The FTX Collapse: Why Did Due Diligence, Regulation, and Governance Evaporate?

By Georges Ugeux November 30, 2022 by renholding

FTX[1] is a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2019 that, at its peak in 2021, had over 1 million users, making it the world’s third largest crypto exchange by volume. Since November 11, 2022, though, FTX has been in …

Skadden Discusses DOJ’s First Criminal Monopolization Case in Decades

By Matthew M. Martino, Tara L. Reinhart, David P. Wales and Julia K. York November 30, 2022 by renholding

Last month, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced its first criminal attempted monopolization charges in more than 40 years. In the case, U.S. v. Zito, Nathan Nephi Zito, the owner of a Montana paving company, pleaded guilty to …

Let’s Stop Treating Crypto Trading as If It Were Finance

By Todd H. Baker November 29, 2022 by renholding

Members of Congress and financial regulators from the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, SEC, CFTC, and CFPB appear set on regulating the crypto trading system (traded coins and associated marketplaces, exchanges, brokerages, lending, staking, derivatives, intermediaries, and enablers) as part of …

Olshan Discusses FINRA, Stock Exchange Crack Down on Small-Cap IPO “Ramp and Dump” Schemes

By Spencer G. Feldman November 29, 2022 by renholding

On November 17, 2022, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued a special alert to FINRA members concerning the heightened threat of fraud in small capitalization initial public offerings (“IPOs”). At the same time, both the New York Stock Exchange …

Fraud on the Crypto Market

By Menesh Patel November 28, 2022 by renholding

Investors now routinely turn to crypto asset trading for portfolio appreciation and diversification, but significant investor protection concerns loom. Between 2017 and 2019, thousands of crypto assets were offered to the public and others through initial coin offerings. Many of …

Paul Hastings Discusses SEC’s Crypto Victory in the LBRY Case

By Kenneth Herzinger, Nick Morgan, Eric Sibbitt and Derek Evan Wetmore November 28, 2022 by renholding

On November 7, a federal judge ruled that LBRY Credits (“LBC”) are securities, and thus LBRY violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 by selling LBC.[1] LBRY responded with a tweet describing the ruling as “extraordinarily dangerous …

Does Student Loan Forgiveness Have Significant Benefits for the Economy?

By Thomas Chemmanur, Karthik Krishnan, Harshit Rajaiya and Pinshuo Wang November 23, 2022 by renholding

Student loans are becoming a major challenge for the United States. An estimated 43 million borrowers owe about $1.6 trillion dollars, meaning a significant fraction of U.S. households is burdened with debt that is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The problem …

Skadden Discusses First OFAC and FinCEN Parallel Enforcement Actions on Virtual Currency

By Alessio Evangelista, Eytan J. Fisch, Khalil N. Maalouf, Javier A. Urbina and Michael A. Darling November 23, 2022 by renholding

On October 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced settlements for approximately $24 million and $29 million, respectively, with virtual currency exchange Bittrex, Inc. (Bittrex). …

How Patent Thickets Distort the Acquisition Market

By Logan P. Emery and Michael Woeppel November 22, 2022 by renholding

Patent thickets are dense webs of overlapping intellectual property rights. They are common in industries ranging from semiconductors to smartphones to pharmaceuticals. When many firms own the underlying patents, thickets complicate licensing negotiations and increase the risk of holdup and …

SEC Enforcement Chief Speaks on Penalties, Investigations, and Compliance

By Gurbir Grewal November 22, 2022 by renholding

Throughout my first year as Director, I have spoken[1] often about the public’s declining trust in our institutions and financial markets.[2] I have observed that, while there is no single cause for this decline of trust, it is

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Do Favorable ESG Ratings Lead to More Socially Responsible Behavior?

By Ben W. Lewis and W. Chad Carlos November 21, 2022 by renholding

One of the hottest topics in the business world is ESG ratings, which are designed to measure the environmental, social, and governance risks of a company. The idea is that increased transparency about companies’ ESG risks will motivate those with …

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses the EU AI Liability Directive’s Impact on Artificial Intelligence Legal Risks

By Avi Gesser, Robert Maddox, Anna Gressel, Frank Colleluori and Michael Pizzi November 21, 2022 by renholding

On September 28, 2022, the European Commission released a proposal to change the legal landscape for companies developing and implementing artificial intelligence in EU Member States. This AI Liability Directive would require Member States to implement rules that would significantly …

Can Shareholder Lawsuits Police Companies’ Climate Disclosures?

By Emily Strauss November 18, 2022 by renholding

In March 2022, the SEC proposed mandatory climate disclosures for public companies.[1] While climate activist investors applauded the proposed rules, opponents lamented their scope and cost, arguing that the SEC lacks the authority to promulgate such rules. But the …

Columbia Law School to Hold 2022 Conference on M&A and Corporate Governance

By Reynolds Holding November 18, 2022 by renholding

On December 2, 2022, Columbia Law School will hold its 2022 Conference on Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Governance. The event is co-sponsored by the school’s Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, the Columbia Law School …

Do Individual Directors Matter?

By Dipesh Bhattarai, Matthew Serfling and Tracie Woidtke November 17, 2022 by renholding

A fundamental question in corporate governance research is whether the board of directors affects firm value. Some argue that directors contribute no additional value to the firm and may even lower its value if they act only as a rubber …

FTC Chair Khan on the Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair Methods of Competition

By Lina M. Khan November 17, 2022 by renholding

When Congress passed the FTC Act in 1914, it didn’t just create a new agency. It created new law for that agency to enforce. Section 5 of the Act provides that “unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce” are

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Estimating the Cost of Control Rights in the Corporate Loan Market

By Andrew Bird November 16, 2022 by renholding

Financial covenants have gone in and out of style over the last 30 years. They serve to transfer control rights to lenders when a borrower’s financial metrics breach pre-set contractual thresholds and so provide an interesting laboratory to study debtholder-shareholder …

SEC Announces Enforcement Results for FY 2022

By Securities and Exchange Commission November 16, 2022 by renholding

The Securities and Exchange Commission today [November 15] announced that it filed 760 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, a 9 percent increase over the prior year. These included 462 new, or “stand alone,” enforcement actions, a 6.5 percent …

Social Washing or Credible Communication?

By Nathan C. Goldman and Yuan Zhang November 15, 2022 by renholding

Investor demand for information about firms’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments has prompted substantial corporate disclosure of their ESG activities. However, these disclosures often raise questions of “social washing,” where firms make unsubstantiated claims or misrepresent their company as …

SEC Investment Management Chief Speaks on Regulation Outside the U.S.

By William A. Birdthistle November 15, 2022 by renholding

Good morning. Thank you, Mark, for your kind invitation to speak with you all today – and congratulations on the 25^th anniversary of this conference. I am deeply honored to be giving the Scott Friestad Memorial Keynote address, particularly

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The CLS Blue Sky Blog

Columbia Law School's Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets

November 2022