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Securities
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August 12, 2025
SEC Fines Firm Owner $4M Over AI Pyramid Scheme Claims
The Florida owner of a multilevel marketing company agreed to a $4 million penalty to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit that accused him of fraudulently raising $108 million for the purported development of artificial intelligence-powered software products, according to a consent order filed Tuesday.
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August 12, 2025
AstraZeneca, Stockholders Far Apart In Merger Damages Tally
Syntimmune Inc. stockholders and Alexion Pharmaceuticals have landed tens of millions of dollars apart in new tallies of interest owed after a Court of Chancery ruling in June that Alexion failed a "best efforts" duty to fulfill an autoimmune drug candidate deal.
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August 12, 2025
Feds Say High Court Case Supports Discord Trader Indictment
Federal prosecutors and a group of men accused of running a $114 million pump-and-dump stock scheme over Discord have made their case for whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means a judge was correct in tossing a 21-count indictment against the men.
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August 12, 2025
Insurer Obstructed $116M In Funding Claims, Court Told
A company that invested in a personal injury law firm's docket of cases alleges in a lawsuit removed to North Carolina federal court that its insurer "intentionally obstructed" its recovery of more than $116 million in coverage under policies insuring that investment.
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August 12, 2025
No New Foreign Bribery Trial For Ex-Connecticut Oil Trader
A former Connecticut oil trader faces sentencing Nov. 4 after a federal judge declined to overturn a jury's verdict finding him guilty of paying bribes to an official at Brazilian oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA and laundering money.
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August 12, 2025
Reddit Brass Face Investor Suit Over AI-Impacted Web Traffic
Reddit's leadership has been hit with a derivative shareholder suit over allegedly concealing the impact of Google's search algorithm changes and new artificial intelligence-generated answer features, which the suit claims reduced traffic to the social media site.
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August 12, 2025
Fed. Circ. Rejects Another Fannie, Freddie Investor Suit
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit accusing the federal government of profiting off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to other shareholders' detriment, saying the case was seeking to rehash arguments the court rejected three years ago.
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August 12, 2025
DOL Yanks 2021 Guidance On Private Equity 401(k) Risks
The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm on Tuesday rescinded guidance from 2021 that warned 401(k) plan managers about the risks of investing in private equity, which comes after an executive order last week that called for expanding access to alternative asset classes in defined-contribution retirement plan investing.
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August 12, 2025
Truist Wants Out Of Law Firm's $94K Wire Scam Suit
Truist Financial Corp. has asked a Delaware federal judge to dismiss a law firm's suit over a botched real estate wire transfer, arguing in a dismissal motion that the firm named the wrong entity in its complaint, but that even if the correct Truist had been named, the claims must fail as a matter of law.
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August 12, 2025
Pa. Guilty Plea Means Nothing To Malpractice Case, Atty Says
An ex-chief financial officer suing his former attorney for allegedly coercing him into a consent agreement that landed him with an over $12 million judgment has urged a Florida federal court to keep his malpractice case against the attorney on track.
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August 12, 2025
Ex-Cognizant, Chevron Exec Joining Galaxy Digital As CLO
Crypto institutional investment and trading firm Galaxy Digital has found a new chief legal officer in the former general counsel of Cognizant Technology Solutions, who also held roles at Chevron and UnitedHealth Group.
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August 11, 2025
5th Circ. Backs Mexican Banks' Subpoena For Fraud Case
The Fifth Circuit on Monday refused to revive a Mexican businessman's motion to quash a subpoena stemming from major Mexican financial institutions' efforts to obtain discovery as they pursue claims that the businessman absconded with $32 million in loans, saying it detected "no error" in a lower court's denial.
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August 11, 2025
9th Circ. Affirms SEC Win In Life Insurance Investment Row
The Ninth Circuit ruled in a published opinion Monday that fractional interests in life settlements are investment contracts and thus securities, backing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's win against Pacific West Capital Group agents, who the SEC alleged sold unregistered securities and didn't properly register as broker-dealers.
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August 11, 2025
Calif. Trader To Pay SEC $358K Over Spoofing Allegations
A former day trader has agreed to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $358,000 to end claims he manipulated options markets by means of so-called spoofing, illegally making about $234,000.
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August 11, 2025
'Flipping NJ' Developer Fights Charges, Citing Habba's Role
A New Jersey real estate developer and influencer, who is accused of running a Ponzi-like investment fraud scheme and laundering drug money, on Monday became the latest defendant to seek dismissal of his indictment over what he says was the illegal appointment of Alina Habba as acting U.S. attorney for the Garden State.
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August 11, 2025
4 Takeaways From Trump's Order To Expand 401(k) Assets
President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at expanding 401(k) savers' access to nontraditional 401(k) assets like private equity and crypto could open up a greater portion of the financial market to retirement savers, attorneys say, though plenty of regulatory hurdles lie ahead. Here, Law360 looks at four key takeaways on the order with attorneys and experts.
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August 11, 2025
FINRA Fines Goldman Over IPO Conflicts Of Interest
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority $250,000 to end claims it failed to bring in an independent underwriter to work on a registration statement for a $700 million initial public offering in which Goldman had a conflict of interest.
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August 11, 2025
Financiers Want Soccer CEO's SPAC Fraud Suit In England
An investment business and two other financiers urged a Florida federal court to dismiss a soccer company CEO's lawsuit alleging civil securities fraud in a complex financing deal, saying similar litigation has already been initiated in the United Kingdom.Â
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August 11, 2025
Paxos Is Latest Crypto Firm To Seek OCC Bank Charter
Stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Co. LLC said Monday that it has applied to become licensed and supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, joining a wave of digital asset firms that are now pursuing U.S. banking charters from the agency.
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August 11, 2025
CRE Fintech Firm Securities Paused For Possible Arbitration
A proposed class action accusing real estate platform CrowdStreet of enabling a $63 million fraud was paused Monday to allow individual arbitration to decide if the investors' claims can proceed.
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August 11, 2025
Judge To Order Bond, Sanctions In Crypto Miner's Ch. 11
A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Monday she would require the creditors that petitioned to force a cryptocurrency mining operation into Chapter 11 to post a multimillion-dollar bond in case their petition is dismissed.
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August 11, 2025
Kellogg Sued Over 'Misleading' Statement On $3B Acquisition
A WK Kellogg shareholder is asking an Illinois federal judge to block The Ferrero Group's $3.1 billion acquisition of the breakfast food company, alleging WK Kellogg and its board of directors submitted an "incomplete and misleading" proxy statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convince shareholders to support the transaction.
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August 11, 2025
Nike Investors Say Biz Strategy Was 'Ticking Timebomb'
Shareholders suing Nike Inc. over what they say was a failed business strategy responded Monday to a motion to dismiss the proposed class action, arguing that they have 19 confidential witnesses who can prove that the company painted an overly rosy picture of its prospective growth.Â
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August 11, 2025
EY Says SPAC Investors' Fraud Suit Is 'Blame-Shifting'
EY's Middle East affiliates asked a New York federal judge to toss claims that they botched audits of United Arab Emirates-based Brooge Petroleum before its merger with a blank-check company to enable a fraudulent scheme against investors, arguing it was up to the plaintiffs to "kick the tires" before recommending the merger.
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August 11, 2025
Liberty Mutual Nabs FCPA Declination, Will Disgorge $4.7M
Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. will avoid prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and disgorge nearly $4.7 million over bribes paid by employees of its Indian subsidiary, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday, in the first FCPA declination since President Donald Trump paused prosecutions under the law.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Why It's Time To Retire The Efficient Market Hypothesis
As agentic artificial intelligence systems increasingly affect financial markets, the efficient market hypothesis no longer offers a viable foundation for legal and regulatory engagement, and a new theoretical foundation is needed, say Zachary Brenner, a student at California Western School of Law, and attorney Gary Brenner.
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Avoiding The Risk Of Continued AI-Washing Enforcement
A recent action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice, alleging a software developer defrauded investors by lying about his app’s artificial intelligence capabilities, suggests this administration will continue to target AI washing, so companies should adopt practices to mitigate enforcement risk, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Cos. Should Review Pay Strategies In Light Of 2025 Tariffs
Companies should think about what they can or should do to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of their compensation plans in light of rising material costs, reduced profit margins, market volatility and other impacts of the Trump administration’s evolving tariff regime, say attorneys at Cooley.
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Key Aspects Of FDIC's Resolution Planning FAQ
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent FAQ on changes to its resolution plan rule ease burdensome requirements for some large institutions and exempt others from discussion of franchise components, making it easier for banks to finalize submissions before the July 1 deadline, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
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Chancery Ruling Raises Bar For Advance Notice Bylaws Suits
The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent ruling in Siegel v. Morse will make it more difficult for plaintiffs to successfully challenge advance notice bylaws before the emergence of an actual or threatened proxy contest, presumably reducing the occurrence of such challenges, say attorneys at Venable.
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DOJ Memo Raises Bar For Imposition Of Corporate Monitors
A recently released U.S. Department of Justice memo, outlining guidance on the imposition of compliance monitors in corporate criminal cases, reflects DOJ leadership’s concerns about scope creep and business costs, but the strategies for companies to avoid a monitorship haven't changed much compared to the Biden era, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP
Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
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9th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Derivative Suit Representation Test
The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Bigfoot Ventures v. Knighton clarifies the test used to assess the adequacy of a plaintiff's representation in a shareholder derivative action, and will likely prove useful to litigants by ensuring that courts can fully examine all relevant circumstances, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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What We Lost After SEC Eliminated Regional Director Role
Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regional Director Marc Fagel discusses the recent wholesale elimination of the regional director position, the responsibilities of the job itself and why discarding this role highlights how the appearance of creating a more efficient agency may limit the SEC's effectiveness.
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4th Circ. Latest To Curb Short-Seller Usage In Securities Suits
The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Defeo v. IonQ will serve as a powerful and persuasive new precedent for corporate defendants as courts continue curtailing securities class action plaintiffs' use of short-seller reports to plead federal securities law claims, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils
A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.
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Series
Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.
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SEC's Crypto Statement Offers Clarity On Disclosures
While the crypto industry awaits a definitive rule from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on whether a crypto-asset is a security, its recent guidance provides a road map for registrants seeking to comply with current disclosure requirements and shows the commission is working toward a comprehensive regulatory framework, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Evolving Federal Rules Pose Further Obstacles To NY LLC Act
Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent changes to beneficial ownership information reporting under the federal Corporate Transparency Act — dramatically reducing the number of companies required to make disclosures — the utility of New York's LLC Transparency Act becomes less apparent, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Deregulation Memo Presents Risks, Opportunities For Cos.
A recent Trump administration memo providing direction to agencies tasked with rescinding regulations under an earlier executive order — without undergoing the typical notice-and-review process — will likely create much uncertainty for businesses, though they may be able to engage with agencies to shape the regulatory agenda, say attorneys at Blank Rome.