Good morning. Crypto’s biggest case kicks off in New York today as jury selection begins in Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. In another courthouse, the civil trial against former President Donald Trump is continuing, and Hunter Biden is expected to appear in a Delaware courtroom for his arraignment on gun charges. It’s a big week for news – don’t touch that dial!
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried stands in Manhattan federal court. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg |
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial is scheduled to start this morning in New York, where prosecutors seek to prove the 31 year old stole billions of dollars from customers of his now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange. Bankman-Fried's is the highest profile case prosecutors have so far brought in the world of cryptocurrency, report Jody Godoy and Luc Cohen.
Bankman-Fried stands accused of embezzling from FTX to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research, buy luxury properties and donate more than $100 million to U.S. political candidates. He has pleaded not guilty to two fraud and five conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried built his reputation as a legitimate crypto operator on lies, and bolstered it with endorsements from celebrities and star athletes. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried's attorneys from Cohen & Gresser will likely try to persuade jurors that the MIT graduate had a good faith belief that he was following the law and FTX's terms of service when loaning customer funds to Alameda. More of Reuters’ coverage of FTX and SBF:
> Key moments leading up to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's trial
> Bankman-Fried trial poses biggest test to date for crypto's top cop
> Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial: How will he defend himself? |
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Veteran appellate lawyer Beth Brinkmann of Covington & Burling has left the law firm to serve as senior litigation director at the Center for Reproductive Rights, a U.S. nonprofit that has been closely involved in major court clashes over abortion rights and related health services. (Reuters)
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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by two lawyers, Ernest Walker and Gary Fielder, contesting a $187,000 sanction imposed on them by a judge who found they made recklessness and frivolous claims in litigation seeking to overturn former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss as fraudulent. (Reuters)
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An Illinois appellate court said Walgreens can counter sue a health insurer for allegedly helping one of the retail pharmacy giant's former law firms, Crowell & Moring, switch sides in a legal fight over prescription drug reimbursements. (Reuters)
- British law firm Axiom Ince sought to appoint administrators, likely spelling the end for the troubled firm after police launched a criminal probe following claims its former managing director misappropriated client money. (Reuters)
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San Francisco-founded law firm Rimon said it has combined with New York business law firm SilvermanAcampora, helping to kick off what could be a busy quarter for law firm merger activity. (Reuters)
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A GE AC4400CW diesel-electric locomotive in Union Pacific livery in Los Angeles. REUTERS/Bing Guan |
On the eve of jury selection in the government’s criminal fraud trial against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, a Manhattan federal judge has limited the erstwhile billionaire’s ability to undercut the prosecutors’ case by pointing to the involvement of FTX lawyers in his allegedly criminal scheme. Judge Lewis Kaplan said Bankman-Fried’s lawyers can’t refer to advice from FTX counsel during their opening arguments but may be allowed to introduce such evidence as the trial progresses. Alison Frankel has the details.
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"This concession that both the advertisements and the products served in stores contain the same amount of meat is fatal to Plaintiff’s claims." |
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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case over the future of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau brought by a pair of trade groups representing the payday loan industry. The case, which began as a 2018 lawsuit by the Community Financial Services Association of America and the Consumer Service Alliance of Texas, took aim at a CFPB regulation designed to curb "abusive" practices by barring certain high-interest lenders from trying to charge a borrower's bank account after two unsuccessful attempts in a row. A federal judge in 2021 sided with the CFPB. But the 5th Circuit last October ruled that the agency's funding structure violated the Constitution. Noel Francisco of Jones Day is representing the trade groups.
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U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan is holding a pretrial conference in the criminal case against Celsius Network founder and former CEO Alex Mashinsky, who was charged in July with misleading customers and artificially inflating the value of his company’s proprietary crypto token. Mashinsky, charged with seven criminal counts, including securities fraud, commodities fraud and wire fraud, has pleaded not guilty.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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In what appears to be the first trademark dispute over the rebranding of Twitter to X Corp, the company was sued in federal court in Florida by a legal-marketing company that claims the social media giant's new name infringes its trademark incorporating the letter "X." The lawsuit by X Social Media, which is represented by Gerben Perrott, claims that X Corp was likely to cause consumer confusion. (Reuters)
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Another Elon Musk company, Tesla, scored a major win after a California federal judge ruled that a group of people who own cars made by Tesla must pursue claims that the company misled the public about its autopilot features in individual arbitration rather than court. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam said four Tesla owners who filed a proposed class action last year had agreed to arbitrate any legal claims against the company when they accepted its terms and conditions while purchasing vehicles through a Tesla website. (Reuters)
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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a bid by anti-abortion activists to throw out more than $2 million in damages they were ordered to pay Planned Parenthood after secretly recording video of abortion providers in a scheme to try to show the illicit sale of aborted fetal tissue for profit. The justices turned away the appeal by David Daleiden and his group, the Center for Medical Progress, of a lower court's 2022 decision rejecting the group’s argument that with the secret recording they were exercising their right to free speech. (Reuters)
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A Virginia federal judge said software company Gen Digital, formerly known as NortonLifeLock, owes New York's Columbia University nearly $481.3 million in a patent lawsuit over cybersecurity technology, more than doubling a jury's award for the school from last year. U.S. District Judge Hannah Lauck said in a final judgment that Columbia's $185 million jury verdict should be multiplied after Gen Digital had willfully infringed the patents with its antivirus software and other security products. (Reuters)
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Zillow has convinced a Seattle jury to reject a false-advertising and consumer deception lawsuit brought by a defunct real estate platform that accused its larger rival of destroying its business. REX-Real Estate Exchange, which was represented at trial by a Boies Schiller team that included famed litigator David Boies, had argued that changes Zillow made to its website made it harder for home buyers to find listings from REX, sinking the $444 million business. (Reuters)
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Baker McKenzie hired the head of McDermott Will & Emery's Chicago litigation practice, Colleen Baime, as a partner in the city. (Reuters)
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Intellectual property attorney and former USPTO judge Jessica Kaiser has joined Perkins Coie from Arnold & Porter. Kaiser will be part of the firm’s IP and patent litigation practices as a partner based out of Denver. (Reuters)
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Clifford Chance picked up partner Jason Ewart for the firm’s global financial markets team. Ewart was previously with Latham & Watkins. (Clifford Chance)
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Greenspoon Marder added partner Jaci Flug to its hospitality, alcohol and leisure industry group in New York. Flug previously served as general counsel and senior vice president at Drizly. (Greenspoon Marder)
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Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner hired IP partner Jeff Wakolbinger in Chicago. He was previously a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman. (Bryan Cave)
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