SEC Charges Lottery. com, Execs With Falsely Inflating Revenues to Investors

SEC Sues Lottery. com, Executives for Securities Fraud Scheme

Former executives of Lottery. com Inc. and the special purpose acquisition company that took it public were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday for falsely inflating revenues to investors.

The SEC’s lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court comes months after two Lottery. com executives pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges over their role in the scheme, which involved taking the company public through a merger with a so-called SPAC, reporting fake revenues about Lottery. com, and dumping their shares before the stock price tanked.

The Thursday complaint detailed the executives’ involvement in a fraudulent $30 million financing deal and an overpriced acquisition of a Mexican gaming company that were both allegedly designed to inflate the company’s revenues.

SEC Seeks Fresh Pathway to Advance in Stalled Adani Fraud Case

After failing to serve Gautam Adani with a legal summons for more than a year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission wants a judge to clear a way for the agency to advance with its fraud case against the Indian billionaire. Adani Group stocks and bonds fell in India.

The SEC asked US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday to let it use alternative measures to ensure that Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani — who both reside in India — are formally made aware of the legal action against them. Generally, such litigation can’t proceed in the US until the defendants have been properly served with the complaint.

The US regulator has said it’s repeatedly tried in vain to get assistance from India’s government to deliver the summons. Unsuccessful in its efforts, the SEC said it wants to formally notify the Adanis of its lawsuit via email and through Gautam’s US-based lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and counsel at Hecker Fink, which the agency says is representing Sagar.

Elizabeth Holmes Asks Trump for Early Prison Release After Fraud

Disgraced Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes has formally asked President Donald Trump to release her from prison with almost six years left to serve on her term.

Holmes asked Trump last month to commute her 11-year sentence for defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup. Her application appeared in a Justice Department database in mid-December, according to archived copies posted on lawyeroyer. com.

A Sharp Decline in SEC Whistleblower Awards? Don’t Let the Accounting Fool You

While we eagerly await the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2025 Annual Report to Congress on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program, we already know a lot about what that report is going to say. Despite some recent concerns about the health of the Program, we expect quite a bit of good news for past and future whistleblowers.

To be sure, the FY2025 “awards issued” number is down to a multi-year low of approximately $60 million. That annual figure has grabbed headlines, especially when compared with the eye-popping results of almost $600 million in FY2023 and $255 million in FY2024. But this is decidedly not a ‘sky is falling’ moment. In fact, the SEC’s 2025 Agency Financial Report (AFR) tells a far different story. In the AFR, which sets out the Commission’s overall financial and operational performance during the fiscal year, the SEC paid whistleblowers $171 million in 2025. That includes $110.3 million for amounts awarded before 2025 and $59.9 million for awards made in FY2025.

More importantly, the AFR suggests time will favor the brave. The range of what the SEC refers to as “probable” awards already in the pipeline is between some $218 million to $654 million. The significant range in the probable awards reflects the 10% – 30% the Commission can, by statute, award an eligible whistleblower.

State attorney general insider trading cases highlight state law securities enforcement risk

The actions against Kramer and Emergent are unusual examples of insider trading cases filed under state law. Typically, the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice pursue insider trading violations, including those involving the use of Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. Following the NYAG actions, Kramer’s attorney said that Kramer’s trading was reviewed by the DOJ and SEC, both of which declined to pursue charges….

Regarding the NYAG settlement with Emergent, in our experience, it is unusual for the SEC to charge a public company in connection with trading by an executive. NYAG’s enforcement actions are silent on whether the in-house counsel was aware of the alleged material nonpublic information and therefore, allegedly, should not have approved the Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, or whether the in-house counsel was not aware of the information. Given New York’s significant role in the securities markets, NYAG’s actions highlight possible area of risk for public companies and approval of Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.

Overall, the cases are an important reminder that state authorities often have broader anti-fraud statutes than do federal regulators. They also are a reminder that state authorities make independent charging decisions and may bring cases even when the relevant federal regulator does not.

Sullivan & Cromwell Claims Largest Share of FTX’s Nearly $1 Billion Fee Payout

The bankruptcy estate of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has paid lawyers and restructuring advisers nearly $1 billion in fees and expenses, underscoring the scale and costs of dismantling one of the digital asset industry’s most notorious failures.

According to the post-confirmation report filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, lead counsel Sullivan & Cromwell received about $232 million in attorney fees and costs over the course of the case.

Other firms also collected significant sums. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, retained as special litigation counsel, received about $48 million, while Delaware-based local counsel Landis Rath & Cobb was paid roughly $12 million, according to the filing.

Among financial professionals, Alvarez & Marsal North America earned the largest cumulative payout, collecting approximately $284.19 million in fees and costs.