Does Musk Jury's "420" Joke in Twitter Class Action Warrant a New Trial?

Elon Musk’s lawyer accuses San Francisco jury of bias, points to ‘mocking’ $4.20 reference in damages

Elon Musk’s lawyer is accusing a San Francisco federal jury of “mocking” the billionaire by including “$4.20” among the figures pertaining to damages in a class-action suit that accused the tech titan of misleading Twitter investors.

In a Thursday letter to US District Judge Charles Breyer, defense attorney Alex Spiro argued the verdict was “corrupted” by bias in the notoriously left-leaning city and denied his client a fair trial.

Spiro is seeking a probe into the matter — to be followed by a motion seeking a ruling in favor of Musk or a new trial.

The laywer cited a handwritten verdict form in which jurors listed “$4.20” for one damages entry — written in bright blue ink while the rest of the entries were black.

Tether hires KPMG for USDT audit, brings in PwC as it gears up for U.S. expansion

The unnamed “Big Four” firm that Tether selected to audit its $185 billion dollar-pegged USDT stablecoin is KPMG, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Tether has also engaged PwC to prepare its internal systems ahead of the audit, marking the most concrete step yet toward full financial scrutiny for the world’s largest stablecoin issuer. CoinDesk has contacted Tether for comment on the matter.

Lawmakers push new bill to curb insider trading on prediction markets

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced new legislation that would bar lawmakers, the president, congressional staffers and others across Washington from trading on insider information through prediction markets.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and John Curtis (R-Utah) unveiled the Public Integrity in Financial Markets Act of 2026 on Thursday, in the latest sign of Congress’ swelling appetite to enact new guardrails around booming prediction market companies like Kalshi and Polymarket.

“No one should be profiting off the information and knowledge gained as a public servant, period,” said Slotkin, in a statement. “This bill is an important first step in placing common sense rules around prediction markets, and it has real teeth to ensure those who break these rules face real consequences.”

Agency Judges’ Job Protections Take Hit in Boost for Trump Power

A Republican-controlled federal worker appeals board has bolstered President Donald Trump’s authority to fire previously protected nonpartisan administrative judges across the government.

A recent Merit Systems Protection Board ruling paves the way for Trump administration officials to fire in-house judges without cause or warning, undermining civil service protections designed to shield them from political pressure, federal employment attorneys say. It supports Trump’s argument that Article II of the Constitution gives him broad leeway to fire people working in federal agencies who influence policy. […]

The board ruled that the judges’ civil service protections impeded Trump’s constitutional authority to oversee the executive branch. While the board said its ruling addressed constitutional matters “as applied” to the immigration judges, it sets a precedent for other agencies with quasi-judicial officers.

“This decision will apply to all administrative law judges,” said Michael Fallings, an attorney at Tully Rinckey PLLC.

The judges appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mississippi Man Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the filing of charges against, and the guilty plea of, GERARD RYAN in connection with his participation in a scheme to commit insider trading securities fraud based on material nonpublic information that RYAN obtained from a family member who worked at a Manhattan-based pharmaceutical company. RYAN pled guilty today before U.S. District John P. Cronan.

“As he admitted today, Gerard Ryan transformed confidential drug approval information into profits for himself and others,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Trading on stolen information harms both other market participants and the marketplace itself. SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect American markets and investors.”

“Gerard Ryan leveraged confidential information about the official announcement of a new pharmaceutical drug to make thousands of illegal trades before informing his associate to do the same,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. “Ryan’s conduct undermined the integrity and fairness of our securities markets. The FBI does not tolerate those who use privileged details to disrupt our economic system to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.”