SEC and Ripple Seek Court Approval for Settlement Imposing $50 Million Penalty

SEC, Ripple Ink $50M Settlement Agreement, Ask NY Judge for Green Light

Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have officially reached a deal that, if approved by a judge, will bring their years-long legal battle to a close.

According to a settlement agreement filed in New York on Thursday, both parties have agreed to a $50 million penalty — a portion of the $125 million fine initially imposed last year by Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), and a tiny fraction of the massive $2 billion fine initially requested by the SEC.

Celsius’s Mashinsky, Former Crypto High-Roller, Gets 12-Year Prison Sentence

Former cryptocurrency evangelist Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to fraud in connection with the multibillion-dollar collapse of his firm, Celsius Network, three years ago.

A pseudobank that touted returns of as much as 18.6% on customers’ crypto deposits, Celsius was one of the first big crypto companies to topple into bankruptcy after a downturn in the digital-currency markets began in the spring of 2022.

Federal prosecutors had sought a sentence of at least 20 years for Mashinsky, who attracted customers—many of them ordinary investors—by urging them to “unbank” themselves and park their savings at Celsius during frequent appearances on social media.

Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to have court rehear appeal of conviction

Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes suffered a significant legal setback Thursday after an appeals court rejected her bid to rehear her case.

The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals declined Holmes’ request to have her case reconsidered by the original panel of three judges who previously affirmed her 2022 fraud conviction.

The court said that none of the judges from the circuit asked for a full court vote to rehear the matter.

Event-Driven Litigation, Sure, But Even Where the Event is the CEO’s Murder?

As part of our beat here at The D&O Diary, we read all of the new securities class action lawsuit complaints as they come in. As a result, we have become quite accustomed to the reality that, as Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine famously put it, “everything, everywhere is securities fraud.” But our experience did not quite prepare us for the new complaint filed earlier this week against UnitedHealth Group that works the CEO’s murder into the complaint’s allegations…. […]

But adding allegations that the original strategy was supposedly so heinous that the company’s CEO got murdered; and that that’s why the company had to change its strategy; and then trying to make all of that add up to securities fraud, is taking securities fraud allegations to a far different, and far darker place. The murder is effectively the centerpiece of the complaint; indeed, the complaint’s factual allegations lead with the assertion that anger at the company’s practices led to Thompson’s murder. 

New York Law Firm That Struck Deal With Trump Is Losing Lawyers

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft struck a deal with President Trump last month intended to secure the future of New York’s oldest law firm. Instead the pact is backfiring, adding to an exodus of lawyers that has placed the firm on uncertain footing.

Cadwalader already was facing troubles, including imminent attorney departures, before its April 11 deal with the White House in which it avoided a punitive executive order by pledging at least $100 million of pro bono work to support the president’s priorities. The agreement now is pushing more lawyers to leave, people familiar with the matter said, spurred by anger that the firm capitulated to Trump instead of fighting back against an administration campaign that many in the industry believe to be unconstitutional.

A key partner in the firm’s litigation group is in late-stage talks to join a boutique firm and several other litigators are planning an exit, the people said. J.B. Howard, who is counsel at the firm and a former Maryland deputy attorney general, is also leaving and sent a letter to firm leadership protesting its capitulation, people familiar with his departure said.