Capital Markets

  • 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

    CFTC Tells DC Circ. Election Bets Turned Kalshi Into 'Casino'

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has told the D.C. Circuit that trading platform KalshiEx LLC "promptly turned its futures exchange into an online casino" when courts gave it the green light to list election contracts, urging the appeals court to overturn a lower court decision that the contracts don't involve unlawful gaming.

  • December 06, 2024

    FDIC Asked Banks To 'Pause' Crypto Activity, Letters Show

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. directed some financial institutions to pause cryptocurrency-related activity while the agency evaluated regulatory concerns with the services, according to letters made public Friday in response to a suit a research consultancy filed on behalf of the crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc.

  • December 06, 2024

    Senate OKs Bill To Ease SEC Reporting Regs On Rural Telcos

    The Senate has unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to expand access to broadband in rural areas by reducing the "red tape" on smaller broadband providers.

  • 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

    Freshfields Adds 2 Corporate Laterals In Silicon Valley

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP has expanded its offerings in Silicon Valley with the additions of a capital markets attorney from Cooley LLP and an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney from Goodwin Procter LLP.

  • 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

    CFTC Flags AI Compliance Obligations In New Advisory

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday issued a staff advisory outlining its registrants' compliance obligations under the Commodity Exchange Act regarding the myriad of ways they may be using artificial intelligence, with the agency's chair painting the guidance as a first step ahead of potential policies.

  • December 05, 2024

    Software Co. Five9 Sued After Surprise Guidance Slash

    Cloud-based customer contact center Five9 Inc. and two of its executives face claims they misrepresented that the company was on track for healthy revenue growth, only to hurt investors by reversing course nine weeks later when they slashed Five9's financial guidance for the year.

  • December 05, 2024

    Investors Sue Pegasystems In Corporate Espionage Case

    Business software developer Pegasystems Inc. has been hit with allegations that it misled an asset management firm by concealing its use of illegal and unethical tactics to misappropriate competitor Appian Corp.'s trade secrets, which led to a since-overturned $2 billion Virginia state court judgment for unjust enrichment. 

  • December 06, 2024

    FINRA Fines Firm $900K Over SPAC Underwriting Fee Issues

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined New York-based LifeSci Capital LLC nearly $1 million over claims that it received and failed to disclose unfair and unreasonable fees for an initial public offering it underwrote.

  • December 05, 2024

    Chinese Bank Faces New Suit Alleging Reinsurance Fraud

    Another group of insurers has accused one of China's largest banks of participating in a "multi-billion-dollar fraud" in the reinsurance market, telling a New York federal court Thursday that the bank, including its New York branch, has refused to honor over $890 million worth of letters of credit.

  • December 05, 2024

    FTX Clawback Deal With Ex-Alameda Co-CEO Gets Court Nod

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved a deal to settle clawback claims by FTX against former Alameda Research Ltd. executive John Samuel Trabucco, who agreed to hand over two San Francisco apartments purchased in 2021 for $8.7 million and a 53-foot yacht bought in 2022 for $2.5 million.

  • December 05, 2024

    SpaceX Seeks Astronomical $350B Value, And More Rumors

    SpaceX is in discussions for a transaction that could value the rocket and spacecraft maker at about $350 billion, the private equity owner of Crunch Fitness could sell the health club at a $1.5 billion value, and the management group looking to buy the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven may launch an IPO. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • December 05, 2024

    Battery Recycling Firm To Go Public Via $250M SPAC Merger

    Renewable energy-focused Ace Green Recycling Inc. has agreed to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II in a deal that values Ace Green's equity at $250 million, both parties have announced.

  • December 05, 2024

    Hunton Gains Capital Markets Pro In Dallas From V&E

    Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has boosted its capital markets practice in Dallas with a former Vinson & Elkins LLP deal lawyer who has particular expertise in the mining and natural resources sector of the energy industry.

  • December 04, 2024

    Rep. Hill Vows To Tackle Crypto 'De-Banking' In Next Congress

    Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle plan to investigate alleged government efforts to cut off cryptocurrency businesses from the traditional banking system, Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said Wednesday during a House Financial Services Committee hearing that also saw its retiring chair feted with a celebration of bow ties.

  • December 04, 2024

    SEC Scores $13M Default Judgment In Data Co. Insider Action

    China-based cloud analytics company Gridsum Inc. and its CEO have been ordered to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $13 million after failing to respond to the regulator's claims that they funneled investor money out of the company to the relatives of executives.

  • December 04, 2024

    GAO Finds Limited Oversight, Data On Crypto In 401(k)s

    Though crypto assets make up a small part of the 401(k) market, their limited federal oversight might leave workers responsible for monitoring the volatile investment options, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

  • December 04, 2024

    PCAOB Boots Audit Firm, Partners Over Altered Documents

    The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has imposed $465,000 in total fines against Raines & Fischer LLP and three of its partners, permanently revoking the firm's registration and barring the partners after they allegedly altered audit documents prior to an inspection of the firm.

  • December 04, 2024

    CFTC Hits $17.1B Enforcement Record With FTX-Linked Deals

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission secured a record annual enforcement haul of more than $17.1 billion in fiscal year 2024, including a historic $12.7 billion judgment against failed crypto exchange FTX and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, the agency announced Wednesday.

  • December 04, 2024

    Starbucks Brass Face Derivative Suit Over 'Reinvention' Flop

    Officers and directors of coffee chain Starbucks are facing shareholder derivative claims over the company's so-called Triple Shot Reinvention strategy after the company disappointed the markets in April with updates about the plan.

  • December 04, 2024

    Developer, Michigan Differ On State, Federal Securities Tests

    A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday pressed the state's securities administrator and a developer over how Michigan businesses and residents could be affected if the high court were to decide that a state law test rather than a federal one should be used to determine if a promissory note is a security.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

    Author Photo

    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal

    Author Photo

    Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

  • After Chevron

    Author Photo

    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 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Capital Markets archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!