SEC and DOJ Tell Supreme Court Nvidia Investors' Lawsuit Should Not Be Dismissed

Plus 22 state AGs launch investigation into Nasdaq board diversity rules.

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Good morning! Whenever you hear that “the presidential election is only ___ days away,” just add one day to that number and you’ll know exactly how many days until Securities Enforcement Forum D.C.! (Current answer = 33)

In fact, there will even be a can’t-miss panel at this event called “The Day After: The Impact of the Election on SEC Enforcement.” See you in D.C.!

Here’s what’s up.

People

Derek Cohen, former Deputy Chief of the DOJ’s Fraud Section, has joined Baker Botts as a partner in the firm’s New York office.

John Bender has joined K&L Gates as a partner in the firm’s Seattle office.

Clips ✂️

Nvidia Investors Backed by US in Supreme Court Crypto Sales Case

Nvidia Corp. investors should be allowed to proceed with their suit alleging the chip maker misled the market about its dependence on sales to cryptocurrency miners, two federal agencies told the US Supreme Court.

The investors’ complaint contained detailed allegations sufficient to survive dismissal, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday in a friend of the court brief. The high court should affirm the proposed class action’s revival by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the government said.

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Private suits supplement the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions and the SEC’s enforcement actions, she said. The government therefore has a strong interest in the proper reading of one of the statutes on investor litigation, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, she said.

by Bloomberg Law

Nasdaq Board Diversity Rules Face State Attorneys General Probe

Nasdaq rules encouraging diverse boards at companies listed on the stock exchange have drawn an investigation from 22 state attorneys general into whether the regulations are discriminatory.

The rules require thousands of companies to report director diversity information annually and have a diverse board or explain why they can’t. Implementation is moving forward despite a legal challenge from conservative groups still pending in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Republican attorneys general led by Brenna Bird of Iowa announced their inquiry Thursday. They’re giving Nasdaq Inc. until Oct. 23 to provide evidence and share any legal analysis it conducted to ensure its rules comply with anti-discrimination laws.

by Bloomberg Law

👉 The letter signed by 22 Republican AGs is here.

Forward-Looking Statements Don’t Support Securities Case Against Peloton Following Pandemic Spike

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. has dismissed with prejudice securities claims against the exercise technology company Peloton in the Southern District of New York, concluding that statements made about the company’s postpandemic growth were true and protected under federal law.

The opinion, issued Monday, ends nearly three years of stock-price drop litigation which shareholders filed after Peloton’s 2021 announcement that its demand growth had slowed more than previously projected. Latham & Watkins represented Peloton in the case.

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Carter wrote that the plaintiffs had failed to fix the issues he identified when dismissing their first amended complaint, only including in the second amended complaint forward-looking statements protected under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Additionally, he wrote, Peloton had buffered those forward-looking statements by cautioning that they may not line up exactly with actual results, including how demand for Peloton’s products and subscriptions might change during or after the pandemic.

by NY Law Journal

Steinhoff’s Ex-CFO Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Fraud

Steinhoff International Holdings NV’s former chief financial officer was handed a five-year jail term, making him the most senior executive to be imprisoned by a South African court over an accounting scandal that led to the near-collapse of the global retailer.

Ben la Grange, 50, whose official sentence is 10 years after pleading to one charge of fraud, won some leniency in a judgment at Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court because he’d repeatedly cooperated with investigators.

by Bloomberg

Len Sassaman Will Likely be Named as Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto in HBO Documentary, Polymarket Bets

A new HBO documentary from Emmy-nominated Cullen Hoback, director of Q: Into the Storm, which unveiled who was behind the QAnon Conspiracy Theory that dominated 4chan during the 2016 election, promises to name who Satoshi is.

Polymarket bettors think that Len Sassaman will be the person the documentary names.

Sassaman, who took is own life in 2011 after a battle with depression, is thought to be Satoshi because of his long history of published academic works regarding cryptography which often showed his strong ideological commitment to privacy and decentralization.

Adding to the speculation that Sassaman is Satoshi is the date of their respective disappearances. Sassaman took his life shortly after Satoshi stopped posting on BTCTalk, once the go-to destination for crypto discussions.

by CoinDesk

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Twitter

👉 “Competition for them has never been fiercer,” said Gavin Filmore, chief revenue officer of white-label firm Tidal Financial Group. “In a way similar to ‘cybersquatting,’ we can see market participants constantly grabbing tickers, especially as certain sectors or themes become more crowded.”

👉 In this video the Tether CEO discusses the company’s “quarterly attestations” (not audits). CPA/auditor readers, are “attestations” a real thing?