Defendant in high-profile insider-trade trial was expelled from Harvard Law School, prosecutors say

A 39-year-old defendant in a high-profile insider trading case didn’t simply drop out of Harvard Law School to earn a master’s in business administration degree at Stanford University, as has been previously reported, prosecutors say. They contend in a federal court filing that former SAC Capital Advisors fund manager Mathew…

Jan 9, 2014 11:40 PM CST

Shareholders suit accuses IBM of defrauding investors by hiding its cooperation with NSA program

IBM is being sued by a group of shareholders for who say it concealed its cooperation in a National Security Agency surveillance program that has cost the company sales and led to a decline in stock prices. In a suit filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension…

Dec 16, 2013 10:31 PM CST

Lack of Wall Street prosecutions spurs federal judge’s critical essay

A New York federal judge is criticizing the U.S. Justice Department for failing to prosecute Wall Street executives who may have played a role in the financial crisis. File photo of U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff by Stringer/Reuters/Corbis. The “blistering essay” by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff criticizes some of…

Dec 16, 2013 7:57 PM CST

Marijuana products company is headed by former BigLaw partner

A company that makes equipment used to grow marijuana has a couple BigLaw connections. The public company, GrowLife, is headed by former Jenner & Block partner Sterling Scott, and it has hired Crowell & Moring for regulatory and M&A advice, the Am Law Daily reports. Several other companies serving the…

Dec 5, 2013 12:53 PM CST

Madoff’s $17B fraud began in 1970s, witness says in testimony against former colleagues

As testimony rolls on in the first criminal trial concerning Bernard L. Madoff’s massive $17 billion Ponzi scheme, at least one high-level ex-employee is saying that the fake trades on which his Manhattan investment firm was built dated back to the 1970s. For more than a decade, officials have said,…

Dec 2, 2013 8:19 PM CST

What JPMorgan did wrong: 2006 meeting and ignored warnings spurred $13B settlement

A statement of facts negotiated as part of a record $13 billion settlement announced on Tuesday details how JPMorgan Chase misled investors when packaging mortgage securities. JPMorgan hired a third party to review mortgages purchased from lenders for securitization, but ignored warnings and included faulty loans in the pools without…

Nov 20, 2013 3:25 PM CST

SCOTUS to revisit fraud-on-the-market theory that aids securities plaintiffs

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to revisit a presumption that helps plaintiffs in securities-fraud class actions. The court will consider the fraud-on-the-market theory in a suit by investors who bought Halliburton stock, report the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and SCOTUSblog. The court granted cert…

Nov 18, 2013 3:13 PM CST

Behavioral psychology suggests how lawyers can combat questionable trading

Behavioral psychology suggests that lawyers can have an influence on traders’ troubling behavior, according to a researcher in the field. Human decisions can be influenced by “morality reminders,” according to a New York Times DealBook article by Doug Steiner, a financial services strategy consultant and a partner at a behavioral…

Nov 13, 2013 11:45 AM CST

JPMorgan said to reach tentative deal to pay $13B to resolve civil probes, a record amount

JPMorgan Chase has reportedly reached a tentative deal to pay $13 billion to resolve civil probes regarding the sale of troubled mortgage securities. The New York Times DealBook blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) are among the publications reporting on the tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department,…

Oct 21, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Billionaire Mark Cuban wins SEC insider-trading case, calls lead trial lawyer for agency ‘a bully’

A high-profile insider-trading case against the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks has ended badly for the government. A federal jury in Dallas deliberated for less than a day before finding Mark Cuban not liable in the civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg reports. He had…

Oct 16, 2013 9:45 PM CDT

BigLaw defendants ask Supreme Court to scuttle class actions over Stanford CD sales

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday considered whether state class actions can go forward against two law firms and other professionals accused of aiding convicted Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford. At issue is whether the U.S. Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, passed to curtail state-law class actions alleging securities fraud,…

Oct 9, 2013 10:45 AM CDT

Boies Schiller opens London office, firm’s first outside US

Boies Schiller & Flexner is opening an office in London, its first outside the United States. Partner Natasha Harrison will exit Bingham McCutchen to serve as managing partner of the new office, according to Bloomberg and Legal Week. She focuses her practice on securities and finance litigation, and is expected…

Oct 8, 2013 6:15 PM CDT

Young lawyer takes plea in lender-looting case as trial looms for 4 other defendant attorneys

Cory A. Leshner said he was still a law student when he became part of a claimed scheme to take over and loot a Texas-based mortgage company. Now Leshner, a 30-year-old Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in federal court in Camden, N.J., according to…

Oct 2, 2013 8:25 PM CDT

Judge Jed Rakoff’s stance on the SEC deals draws fire, praise—and change

Oct 1, 2013 10:10 AM CDT

Hearsay: Social media remorse

Oct 1, 2013 9:00 AM CDT