GOP Plan For Merging Agencies Faces Reckoning, And Alarm

By Jon Hill

The Senate parliamentarian has given a thumbs-down to a Republican budget proposal that would allow President Donald Trump to unilaterally eliminate agencies through mergers and consolidation, adding to what experts say are a host of problems with the little-noticed provision.

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Fed Joins Peers In Axing Reputational Risk As Exam Factor

By Katryna Perera

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday became the latest regulator to announce that it will no longer consider reputational risk in its examination programs for the supervision of banks.

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CFPB, MoneyLion Ask To Pause Suit For Settlement Talks

By Sydney Price

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and MoneyLion Technologies Inc. are in talks to settle the agency's lawsuit accusing the fintech lender of overcharging military service members, according to a filing in New York federal court.

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Visa Defeats Class Claims Over Third-Party Gift Card Scams

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge on Monday threw out a proposed class action accusing Visa of knowingly peddling gift cards that are susceptible to scams, ruling that "no reasonable consumer would fail to recognize the possibility that a gift card they bought may be subject to a third-party scam."

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a year-old $199 million judgment against TransCanada in a suit challenging a merger that occurred nearly a decade ago, Aspen Technology Inc. was hit with another suit over its pending $7.2 billion merger with Emerson Electric, and Nielson Holdings Ltd. secured a temporary restraining order against its spinoff. In case you missed it, here's the latest from the Delaware Chancery Court.

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Crypto Exec Seeks 5th Circ. Redo Over IRS Summonses

By Anna Scott Farrell

A cryptocurrency executive asked the Fifth Circuit to reconsider his request to quash IRS summonses for his bank records, saying its decision that he was prematurely trying to appeal a lower court's ruling ignored his claims that the agency's documents were incomplete and lacked legal power.

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Brief

Binance Agrees To Shutter Conn. Trading Operations

By Ryan Harroff

Crypto platform Binance has agreed to shut down the Connecticut operations of its U.S. subsidiary BAM Trading Services Inc. after a majority owner of the company was convicted of money laundering and also admitted to violating state statutes, according to a new consent order.

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Muddy Waters Must Face Suit Over $14M SEC Tipster Award

By Lauren Berg

Investment research service Muddy Waters LLC and its founder cannot escape a lawsuit alleging they stiffed a purported former partner out of his share of a $14 million whistleblower award from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a New York federal judge ruled Monday.

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Ohio Debt Collector Calls Robocall Claims Too Thin To Pursue

By Ryan Harroff

A debt collection agency in Marietta, Ohio, asked a federal judge to toss part of a proposed class action brought against it for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act by placing unsolicited robocalls to debtors, saying the suit failed to allege that the company actually used automatic calling systems.

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Shift4 Buying New Zealand Fintech Smartpay In $180M Deal

By Al Barbarino

Allentown, Pennsylvania-based payments company Shift4 has agreed to acquire Smartpay, an independent provider of payment processing solutions in Australia and New Zealand, for NZ$296.4 million ($180 million).

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Best Practices For State Banks Eyeing Federal Conversions

Amid a notable uptick — fueled by ongoing regulatory upheaval — in state-chartered banks exploring conversion to national bank charters, banks contemplating the decision should weigh the benefits, like uniform supervision, and potential impediments, like costly exam fees, say attorneys at Skadden.

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EDNY Ruling May Limit Some FARA Conspiracy Charges

Though the Eastern District of New York’s recent U.S. v. Sun decision upheld Foreign Agents Registration Act charges against a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, its recognition of an affirmative legislative policy to exempt some officials may help defendants charged with related conspiracies, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

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Perkins Coie Lays Off 5% Of Staff Amid Strategic Review

By Xiumei Dong

Perkins Coie LLP, which successfully fended off President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm, has reportedly laid off roughly 5% of its professional staff this month, and attributed the reductions to the firm's strategic realignments following a yearlong review of its business operations.

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Dems Demand Info On Emil Bove's Alleged Misconduct

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of Emil Bove's hearing on Wednesday for his judicial nomination, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pressing for information on complaints alleging his misconduct while at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and Main Justice earlier this year.

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Litigation Funders Fight 'Kill Shot' In 'Big Beautiful Bill'

By Ryan Boysen

Litigation funders are in panic mode over a provision in the massive federal spending bill that would impose a 41% punitive tax on the $16 billion industry, with one executive calling it a "kill shot" and an academic warning it amounts to "unprecedented" weaponization of the U.S. tax code.

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Dems Laud Axing Of Budget Bill's Injunction Bond Provision

By Courtney Bublé

A provision meant to up the ante for plaintiffs filing lawsuits against the federal government by increasing the use of injunction bonds has been ruled ineligible for inclusion in the budget reconciliation package.

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Amazon Sanctioned For Hidden Discovery

By Bryan Koenig

A Washington federal judge sanctioned Amazon.com Monday by limiting its use of company documents produced during discovery while giving the Federal Trade Commission more time for discovery, siding with the FTC's allegations that the online retail giant improperly claimed privilege over tens of thousands of documents in the Prime "dark patterns" lawsuit.

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Justices Drop 'Third Country' Removal Due Process, For Now

By Katie Buehler

A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration can send noncitizens facing deportation to countries where they have no prior ties without providing due process protections, including written notice or a chance to raise concerns about their future safety.

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Justices To Review Liability For Forcing Prisoner's Haircut

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a former Louisiana prisoner's case for damages after guards forcibly shaved his head, removing the dreadlocks he maintained as part of his Rastafarian religion.

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