January 2025 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Banks Must Face Pension Funds' Mexican Bond-Rigging Suit
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Banks Must Face Pension Funds' Mexican Bond-Rigging Suit <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284549?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…> By Elliot Weld A Manhattan federal judge refused Wednesday to throw out a case brought by U.S. pension funds that accused a group of banks of conspiring to rig Mexican government bond prices, saying chatroom transcripts between traders showed evidence of collusion. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284549?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284549?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…>

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No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del. <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284206?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284206?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284206?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Drake Says Violence Followed UMG Boosting 'Pedo' Claim
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Drake Says Violence Followed UMG Boosting 'Pedo' Claim <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284658?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Lauren Berg Universal Music Group chose greed over the safety of its artists when it launched a campaign to boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's single "Not Like Us," which the record label knew falsely accused Drake of being a "certified pedophile," the Canadian rapper alleged Wednesday in a Manhattan federal lawsuit. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284658?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284658?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Samsung Slams Epic's Antitrust Suit Over Google Play Store
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Samsung Slams Epic's Antitrust Suit Over Google Play Store <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284728?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Gina Kim Samsung moved to end Epic Games' suit alleging it colluded with Google to skirt an impending injunction forcing Google to permit competition with its Play Store by installing an auto blocker feature on Samsung devices, telling a California federal judge Wednesday the feature is a product improvement shielded from antitrust scrutiny. Motion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284728?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284728?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Banks Must Face Pension Funds' Mexican Bond-Rigging Suit
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Banks Must Face Pension Funds' Mexican Bond-Rigging Suit <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284549?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Elliot Weld A Manhattan federal judge refused Wednesday to throw out a case brought by U.S. pension funds that accused a group of banks of conspiring to rig Mexican government bond prices, saying chatroom transcripts between traders showed evidence of collusion. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284549?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284549?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Outgoing FCC Chair Touts 'Wins On The Board'
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Outgoing FCC Chair Touts 'Wins On The Board' <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284802?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Christopher Cole With less than a week left in office, the chief of the Biden-era Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday highlighted the accomplishments of her tenure, including efforts to connect more Americans and advance space-based communications, but warned that a number of problems ranging from cybersecurity threats to the digital divide persist. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284802?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284802?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Trump's AG Pick Tries To Assure Congress On Independence
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Trump's AG Pick Tries To Assure Congress On Independence <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284188?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Courtney Bublé President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general attempted to assuage uneasiness from Democrats on Wednesday, saying the U.S. Department of Justice will be free of politics and will not go after perceived enemies. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284188?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284188?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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Amex GBT Blasts Bid To Block $570M Travel Services Deal
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Amex GBT Blasts Bid To Block $570M Travel Services Deal <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284496?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> By Matthew Perlman American Express Global Business Travel Inc. told a New York federal court Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice case seeking to block its planned $570 million purchase of CWT Holdings LLC ignores the competitive landscape of the corporate travel management industry. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284496?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2284496?nl_pk=6e763a2a-9f82-44c…>

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BREAKING: BitMEX Fined $100M For 5 Years Of Flouting US Banking Law
by Gunnar Larson 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

BREAKING: BitMEX Fined $100M For 5 Years Of Flouting US Banking Law <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284489?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…> By Pete Brush A Manhattan federal judge slapped offshore crypto exchange BitMEX with a $100 million fine Wednesday, rejecting its suggestion that guilty pleas and $110 million of earlier penalties were sufficient punishment for a five-year, $1.3 billion course of evading U.S. financial controls. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284489?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2284489?nl_pk=e602c558-f520-472e-90…>

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Fossil Fuel Money Played a Role in the Los Angeles Fires and the Push to Install Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense
by Gunnar Larson 15 Jan '25

15 Jan '25

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2025/01/fossil-fuel-money-played-a-role-in-t… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 15, 2025 ~ Oil RigThe cognizant dissonance of watching scandal-ridden Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth stonewall his way through a Senate confirmation hearing yesterday for the job of Secretary of Defense, as thousands of homes smolder in ruins in the suburbs of Los Angeles from a failure of the U.S. to properly address climate change, has a common thread – dark money from the fossil fuel industry. The science-fiction like world Americans now wake to each morning, which is set to become ever more surreal in five days, with 34-count convicted felon Donald Trump assuming the Presidency of the United States, is the product of four decades of the fossil fuel industry’s climate denial octopus of front groups. Two groups funded with fossil fuel money, the Heritage Foundation and American Leadership PAC are separately running ads pushing U.S. Senators to confirm Hegseth. (Watch the ads here and here.) Greenpeace has called the Heritage Foundation “Koch Industries’ Climate Denial Front Group” and reported previously that public financial disclosures show that the network of charitable foundations linked to Koch and his late brother, David Koch, donated more than $165 million to climate-change-denial groups between 1986 and 2018. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that American Leadership PAC money has come from a handful of ultra-wealthy donors, including Bill Koch (brother to Charles Koch) and Texas billionaire Timothy Dunn, CEO of CrownQuest Operating, a fossil fuels business headquartered in Midland, Texas. The desperation of the fossil fuels industry to pack the Trump administration with yes men is likely tied to the fact that two dozen state and local governments are suing oil companies for their decades of covering up fossil fuels’ role in climate change. Big Oil smells the same potential outcome for their coverup as occurred when Big Tobacco’s conspiracies were revealed in federal court in the 90s, costing them billions of dollars. What help could a compliant Secretary of Defense bring to the aid of the fossil fuel industry? He could quell a wave of protests when discovery in these court cases begin to show the depth of the conspiracy by fossil fuel companies to hide their knowledge of climate change. Yesterday, this exchange occurred between Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, and Hegseth: Hirono: “In June of 2020, then-President Trump directed former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown D.C., an order Secretary Esper refused to comply with. Would you carry out such an order from President Trump?” Hegseth attempted to dance around answering the question directly, forcing Hirono to repeatedly push for a direct answer. After Hegseth continued to evade answering the question by talking about Secret Service agents being injured by rioters during the protest in downtown D.C., Hirono remarked: “That sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. You will shoot protesters in the leg.” Hegseth did not dispute that assessment by Hirono. Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island and the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that conducted yesterday’s confirmation hearing of Hegseth, stated the following during his opening remarks: “You have been nominated to be the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary is responsible for leading a department of three and a half million service members and civilians; an annual budget of nearly $900 billion; and hundreds of thousands of aircraft, ships, submarines, combat vehicles, satellites and a nuclear arsenal…Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job.” Hegseth admitted during questioning that the largest number of employees he had supervised in the past amounted to 8 at one nonprofit, 100 at another nonprofit, and approximately 200 in the military. Reed continued in his opening remarks with this: “You have championed the pardoning of military members who were turned in by their fellow soldiers and seals [for alleged war crimes]. And let me emphasize that – they weren’t discovered by reporters, they were turned in by fellow soldiers and fellow seals. And also pardoning of military contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqi citizens without cause. You have also advocated for the restitution of interrogation methods like waterboarding, that have been defined as torture, and you have belittled the advice and counsel of Judge Advocates General while on deployment. In your book, ‘The War on Warriors,’ you write ‘Should we follow the Geneva Convention? If our warriors are forced to follow rules arbitrarily and asked to sacrifice more lives so that international tribunals to feel better about themselves, aren’t we just better off winning our wars according to our own rules?’ ”

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