Capital Markets

  • January 14, 2025

    SEC Sues Elon Musk Over Late Twitter Buy-Up Disclosure

    Elon Musk violated securities laws by failing to timely disclose his initial buy-up of Twitter stock ahead of his $44 billion acquisition of the company, allowing him to purchase shares at artificially low prices, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a D.C. federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

  • January 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Toss CFTC Suit Over $283M Trading Scheme

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday declined to dismiss the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's claims accusing an agent of financial firm Algo FX Capital Advisor LLC of helping The Traders Domain orchestrate a $283 million commodity transactions scheme.

  • January 14, 2025

    DXC Says Investor Suit Shows Integration Problems, Not Fraud

    DXC Technology has asked a Virginia federal court to toss a shareholder suit alleging the information technology giant overhyped efforts to reduce restructuring and integration costs after acquiring several companies, arguing hindsight critiques from the current CEO do not establish securities fraud.

  • January 14, 2025

    Luxembourg Investor Sells Dunhill Parent Shares For £1.2B

    Reinet Investments SCA said Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its remaining stake in cigarette giant British American Tobacco PLC to institutional investors for approximately £1.2 billion ($1.46 billion).

  • January 13, 2025

    Quinn Emanuel Scoops Up SDNY Securities Fraud Chief

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP announced Monday that it has hired the former chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York's securities and commodities fraud task force as a partner in its Manhattan office.

  • January 13, 2025

    Robinhood Users Oppose Arbitration Of 'Meme Stock' Claims

    Stock trading platform Robinhood has failed to lay the groundwork for sending user disputes to arbitration, seven users of the platform claimed Monday in a bid to keep their claims in federal court over the company's 2021 suspension certain so-called meme stock trades.

  • January 13, 2025

    SEC Fines Robinhood $45M For Recordkeeping, Cyber Woes

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that Robinhood's broker-dealer units will pay a combined $45 million to settle a host of claims ranging from an alleged failure to file timely suspicious activity reports and address cybersecurity risks to alleged failures concerning data retention and recordkeeping.

  • January 13, 2025

    Binance Can't Get High Court To Review Class Cert. Decision

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday passed on a petition from crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. and its former CEO to consider whether transactions on its platform were beyond the reach of U.S. securities laws after a Second Circuit decision found enough stateside ties to revive a suit from the exchange's users.

  • January 13, 2025

    Colo. Justices Reject Co.'s Challenge To Storm Gas Bill

    Colorado's highest court on Monday rejected a building materials company's challenge to charges on its electric bill related to extra natural gas purchased ahead of a 2021 winter storm, finding the company presented no facts to back its claim that the charges amounted to an unconstitutional taking.

  • January 13, 2025

    Shift4 To Pay SEC $750K For Undisclosed Family Payments

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said payment processing firm Shift4 Payments Inc. will pay $750,000 to settle allegations it failed to report over $4 million in payments it made to immediate family members of the company's executives and directors.

  • January 13, 2025

    Investment Firm Seeks Coverage For Hertz Buyback Suits

    An investment adviser said its insurers must provide coverage for underlying actions related to the adviser's involvement in car rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc.'s stock buybacks, telling a Delaware state court that its primary carrier improperly denied coverage.

  • January 13, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Crypto Exec Doesn't Belong On Mining IP

    A Delaware federal judge properly found that a cryptocurrency company's founder shouldn't be added as an inventor onto a rival company's energy consumption patent, the Federal Circuit affirmed Monday.

  • January 13, 2025

    Truth Social SPAC Ex-CEO Seeks Del. Suit Toss Or Freeze

    The former manager of the blank check company that sponsored a deal to take now President-elect Donald Trump's social media platform public heads into a pivotal Delaware Court of Chancery hearing Wednesday, seeking to freeze or scuttle a suit claiming that he and others secretly diverted millions of shares from co-investors.

  • January 13, 2025

    SEC To Collect $63M In Latest Recordkeeping Sweep

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that subsidiaries of Blackstone Inc. and Charles Schwab Corp. were among those swept up in the latest round of recordkeeping fines, promising to collect over $63 million from 12 firms whose employees are accused of discussing business through their personal devices.

  • January 13, 2025

    Natural Gas Exporter Venture Global Gears Up For $2.2B IPO

    Liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global Inc. on Monday launched plans for an estimated $2.2 billion initial public offering, potentially marking the year's first billion-dollar-plus listing, represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and underwriters counsel Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

  • January 13, 2025

    SEC Must Explain Coinbase Crypto Rule Denial, 3rd Circ. Says

    A Third Circuit panel delivered a partial win to Coinbase on Monday when it ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to provide "a more complete explanation" of why it denied the crypto exchange's request for rulemaking on how securities laws apply to digital assets.

  • January 13, 2025

    BMO Unit To Pay SEC $40M Over Bond Desk Supervision

    BMO Capital Markets has agreed to pay $40 million to end a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the broker-dealer's supervision of its mortgage-back bonds salespeople, with the SEC saying Monday that the brokerage firm failed to stop employees from providing inaccurate information about the bonds.

  • January 10, 2025

    FDIC's Hill Calls For 'New Direction' In Preview Of Agenda

    Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Vice Chairman Travis Hill signaled Friday that he intends to steer the agency in a "new direction" when he takes over as its acting chief later this month, mapping out plans for a more tech-friendly, lighter-touch approach.

  • January 10, 2025

    4 Trends That Will Shape Venture Capital Funding In 2025

    Venture capital funding appears primed to improve in 2025 as market participants shake off the effects of a post-pandemic crash, with surging demand for artificial intelligence, expectations of friendlier government policies, and more exits through public listings and acquisitions.

  • January 10, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms Hearing Aid Co.'s Win Over Investor Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday handed a win to Eargo Inc. and affirmed the dismissal of a securities class action against the hearing aid company, which alleged that the company and its top brass acted with intent to commit insurance billing fraud.

  • January 10, 2025

    SEC Fines Cannabis Co. Acreage Over Accounting Violations

    A multi-state cannabis industry operator recently acquired by Canadian cannabis industry giant Canopy will pay $225,000 to resolve administrative U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it orchestrated a $4.2 million round-trip transaction with an affiliate to inflate its reported cash balance.

  • January 10, 2025

    SafeMoon CEO Wants 'Misleading' Reddit Post Explained

    The CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency asset company SafeMoon LLC asked a Brooklyn federal judge Friday to order the government to explain whether it had a role in a social media user's "misleading" post that promised to connect SafeMoon investors with the U.S. government.

  • January 10, 2025

    Liquidnet To Pay SEC $5M Over Market Access Rule Issues

    Liquidnet Inc. agreed Friday to pay $5 million to resolve claims from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission that the broker-dealer failed to have the proper controls and procedures related to market access in place and failed to protect confidential subscriber trading information, among other things.

  • January 10, 2025

    Feds Say Russians Behind North Korea-Linked Crypto Mixers

    Georgia federal prosecutors on Friday announced money laundering and unlicensed money transmission charges for three Russian nationals who allegedly operated crypto mixing services previously sanctioned over their apparent use by North Korean hackers and other cybercriminals.

  • January 10, 2025

    Law Firm's Fee Suit Can't Proceed In Ga., Investment Co. Says

    A Michigan-based investment firm has asked a Georgia federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of failing to pay more than $180,000 in legal fees owed to an Atlanta-area law firm, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction under the state's long-arm statute.

Expert Analysis

  • Putting NYDFS AI Cybersecurity Guidance Into Practice

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    New guidance from the New York Department of Financial Services explains how financial institutions should assess and mitigate cybersecurity risks associated with artificial intelligence, focusing on four main threats and highlighting how varying environments require specific mitigation measures, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Parsing SEC's Emerging Trend Of Section 204A Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled with Sound Point Capital Management for violating Section 204A of the Investment Advisers Act, adding to a slew of charges against investment advisers that allegedly failed to safeguard material nonpublic information, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • A Look At Grewal's Record-Breaking Legacy After SEC Exit

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    Gurbir Grewal resigned as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement last month after more than three years on the job, leaving behind a legacy marked by record numbers of penalties and enforcement actions, as well as mixed results in aggressive lawsuits against major crypto players, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Insurance Industry Impacts If DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Revived

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    If implemented following an ongoing appeal at the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule expanding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's definition of "fiduciary" could chill insurance agents’ and brokers' ability to sell annuities, and lead to an increase in breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • A Look At The Increased Scrutiny Of Cash Sweep Programs

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    Financial industry regulators have increasingly probed the adequacy of so-called cash sweep disclosures and policies, underscoring the heightened risk faced by investment advisers and broker-dealers, as well as the importance of adequately disclosing material conflicts of interest, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Bitnomial Suit Highlights Crypto Turf War Between SEC, CFTC

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    An outcome favoring Bitnomial in its recent lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could reinforce the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority and limit the SEC's reach in the crypto arena, illustrating the need for Congress to delineate boundaries between the agencies, says Tonya Evans at Penn State Dickinson Law.

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