May 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Hospital Says Appellate Court Flubbed $1.9M Payout Review
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Hospital Says Appellate Court Flubbed $1.9M Payout Review <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1834024?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Ryan Harroff A Connecticut hospital has asked the state's appellate court to hold a full court rehearing on its refusal to pause a $1.9 million prejudgment remedy the hospital was ordered to pay to a group of anesthesiologists pursuing billing claims against it, arguing the decision causes irreparable harm. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1834024?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1834024?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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BREAKING: FDIC Workplace Culture Marred By Misconduct, Review Finds
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

BREAKING: FDIC Workplace Culture Marred By Misconduct, Review Finds <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1834590?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Jon Hill The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s workplace culture has suffered for years from sexual harassment, discrimination and other abusive treatment that higher-ups failed to adequately address, according to a report released Tuesday that has prompted an apology from FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg. Report attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1834590?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1834590?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

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Insurer Cites Discovery Law In Info Bid For Accident Claim
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Insurer Cites Discovery Law In Info Bid For Accident Claim <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1834436?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> By Caroline Simson A Canadian government-backed insurer is urging an Arizona court to force the state's Department of Transportation to provide documents or testimony in an arbitration stemming from an ex-professional soccer player's claim for damages after he was injured in a hit-and-run accident in Scottsdale in 2016. Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1834436?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1834436?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…>

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Cleary Gottlieb – Outside Counsel to Wall Street’s Serially Bailed Out Megabanks – Tarnishes the FDIC Chair in its So-Called “Independent” Report
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/05/cleary-gottlieb-outside-counsel-to-w… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 8, 2024 ~ Martin Gruenberg, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Martin Gruenberg, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Yesterday, the Big Law firm Cleary Gottlieb released its so-called “independent review” of charges of sexual harassment at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Although no employee is charging Martin Gruenberg, the Chair of the FDIC, with sexual harassment, Cleary Gottlieb seems to go out of its way to paint Gruenberg in a negative light in the report – 108 times in fact. Gruenberg held the deciding vote at the FDIC last July when the bank regulator approved moving forward with proposed new rules to significantly raise the capital levels at the megabanks on Wall Street, particularly those holding trillions of dollars in derivatives off their balance sheet. These include the same banks that secretly received $16 trillion in cumulative emergency loans from the Federal Reserve from December 2007 to July 2010 because they were undercapitalized and teetering on insolvency, as well as receiving billions of dollars in equity infusions from the U.S. taxpayer. They also include the same banks that received trillions of dollars in emergency repo loan bailouts in the last quarter of 2019 and more bailouts during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Those megabanks have now banded together to attempt to stop the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) from giving the final approval to these higher capital rules. No one is fighting harder than Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Knocking Martin Gruenberg out of his post as Chair of the FDIC would assist greatly in giving Wall Street’s Frankenbanks their way on financial reform – once again. On June 17, 2010, Noam Scheiber, then Senior Editor at The New Republic, explained how Cleary Gottlieb was marshalling the banks together to defeat financial reform, despite their central role in the worst financial collapse in 2008 since the Great Depression. Scheiber wrote: “While the country was buzzing over the [Obama] inauguration, a group of lobbyists representing its biggest banks assembled in a sleek, wood-paneled conference room at the Washington law firm of Cleary Gottlieb to finalize their counter-strategy on reform…Dimon’s troops had been at the center of the planning for months and helped lead the meeting. “The main component of the strategy involved derivatives, the financial instrument that allows investors to bet on the price movements of other assets, like stocks and bonds… For the five major U.S. dealers that dominate the market — JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley — the problem was that derivatives represented billions in annual earnings. They wanted to limit the hit to their bottom line.” A plan was hatched out of this meeting at Cleary Gottlieb to hire p.r. firms to push the idea that end users of these derivatives – like farmers who use derivatives to hedge cattle prices or a crop failure – would be harmed by the proposed financial reform. In reality – both then and now – the bulk of derivatives trading is for speculation on Wall Street. (For critical background, see Three Wall Street Mega Banks Hold $157.3 Trillion in Derivatives – That’s $56.7 Trillion More than the Entire World’s GDP Last Year and Wall Street CEOs Want the Line Between a Federally-Insured Bank and a Wall Street Trading Casino Erased; Regulators Want Higher Capital to Prevent That.) Cleary Gottlieb has a lot more recent history with the Wall Street megabanks. The FDIC, the Fed and the OCC released their proposal for higher capital on July 27 of last year. Just one day later, on July 28, Cleary Gottlieb published a detailed critique of the plan which highlighted the opposition against the plan from its clients – the megabanks on Wall Street. The firm wrote: “Not without opposition. The vote at the FDIC board was 3-2 for publication of the main capital proposal, and the vote at the Federal Reserve Board was 4-2, with strong dissents from some board members echoing recent comments by Congress and trade associations that increasing capital requirements is not currently necessary and is likely to harm the economy and competitiveness of the U.S. banking industry.” It is correct that some right-wing Republican members of Congress, who receive campaign funding from the megabanks and/or their law firms, are trashing the higher capital proposal in Congressional hearings, sounding very much like bank lobbyists reading from a prepared script. As recently as February of this year, Cleary Gottlieb represented a consortium of the megabanks — Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase Bank, PNC Bank, Truist Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank – in regard to their membership interests in the fintech company that owns and operates Zelle. The payment app has come under withering criticism for frauds and scams taking place on Zelle. Cleary Gottlieb also notes on its website that it has represented the following as financial advisors in various Merger & Acquisition transactions: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. These are the five Wall Street megabanks with the largest derivatives exposures. In what alternative universe from hell can one call Cleary Gottlieb “independent”?

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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1834196?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1834196?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1834196?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Amazon Says Zulily Lacks Standing To Bring Antitrust Claims
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Amazon Says Zulily Lacks Standing To Bring Antitrust Claims <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834557?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Hailey Konnath Amazon is asking a Washington federal court to throw out now-defunct online retailer Zulily's lawsuit accusing it of using its monopoly power to shut out competition from other online retailers, arguing that Zulily merely "parrots" allegations made by regulators and has singled out "plainly procompetitive practice." Brief attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834557?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834557?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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$55M Hospital Merger Suit Deal OK'd, UHC Objection Rejected
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

$55M Hospital Merger Suit Deal OK'd, UHC Objection Rejected <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834372?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Bryan Koenig An Illinois federal judge has given final approval to a $55 million class settlement, with $23.5 million in legal costs and attorney fees, resolving patient antitrust claims over a NorthShore University HealthSystem merger, all while finding that United Healthcare Services had no standing to object to the deal. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834372?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1834372?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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Fenwick-Led Cloud Security Co. Raises $1B At $12B Valuation
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Fenwick-Led Cloud Security Co. Raises $1B At $12B Valuation <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834501?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Jade Martinez-Pogue New York-headquartered cloud security company Wiz, advised by Fenwick & West LLP, announced on Tuesday that it hit a $12 billion valuation after securing $1 billion in its latest fundraising round. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834501?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834501?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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2nd Circ. Weighs Border Wall Fraud Juror's Tie To Prosecution
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

2nd Circ. Weighs Border Wall Fraud Juror's Tie To Prosecution <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834599?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Cara Salvatore A Colorado man convicted of scheming to defraud donors to a campaign to build a southern border wall told the Second Circuit on Tuesday that his trial was tainted by a juror's family connection to the prosecution team. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834599?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834599?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Trump Media Co-Founders Seek Chancery Contempt Order
by Gunnar Larson 08 May '24

08 May '24

Trump Media Co-Founders Seek Chancery Contempt Order <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834608?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Jeff Montgomery Two early investors in Trump Media & Technology Group have called for a Delaware Court of Chancery contempt ruling against Donald Trump's Truth Social media company, saying its attempt to claim their shares in a Florida lawsuit contradicted earlier representations in Delaware. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834608?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1834608?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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