Features

Robbing a Locked Bank Vault from Home: Legal Issues Raised by Cryptocurrency Frauds
The advent of cryptocurrencies has raised a host of legal issues; some of the most immediate ones — such as whether cryptocurrencies are securities — appear to have been resolved, but cryptocurrency theft remains a major concern for traders and investors given that billions of dollars of cryptocurrency are stolen every year.
Features

Which Financial Representations Will Justify a Discharge Objection after Lamar, Archer?
The Supreme Court's decision in <i>Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling</i> has significantly constricted the range and nature of statements that will support a successful objection by a creditor to the discharge of a debt that was obtained by the statements in question. This constriction could have a very real impact on how entities that loan money or provide services on credit review and collect information regarding a borrower's creditworthiness.
Features

Losing the Ability to Conduct Business, Period
<i><b>The Potential Impact of Multilateral Development Bank Sanctions</i></b><p>What could be worse than a several-hundred-million dollar Foreign Corrupt Practices Act fine hitting your company? How about not being allowed to even compete for many of your most important contracts for a period of several years.
Features

Litigation Funders Face Their Hardest Sell: Big Law
There Is More Money Than Ever In the Hands of Litigation Financiers, But Can They Convince Law Firms to Use It?
Features

Loan-Out Corporations after Tax Reform and CA Supreme Court Decision in 'Dynamex'
The tax reform bill signed by President Trump at the end of 2017 has caused us to take a fresh look at many long-held assumptions about how to take into account income taxes in planning for the entertainment industry. At the same time, the California Supreme Court recently decided a case that has the potential to eviscerate loan-out corporations entirely. This article discusses loan-out corporations in light of these two important developments.
Features

Trump Administration Bars SBA Loans to Cannabis Industry Support Businesses
The U.S. Small Business Administration updated its standard operating procedures to prohibit providing loans to both marijuana- and hemp-related businesses and businesses deriving any gross revenue from sales to marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) including those providing lighting, hydroponic equipment or testing services.
Features

New Bill Would Protect Law Licenses of Student Loan Defaulters
Nineteen states currently allow government agencies to revoke the professional licenses — including law licenses — of student loan defaulters. But that may change.
Features

When Is a Bid or Offer a 'Spoof'?
<b><i>U.S. Supreme Court Denial of Cert Leaves Statute Vague</i></b><p>This article analyzes the confusion faced by commodity futures traders in assessing whether their trading strategies constitute illegal spoofing and examines whether the CFTC and Seventh Circuit have provided sufficient guidance on the distinction between spoofing and legitimate trading activity.
Features

Another Virtual Currency Player Charged with Fraud by CFTC
The enforcement action alleges that Las Vegas-based My Big Coin Pay Inc., a virtual currency wallet and platform, misappropriated more than $6 million from its customers for “personal expenses and the purchase of luxury goods.”
Features

Online Marketing Practices Continue to Pose Regulatory Threats for the Financial Services Industry
Last year, the FTC released a staff report on Cross-Device Tracking, which added to the FTC's efforts to regulate emerging issues in the ever-evolving area of online behavioral advertising. The advertising in question involves the collection of data from a particular computer or device regarding a user's Internet-viewing behavior over time and across non-affiliate websites. Cross-device tracking is the logical next step for this technology.
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