Law Firms Cash In on FTX Bankruptcy: "More Lucrative Than Enron or Lehman"

After 1 Year, FTX Bankruptcy Is More Lucrative for Law Firms Than Enron and Lehman

For debtor’s counsel, notoriously lucrative bankruptcies have included Enron, Lehman Brothers and General Motors. After defaulting on nearly a trillion dollars in combined debt, the trio generated hundreds of millions of dollars in fee revenue for law firms.

But for law firms like Sullivan & Cromwell and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency trading firm-turned-accounting fraud FTX is proving to be just as profitable, even though it wasn’t associated with a major recession.

Between November 2022 and September 2023, debtor’s counsel Sullivan & Cromwell billed $131.5 million in legal work at a blended hourly rate of $1,289. Working as special counsel to FTX, Quinn Emanuel billed more than $28 million during the same period.

Fake WeWork Rescuer Was an Hour Late

Should you email the SEC if you are planning to put out a fake press release about a fake tender offer? I guess it doesn’t matter much either way. They can see the press release. I suppose you can argue “no, this was a real offer, as you can see because I emailed the SEC about it,” but they’re not going to believe that. “Larmore and Cole Capital did not have sufficient liquid capital to execute Cole Capital’s proposed tender offer,” says the SEC, and obviously buying all those options first is suspicious. Really the not-legal-advice lesson here is … make sure you have the formatting right before you try to publish your fake merger press release?

SEC Disclosures of Artificial Intelligence Technologies

The meteoric rise in generative artificial intelligence has dramatically altered the corporate landscape as companies increasingly invest in or incorporate artificial intelligence, including machine learning technologies (together referred to herein as “AI”), into their businesses. The increasing adoption of AI presents tremendous opportunities to harness data on a vast scale, but it also presents numerous risks and uncertainties. In this Alert, we review developments regarding AI disclosure in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for Forms 10-K and 10-Q and proxy statements, based on our informal survey of disclosures by S&P 500 and Russell 3000 companies between January 1, 2023 and October 31, 2023. We also advise companies of what to do now to address this emerging disclosure trend.

Leader Of Miami Crew Sentenced To 63 Months In Prison For Defrauding Banks And Cryptocurrency Exchange Of More Than $4 Million

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ESTEBAN CABRERA DA CORTE, a/k/a “Esteban Cabrera,” a/k/a “Esteban Da Corte,” a/k/a “Steban,” was sentenced to 63 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla for organizing a scheme to steal millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and trick U.S. banks into refunding the millions used to purchase that cryptocurrency by using, in part, personal identifying information stolen from other people.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Esteban Cabrera Da Corte orchestrated a scheme to steal millions of dollars by buying cryptocurrency using false and stolen identities, then deceiving U.S. banks regarding those transactions. Cabrera Da Corte now faces years in prison for this crime. This sentencing should send a clear message that we, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to zealously prosecute cryptocurrency scammers and money launderers.”

Goldman Sachs analyst used inside information for profit, London court told

A former Goldman Sachs analyst used confidential information to make more than 140,000 pounds ($176,800) from shares in listed companies, prosecutors told a London court on Thursday.

Mohammed Zina, 35, who was employed by Goldman Sachs International in its conflicts resolution group in London, is accused of six offences of insider dealing relating to shares in six companies, including Arm Holdings and Punch Taverns.

Zina is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court alongside his brother Suhail Zina, 36, who was a lawyer at law firm Clifford Chance and is accused of letting his sibling use a trading account in his name to buy and sell shares between July 2016 and December 2017.

Former Trump AG William Barr thinks Delaware’s Caremark Doctrine is a Serious Policy Error That’s Going to Erode Delaware’s Dominance. He’s half right.

Third, where I part ways with Barr and Berry is in their theory that the Caremark error will lead to Delaware losing incorporations to red states (or, for that matter, any state). So many states have tried to knock Delaware off its throne. None have succeeded.

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Obviously, Delaware makes mistakes. But for the most part Delaware manages to retain pride of place. On major reason is that Delaware’s legislature acts quickly to adopt developments in other states that prove successful. “The Delaware legislature pays close attention to keeping the GCL [i.e., the Delaware General Corporation Law]up-to-date and efficient. It has a longstanding relationship with the Corporate Law Section of the Delaware Bar Association, which frequently recommends, reviews, and drafts revisions to the GCL. William F. Griffin, The Delaware Alternative, CLHBU MA-CLE 10-1 (2015).

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In sum, if a state starts to make gains, the Delaware legislature will just copy that state’s approach–probably with improvements–and remain dominant by virtue of the unique combination of identified by Parsons and Slights.

Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri On ….

Yesterday Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri delivered this speech at the annual FCPA dog and pony show.

Argentieri addressed four topics: (1) the DOJ “achievements this year in the fight against corruption and white collar crime; (2) how the DOJ is “actioning the recent corporate enforcement policies announced by the department — policies that built upon longstanding Criminal Division policies and practices in a space where the Criminal Division has long been a leader; (3) “the Criminal Division’s ongoing use of data analytics, and how we are expanding our use of data to enhance our FCPA enforcement efforts”; and (4) “an exciting new resource dedicated to deepening our international partnerships in key parts of the world that will enhance our ability to identify and prosecute foreign bribery offenses and allow us to generate new and impactful cases.”

Republicans’ Leadership Squabbles Delayed U.S. Crypto Bills Until 2024, Key Lawmakers Say

After months of hoping U.S. crypto legislation could win House of Representatives approval this year, lawmakers doing much of the behind-the-scenes work are looking to 2024 as the time when digital assets bills may get passed by that Republican-controlled chamber though the efforts still face an uphill climb in the Senate where Democrats have the reins.

U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s subcommittee that focuses on digital assets, said the House’s consideration of two major crypto bills – one to regulate U.S. stablecoin issuers and another to form a broad system of rules for crypto markets – has likely shifted into “early 2024.”

Cristiano Ronaldo hit with $1B lawsuit for touting Binance NFTs

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida Monday alleges that Ronaldo’s promotion of Binance was “deceptive and unlawful.”

Binance’s partnership with high-profile figures like Ronaldo, the plaintiffs claim, led them into costly and unsafe investments.

“Evidence now reveals that Binance’s fraud was only able to reach such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, powerful and recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe—just like Defendant Ronaldo,” the suit reads.