Fintech : Law360 UK : Legal News & Analysis (2024)

Orrick Adds Morgan Lewis Securities Regulatory Atty In DC

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has hired a longtime Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partner who focuses his practice on helping clients understand a myriad of securities regulations and financial laws, the firm announced Monday.

Security Startup Founder Joins Greenberg Traurig From MoFo

Greenberg Traurig LLP has added a former Morrison & Foerster LLP technology litigator and data security software startup founder to its San Francisco office, the firm announced Monday.

Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

In the past year, plaintiffs have won settlements and judgments for millions and billions of dollars from companies such as Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Facebook and Fox News, with many high-profile cases finally wrapping up after years of fighting. Such cases — involving over-the-top compensation packages, chemical contamination, gender discrimination and data mining — were led by attorneys whose accomplishments earned them recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2024.

Binance Can Arbitrate Suit Over Terra Stablecoin Collapse

A California federal judge ruled Friday that Binance can arbitrate a proposed class action alleging the company misrepresented the stability of "algorithmic stablecoin" TerraUSD, rejecting the plaintiff's argument he is an "unsophisticated consumer" who could not "clearly and unmistakably" delegate the question of arbitrability to the arbitrator and not the court.

CFTC Receives Competing Visions For AI's Regulatory Future

Business lobbyists have urged the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to lean on existing regulations to address the financial industry's use of artificial intelligence, while skeptics say those regulations don't go far enough to guard against the technology's potential to spur market crashes and data breaches.

Crypto Mining Co. Execs Face Suit Over Merger Shortcomings

Executives and directors of crypto mining company Hut 8 have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit claiming they failed to disclose the severe financial and operational issues of a company Hut 8 merged with last year, later revealed in a short-seller's report.

Crypto Atty's Senate Bid Takes Detour For SEC-Coinbase Suit

The pro-cryptocurrency attorney vying to unseat Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts added to his pro bono work in the digital asset space on Friday by taking up the mantle for Coinbase users in the crypto exchange's ongoing battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Custodia Balks At KC Fed's $25K Legal Bill After Account Suit

Custodia Bank on Friday urged a Wyoming federal judge not to award the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's request for roughly $25,000 in attorney fees and litigation costs in a suit that the cryptocurrency-focused bank recently lost, saying the payout could deter others from pursuing "David and Goliath" lawsuits against the government.

Soccer Star Says Binance Is Target Of $1B Fla. Suit, Not Him

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has urged a Florida federal judge to dismiss a $1 billion proposed class action lawsuit against him over promoting Binance.US, saying the embattled cryptocurrency exchange is listed as the target of the suit — in an "apparent Freudian slip" — instead of him.

Republic First Bank Fails In Biggest Bust Since 2023 Turmoil

Republic First Bank, a roughly $6 billion bank based in Philadelphia, was shuttered Friday by Pennsylvania state banking regulators and sold to Fulton Bank NA, capping off a prolonged decline that only worsened in the wake of last spring's regional bank failures.

Crypto Co. DCG Hires 1st Legal Chief Amid New York AG Fight

The head of cryptocurrency conglomerate Digital Currency Group on Thursday said the firm has appointed its first chief legal officer, hiring the former top lawyer of payment management firm Billtrust as DCG fights a lawsuit by New York's attorney general and other disputes.

FDIC Tables Plans To Scrutinize Big 'Passive' Bank Investors

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. leaders on Thursday debated two competing proposals intended to address concerns about asset managers and other investors amassing outsized influence over banks whose shares they own, ultimately taking the rare step of tabling the measures as neither garnered majority support.

FTC Sues Bill-Payment Co. Over Misleading Ads, Junk Fees

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday filed suit against a Seattle-based, third-party bill-paying company for allegedly tricking online consumers into using the company's service by disguising itself as consumers' billers' official payment channel and tacking on junk fees.

Crypto Co. Sues 'Crusading' Gensler Over SEC's Ether Stance

Cryptocurrency software company Consensys Software Inc. sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday in Texas federal court over the agency's treatment of the Ethereum network's ether token as a security after the company received a so-called Wells notice that agency staff intends to recommend an enforcement action over its products.

SEC Says Texas Crypto Mining Co. Execs Ran $5.6M Fraud

A crypto asset mining and hosting company and two of its principals face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims they defrauded about 64 investors with an unregistered securities offering that raised $5.6 million, spending investor funds lavishly on themselves while neglecting to set up, or in some cases even buy, the mining equipment they had said they would get.

FDIC Pushes Back On Lender Groups Suing Over Colo. Law

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has weighed in on a legal challenge to a Colorado law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending in the state, arguing that the lender trade groups behind the challenge are misconstruing the agency's past words to support their case.

Kwok Jurors To Be Anonymous Amid Harassment Concerns

Jurors who will decide the criminal fraud and racketeering case against exiled Chinese billionaire Ho Wan Kwok will be anonymous and partially sequestered, a New York federal judge said on Wednesday, ruing that if their identities are revealed they could face the same harassment that befell Kwok's bankruptcy trustee.

Crypto Mixer Execs Arrested Over $2B In Illicit Transactions

New York federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have arrested the co-founders of crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet over their operation of a crypto service that authorities say executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

Instagram Star Gets 7 Years For Multiple Fraud Schemes

A Brooklyn federal judge on Wednesday imposed a seven-year prison term on a former Instagram influencer who admitted to defrauding members of his Muslim community and others out of over $8 million via a bogus investment fund and Bitcoin theft, saying the crime probably should be featured on the television show "American Greed."

Binance Founder Should Get 3 Years, Not Probation, Feds Say

Federal prosecutors asked a Washington federal judge to sentence Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to three years over his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at his crypto exchange, but the founder said jail time isn't necessary since he's already paid "massive" fines and comparable cases haven't resulted in prison sentences.

Pegasystems Cuts $35M Deal To End Investor Suit

Pegasystems Inc. has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a shareholder suit in Massachusetts federal court alleging the software company failed to properly disclose a rival's trade secret litigation that led to a $2 billion verdict.

Feds Nab Latest OneCoin Plea On $35M Laundering Charge

An eighth defendant has been charged by federal prosecutors over the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam and has pled guilty to laundering about $35 million in illicit proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in China and Hong Kong.

The former deputy chief counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, who has over 25 years of experience working with securities laws and regulations, has left McGuireWoods LLP to join King & Spalding LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office.

SEC Critics Preview Future Challenges To Agency Action

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may face new challenges to its enforcement authority from the way it imposes industry bars to the burden of proof needed to bring its civil cases, two frequent legal opponents of the agency said Tuesday.

Ripple Labs Says Its SEC Fine Should Be No More Than $10M

Blockchain firm Ripple Labs told a Manhattan federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's $2 billion remedies request over the firm's registration violation is proof of its "administrative overreach," and says it shouldn't be forced to pay more than $10 million over a finding related to its sales of cryptocurrency XRP.