This Week in FCPA-Episode 58, the Declination Edition
Weekly Brief: Lawyers Advised To Accept New Reality
Because who wants a nice quiet December, right? Yesterday, the U.S. opened yet another trade war front by proposing retaliatory tariffs of up to 100% on a wide range of French imports after announcing that “it found France’s...more
Bloomberg is reporting that Walgreens Boots is weighing a potential deal “to take the company private in what could become the largest leveraged buyout in history.” PE firms like KKR are apparently in the mix to assist in the...more
Though expected after its earlier move to cut its revenue forecast, Apple’s official quarterly profits reporting yesterday still disappointed, as the company posted its “first holiday-quarter drop in both revenue and profit...more
On November 19, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit summarily affirmed the grant of summary judgment in a securities class action in favor of a financial institution (the “Company”), several of its...more
A mix of corporate tax cuts and a strong economy helped propel US corporate profits to a 16.1% year-over-year gain, the best figure in 6 years...more
Uber’s throwing in the towel on Otto, its self-driving truck unit that was at the center of an IP-theft scandal with Waymo and will shift its focus to autonomous cars....more
Chalk up a major win for Carl Icahn. Icahn has forced Xerox’s CEO, Board Chair, and 5 other board members out of their jobs as part of a push by activist investors. The shake-up will jeopardize the company’s $6.1 billion...more
It was a busy Thursday in the big pharma world, with drugmaker Shire rejecting a $60 billion takeover offer from Japan’s Takeda, while US rival Allergan disclosed that it was considering a bid of its own for Shire....more
The Second Circuit, in keeping with its recent decision in Waggoner v. Barclays, reaffirmed that defendants must satisfy the burden of persuasion by a preponderance of the evidence to rebut the presumption established by the...more
More trouble for the embattled British PM Theresa May. We learned yesterday that Britain’s second-largest construction firm—Carillion—was forced into liquidation after amassing a staggering $1.35 billion in debt. The downfall...more
The Senate Banking Committee has voted out of committee a bipartisan effort to ease Dodd-Frank regulations. The bill in question could “drastically cut” the number of banks subject to heightened Fed oversight and “would ease...more
Breakingviews is raising an eyebrow at the news from yesterday about Broadcom’s unsolicited $105 billion offer for Qualcomm [the largest-ever proposed tech deal], especially in light of the “mountain of debt” Broadcom would...more
Goldman’s deal-making advising is sputtering a bit these days, so Lloyd and the gang are working on generating some of those deals themselves through a new Innovations Lab internal venture....more
The White House announced its intention yesterday to blocked a China-backed investor from buying American semiconductor maker Lattice over national security concerns. The “rare move” could “signal more aggressive scrutiny of...more
News emerged in past weeks that North Korean hackers were likely behind the theft of $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh. You can add to that an attack on more than 20 Polish banks and an attempt at other...more
The FHLB Boston’s $5.9 billion MBS case against Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Credit Suisse, is back in Massachusetts state court—a result of the Supreme Court’s Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage case that held that Fannie Mae’s...more
In a move anticipated over the past year or so, Caliber Home Loans—with PE Lone Star Funds’ backing—is making more loans to “borrowers with spotty credit histories.” A euphemism for subprime, by the way. That targeting has...more
A putative class action filed last week is accusing 25 prominent banks—including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Barclays—of “conspiring to rig the market for securities” sold by the US Treasury in their roles as primary...more
Last week, Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York partially granted Barclays PLC’s motion to dismiss antitrust and unfair enrichment claims brought against it by Merced...more
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York recently certified a class in Strougo v. Barclays PLC, 14 Civ. 5797 (SAS), (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 2, 2016), a high-profile securities class action based on the...more
A high-profile class action against Barclays over so-called high-frequency trading is heading into a key phase this month, with the court set to decide plaintiffs’ motion for class certification—a pivotal moment in the case’s...more
Last spring popular author Michael Lewis described the world of high-frequency stock trades and dark pools in his book, Flash Boys. Between then and now, the New York Attorney General (“NYAG”), a group of public investors,...more
Court Permits Customer and IB Claims to Proceed Against U.S. Bank Over Peregrine Collapse - A US federal court in Illinois authorized two lawsuits arising from the collapse of Peregrine Financial Group to proceed...more