A Look at the "Mind-Boggling" Legal Talent and Legal Bills in Twitter v. Musk

Twitter v. Elon Musk: Let’s Look At The Lawyers

The agglomeration of legal talent on both sides of Twitter v. Musk is mind-boggling—as is the amount of money being billed on this case. But with stakes ranging from a $1 billion breakup fee on the low end to a $44 billion acquisition on the high end, with lots of room for a settlement in between, there’s plenty of cash sloshing around to cover the lawyers’ fees. If you bought a Tesla in the past few years, you probably just juiced the 2022 profits per partner of Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, Wilson Sonsini, Simpson Thacher, Wachtell Lipton, and Potter Anderson.

What If Elon Musk Is Ordered to Do Twitter Deal and He Just Says No?

Miller cautioned that “nothing like this has ever happened before,” a scenario in which “someone is ordered by Chancery to close a deal and just ignores that order.” But legal deadbeats aren’t uncommon, he said, “and all states and all courts have procedures whereby the winning litigant can ‘execute’ a judgment by moving against the loser’s assets.”

A court judgment Musk refused to pay would become like any other debt, said Charles Elson, a retired University of Delaware finance professor and the former head of the school’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. But seizing Tesla shares to collect that debt could be a long, tortuous legal road, he said.

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“There’s no way in the world Delaware is going to lose its franchise as the premier corporate law jurisdiction where contracts are enforced because Elon doesn’t feel like doing it,” he said.

Wall Street Texting Habit Sticks Banks With Rare $1 Billion Bill

Regulators are poised to extract about $1 billion in fines from the five biggest US investment banks for failing to monitor employees using unauthorized messaging apps.

Morgan Stanley disclosed on Thursday that it expects to pay a $200 million fine, the same amount JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid as authorities use that settlement as a yardstick for the industry. Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. also have had advanced discussions with the regulators to each pay a similar figure, according to people with knowledge of the talks who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.

Gensler: SEC could tailor disclosures for crypto firms

“I’ve said to the industry, to the lending platforms, to the trading platforms, come in, talk to us. We do have robust authorities from Congress, also, to use our exemptive authority so that we can tailor investor protection,” Gensler said during a Yahoo Finance interview on Thursday.

“Even tailoring what the disclosures might be, because maybe not all of the disclosures for somebody issuing equity are the same as a crypto token. But I would note we don’t have the same disclosures for an asset-backed security that we do for a stock offering,” Gensler said. “So it’s a thoughtful way to sort of tailor things.”

Finra bars would-be brokers for cheating on online qualification exams

Finra barred two individuals from the financial industry for cheating on online qualification exams, the first enforcement actions the regulator has taken in relation to remote examinations.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. announced Wednesday that it imposed bars on Brandon Autiero, formerly associated with Equitable Advisors, and Harris Kausar, formerly associated with Barclays Capital Inc. In separate incidents, Autiero and Kausar accessed public online forums to assist with answering questions during examinations.

A Watchdog Report Absolves Financial Transactions by 2 Fed Officials

A review from the Federal Reserve’s watchdog found that trades made by two top officials in 2019 and 2020, when the central bank was especially active in financial markets, violated neither the law nor central bank policies.

The Office of Inspector General report, released Thursday, cleared both Chair Jerome H. Powell and Richard Clarida, the former vice chair. Both had executed transactions that became the subject of media reporting, and in Mr. Clarida’s case, prompted broader criticism from lawmakers and ethics experts.