SEC Announces Dismissal of Case Against Founder of Crypto Social Network BitClout

SEC Announces Dismissal of Civil Enforcement Action Against Nader Al-Naji and Relief Defendants

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a joint stipulation with Defendant Nader Al-Naji and Relief Defendants Buse Desticioglu Al-Naji, Joumana Bahouth Al-Naji, Intangible Holdings, LLC, Firestorm Media, LLC, Viridian City, LLC, and DeSo Foundation to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission’s civil enforcement action against them.

As stated in the joint stipulation, the Commission’s decision to exercise its discretion and seek dismissal of this litigation is based on the particular facts and circumstances of this case and “does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s position on any other case.”

SEC Seeks to Transfer $24 Million Bittrex Settlement to Treasury

The Securities and Exchange Commission moved to transfer $24 million in funds it received as part of a 2023 settlement with defunct crypto exchange Bittrex Inc. to the US Treasury after failing to reliably identify harmed investors.

Efforts to determine Bittrex customers who were harmed by the company’s failure to register as a national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency have come up short and likely won’t succeed, the SEC said Thursday in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.

“SEC staff have no reasonable way of identifying harmed investors or establishing the amount of harm suffered …”

The D&O Diary Announces its First-Ever Co-Author

For nearly 20 years, The D&O Diary has brought you timely articles discussing important topics from the world of corporate directors’ and officers’ liability and insurance. After nearly two decades, the time for a change has come. The D&O Diary is proud to announce the first-time ever appointment of a blog Co-Author. The new Co-Author — Sarah Abrams — has in fact been a frequent guest contributor to this site. Going forward, you will see articles from Sarah written as Co-Author appearing on this site on a regular basis.

Trump Lawyer Rebuked at ABA for Saying DOJ in a ‘Better Place’

A typically collegial white collar legal conference turned testy when one of the president’s defense attorneys faced incredulous and at one point rancorous pushback for praising Trump’s Justice Department.

John Lauro, who represented President Donald Trump in special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election interference case, offered a starkly opposing view to his co-panelists Friday at an American Bar Association-hosted discussion in San Diego on threats to the rule of law.

Veteran department officials and a former judge described a constitutional crisis playing out under Attorney General Pam Bondi. But Lauro said DOJ is “in a better place” than a year earlier “because I have the unique experience of representing a political figure who was probably more abused by the criminal justice system in America than any other political figure ever.” […]

Retired US District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, who now teaches at Harvard Law School, later retorted: “Whatever the issues were with respect to the Trump prosecution, they do not justify the fracture of American democracy.” […]

Another of the many former assistant US attorneys turned white collar defense lawyers gathered in San Diego took a less diplomatic approach during the audience question-and-answer session.

“I wanted to thank Mr. Lauro for admitting the emperor has no clothes—the rule of law is dead because the people in this room and the Department of Justice pissed off President Trump” and “we have a president who can dictate what is done and what is not done,” said Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey. “Thank you for admitting that the dictator in place in the White House has killed the rule of law. I really appreciate that.”