 2024

    $490M Suit Over Kurdish Telecom Loan Paused For Arbitration

    A New York federal judge has paused litigation filed by a subsidiary of Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility Public Warehousing Co. to enforce a $490 million judgment against the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq while a related arbitration plays out.

  • December 06, 2024

    How Paul Atkins' Last SEC Term Might Shape Agency's Future

    President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission next year is no stranger to the agency, and Paul Atkins' past speeches, statements and actions as a commissioner may offer a road map for how he would lead the agency in areas such as private funds, shareholder activism and multibillion-dollar enforcement sweeps.

  • December 06, 2024

    Cedars-Sinai ERISA Class Cert. Bid Meets Skeptical Judge

    A Los Angeles federal judge appeared wary Friday of certifying a 16,000-person class of current and former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Inc. workers who subscribe to the hospital's retirement plan, expressing concerns that one of the proposed lead plaintiffs does not appear to understand the case.

  • December 06, 2024

    Two Firms To Rep CVS Investors In Benefit Unit Losses Suit

    Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP will co-lead a proposed class of investors in consolidated litigation alleging CVS Health Corp. hurt investors as it announced its benefit unit's unanticipated losses.

  • December 06, 2024

    Merrill Lynch Can't Beat Stock Loan Class Cert. Bid

    A New York federal judge on Friday overruled objections from Bank of America unit Merrill Lynch to certify a class of investors, with a slightly extended class period, in a suit alleging the financial institution colluded with other major banks to avoid modernizing the stock loan market.

  • December 06, 2024

    FTX Says Three Arrows Can't Add $1.5B To Ch. 11 Claims

    FTX is pushing back against efforts by liquidators for defunct cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital to add more than $1.5 billion to its claims in FTX's Chapter 11 case in Delaware bankruptcy court.

  • December 06, 2024

    AI Hype Won't Wash With Canadian Securities Regulators

    The Canadian Securities Administration is warning market participants against hyping ties to artificial intelligence in order to drum up interest for investments — a practice called "AI washing" — as the agency invites public comment before crafting AI-focused regulations.

  • December 06, 2024

    4 Big Developments In ERISA Cases From 2nd Half Of 2024

    The Sixth Circuit reopened a retirement plan mismanagement suit against Parker-Hannifin Corp. and revived a manufacturing company worker's disability benefits bid, while the nation's highest court declined to review a plan trustee's unsuccessful attempt to force an employee stock sale dispute into arbitration. Here, Law360 looks at four recent decisions in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases that benefits attorneys should know.

  • December 06, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Skadden, Gibson Dunn

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, BlackRock buys HPS Investment Partners, TreeHouse Foods Inc. buys Harris Tea, Aya Healthcare acquires Cross Country Healthcare, and Bruin Capital launches a soccer representation business.

  • December 05, 2024

    Jane Street Ends Trade Secret Fight With Rival Investing Firm

    Jane Street Group LLC and Millennium Management LLC have agreed to put to rest their trade secrets dispute over a proprietary trading strategy, according to a joint stipulation of dismissal filed Thursday in New York federal court.

  • December 05, 2024

    Trump Taps Musk Ally David Sacks As 'AI & Crypto Czar'

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has selected David O. Sacks, a tech investor who worked alongside Elon Musk and entrepreneur Peter Thiel in the early days of PayPal, to be the newly created "White House AI & Crypto Czar."

  • December 05, 2024

    DOL Says Court Erred In Tossing ESOP Claims Against Exec

    A medical equipment industry executive should continue facing claims that he ripped off workers by selling overpriced stock to his company's employee stock ownership plan, the U.S. Department of Labor told an Idaho federal judge Thursday, asking him to rethink letting the executive escape the allegations.

  • December 05, 2024

    First Citizens Accused Of $3M High-Yield Bait-And-Switch

    First Citizens Bank & Trust Company faces claims from an agritourism nonprofit and its registered agent that they invested $3 million with the bank expecting a competitive rate of return before finding those funds were actually in products yielding a much lower interest rate.

Expert Analysis

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • 5th Circ. Crypto Ruling Shows Limits On OFAC Authority

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent decision that immutable smart contracts on the Tornado Cash crypto-transaction software protocol are not "property" subject to Office of Foreign Assets Control jurisdiction may signal that courts can construe OFAC's authority more restrictively after Loper Bright, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Preparing For The New Restrictions On Investment Into China

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    In light of a new regulatory program governing U.S. investments in China-related technology companies of national security concern, investors should keep several considerations in mind, including the rules' effect on existing and new investments, compliance hurdles, and penalties for noncompliance ahead of the rules' January implementation, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Opinion

    Congress Should Expand Investment Options For 403(b)s

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    Lawmakers should pass pending legislation to give 403(b) plan participants access to collective investment trusts, leveling the playing field for public sector retirement investors by giving them an investment option their private sector counterparts have had for decades, says Jason Levy at Great Gray Trust Company.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • SEC Custody Rule Creates Crypto Compliance Conundrum

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    While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's application of the custody rule may be a good faith attempt to enhance consumer protections for client assets, it doesn't appreciate the unique characteristics of crypto-assets, forcing advisers to choose between pursuing their clients' objectives and complying with the rule, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • What Insurers Need To Know About OFAC's Expanded FAQs

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    The Office of Foreign Assets Control's recently expanded insurance FAQs clarify how OFAC views insurance policies in a number of specific circumstances involving sanctioned parties, and make plain that sanctions compliance is the responsibility of all participants in the insurance ecosystem, including underwriters, brokers and agents, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Rethinking Clawback Policies For 2025 Compensation Season

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    The start of a new year presents an opportunity for companies to reassess their executive compensation clawback policies, and while mandatory Dodd-Frank clawbacks are necessary, discretionary policies can offer companies greater flexibility to address misconduct, protect their reputations and align with shareholder priorities, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • SEC Prioritized Enforcement Sweeps As Cases Slowed In '24

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    Following three consecutive years of increasing activity, fiscal year 2024 marked the lowest number of cases the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought since Gary Gensler assumed office in April 2021, buttressed by some familiar enforcement sweeps, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • The Challenges Of Abandoned Retirement Plans In Ch. 7

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    The Department of Labor's rule for unwinding retirement accounts when plan sponsors file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy was intended to alleviate trustees' administration issues, but practical challenges, like unresolved fee and identification matters, could hinder its implementation, say David Goodrich at Golden Goodrich and Nancy Simons at Stretto.

  • How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors

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    The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • 5 Ways SEC's Crypto Approach Could Change Under Trump

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    Given the Trump campaign's procrypto stance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could take a number of different approaches to crypto policy in the next administration, including pausing registration-only enforcement actions and proposing tailored rules that take into account the differences between crypto-assets and traditional securities, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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