Regulation

A Chapter 11 debtor's "rejection [(under Code §365(a)] of a filed-rate [natural gas] contract … relieve[d] it of the obligation to continue performance absent the approval of FERC [(the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]," held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

As national champions are crowned in men's and women's basketball, hundreds of thousands of college athletes are entering the influencer marketplace for the first time and now find themselves attractive candidates in the fast growing influencer marketing arena. With influencer marketing potentially providing a 5x return on investment, many brands are eager to get into the industry, but it doesn't come without risks as the FTC Commissioner is taking a closer look at the use of influencers for marketing.

In a first of its kind prosecution, the Southern District of New York brought an insider trading case against defendant for selling inside information on the Dark Web. The SEC also brought a civil regulatory action against the defendant for the same conduct. In a rare move, however, SDNY and SEC charged this same conduct under different insider trading statutes. This difference underscores the legal complexities involved when the origin of inside information in the digital world is unknown.

Government policies are pushing landlords to meet new sustainability requirements, heaping pressure on investors to back up their efforts to go green. In response, more owners are relying on AI and other technologies to help them meet the challenge and avoid steep financial penalties.

The Connolly decision draws attention to the limits of the mail/wire fraud statutes — laws that are quite expansive but can also be stretched too far when applied to conduct in financial markets, especially markets tied to opaque rules and practices.

Cybersecurity compliance, already an anxiety-inducing topic for many in-house counsel, is about to get even trickier. The SEC rolled out a host of proposed new cybersecurity rules for public companies.

The Bankruptcy Code protects regular, ordinary commercial transactions between distressed companies and vendors willing to continue the relationship. But what is ordinary?

Cryptocurrency pump-and-dump schemes (CPDs) are becoming increasingly prevalent. As in the case of traditional "pump and dump" schemes, CPDs lead to short-term trading perturbations — exaggerated increases and/or decreases in prices, volume, or volatility.