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CFPB Warns Of Anti-Whistleblower Risk In NDAs That 'Muzzle'
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

CFPB Warns Of Anti-Whistleblower Risk In NDAs That 'Muzzle' <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1861574?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Jon Hill The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cautioned Wednesday that banks and other financial firms risk violating federal law if they require their employees to sign broad nondisclosure agreements that don't clearly allow them to talk freely with regulators or law enforcement. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1861574?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/1861574?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

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Watchdog Clears DOJ In 'Unusual' Roger Stone Sentencing
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Watchdog Clears DOJ In 'Unusual' Roger Stone Sentencing <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861702?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Phillip Bantz The Justice Department did not bow to political pressure to push for a more lenient sentence for former President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone, but the way in which the department handled the sentencing was "highly unusual" and the result of a U.S. attorney's poor leadership, according to a watchdog report released Wednesday. Report attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861702?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861702?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Solicitor General Warns Against Feds 'Winning At All Costs'
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Solicitor General Warns Against Feds 'Winning At All Costs' <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861821?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Dorothy Atkins U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar underscored the importance of the federal government ensuring justice is served and not "winning at all costs" during a keynote speech Wednesday at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, defending the DOJ's changed position in a high court case concerning a criminal defendant's right to a jury trial. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861821?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861821?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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FTC Chair Wary AI Tools Can Be Used For Corporate Collusion
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

FTC Chair Wary AI Tools Can Be Used For Corporate Collusion <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861896?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Dorothy Atkins Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan weighed in on a host of topics during a discussion Wednesday at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, expressing concerns about the agency's high legal bills for expert witnesses and describing AI price-setting tools as a potential loophole for collusion. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861896?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861896?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Latham, Stevens & Lee Guide Bitcoin Co.'s $365M SPAC Deal
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Latham, Stevens & Lee Guide Bitcoin Co.'s $365M SPAC Deal <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861618?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Tom Zanki Bitcoin rewards provider Fold and a special purpose acquisition company announced Wednesday they agreed to merge through a transaction that will take Fold public at an estimated $365 million valuation, with attorneys from Stevens & Lee and Latham counseling the parties. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861618?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861618?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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DOJ Says NY Judge Muffed Standing In DirecTV Price-Fix Case
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

DOJ Says NY Judge Muffed Standing In DirecTV Price-Fix Case <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861709?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Nadia Dreid Paying inflated prices isn't the only way someone can be injured by price-fixing, and a New York federal court was wrong to rule that it was in a case brought by DirecTV over retransmission fees, the U.S. Department of Justice has told the Second Circuit. 1 document attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861709?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861709?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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ABC, Stephanopoulos Must Face Trump Defamation Suit
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

ABC, Stephanopoulos Must Face Trump Defamation Suit <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861738?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Elliot Weld A Florida federal judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss Donald Trump's defamation suit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos over the anchor's on-air description of rulings in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual abuse and defamation suits against the former president. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861738?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1861738?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Can New Pensions Minister 'Serve Two Masters'?
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Can New Pensions Minister 'Serve Two Masters'? <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1860681?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Martin Croucher A new British pensions minister with a foot in two competing government departments could help create a more coherent pensions reforms, although some analysts warn of a potential Treasury takeover of pensions policy to prioritize economic stimulus. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1860681?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1860681?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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British Steel Pension Redress Scheme Pays Out £8.7M
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

British Steel Pension Redress Scheme Pays Out £8.7M <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1861474?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Martin Croucher The Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday that its redress program for steelworkers given poor pensions advice has paid out a total of just £8.7 million ($11.2 million) in compensation. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1861474?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1861474?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Trump’s Sit-Down with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago Will Cost U.S. Taxpayers Millions While Profiting Trump’s Business
by Gunnar Larson 24 Jul '24

24 Jul '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/07/trumps-sit-down-with-netanyahu-at-ma… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 24, 2024 ~ Trump Hosts a Packed Political Fundraising Event at Mar-a-Lago on April 17, 2021. Trump Hosts a Packed Political Fundraising Event at Mar-a-Lago on April 17, 2021. (Twitter Photo.) Eleven days after an assassination attempt was made on a presidential candidate’s life at a mass gathering in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Secret Service will face added strains and risks by the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, allowing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to Washington, D.C. and address a joint session of Congress today. (Numerous seats at the session will be empty as a number of progressives have indicated that they will boycott the event over Netanyahu’s conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe.) Netanyahu arrived in D.C. on Monday. One day later, protests were occurring outside his hotel and a building that houses Congressional offices, according to the Associated Press. A mass protest attracting thousands is expected during his speech to the joint session of Congress today. In addition to protecting the sitting President, Vice President and former Presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes, the Secret Service is also tasked with protecting foreign dignitaries. Thus, at a time of fraught political tensions, Netanyahu is simply adding to the stretched resources of the Secret Service. Former President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform that he plans to meet with Netanyahu this Friday – not in the northeast where Trump has been residing since May – but at his luxury resort and winter residence, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. The fact that nobody voluntarily comes from the Northeast to hot, humid South Florida in July and August, raises questions about the decision to meet at Mar-a-Lago. As we reported on Monday, using figures from an audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. taxpayers picked up a tab of approximately $495 million to transport and provide protective services to Donald Trump on his 145 trips to Mar-a-Lago while he was President (representing just a small portion of the thousands of trips that he and his adult children took where Secret Service protective services were provided during his presidency.) According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), in just the two fiscal years of 2018 and 2019, “the Trump family has taken 3,249 protected trips. In seven years, the Obama family took a total of 933.” The tab for protection at Mar-a-Lago is particularly high because the resort is on the water and requires resources from the U.S. Coast Guard to protect the area. The GAO reported that the Coast Guard spent $3.4 million protecting Trump during just four trips to Mar-a-Lago that occurred in a four-week span in February and March of 2017. Because both Netanyahu and Trump will require their own protective detail from the Secret Service, plus assets from the U.S. Coast Guard, plus the likelihood of military aircraft for Netanyahu, plus rental of a Secret Service command center at Mar-a-Lago, we approximate that the costs of this trip to the taxpayer will be well over $5 million, using the prior breakdown of costs from the GAO. The Secret Service’s tab at Trump properties kept right on going cha-ching after Trump left office. On October 17, 2022, the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Oversight released a spreadsheet showing what Donald Trump’s properties had billed the Secret Service during his presidency and for the first eight months of 2021 when he was no longer in office. (We’ve attached that document here.) Notice in the document linked directly above that it’s not in order by dates – making a quick assessment of spending by month or year impossible. One thing that does jump out is that on July 31, 2017 there is an item listed as “CNOS: Golf Cart Rental” which the U.S. taxpayer picked up for $3,464 at the Trump International Golf Club. (CNOS stands for Candidate Nominee Operation Section. Of course, by this time, Trump was already President.) It makes sense that Secret Service agents would have to follow a President, who spends so much of his time golfing, around the links on a golf cart in order to safely protect him. What doesn’t make sense is why this is the only time the words “golf cart” appear on this spreadsheet. The GAO report noted that certain “classified” expenses are not released by federal agencies. We suspect, but can’t say for certain, that these outlandish golf cart expenses may have been earmarked as “Trans” for transportation on subsequent invoices. Take, for example, what Trump properties billed the Secret Service in just the month of May 2021 – after President Trump had been out of office for four months. See above graph. (We had to dig through the spreadsheet and cut and paste these May 2021 expenses together because they were out of order and spread throughout the document released to the House Committee on Oversight.) “Hotel Trans” comes out to $40,011.15 out of a total cost of $50,210.67 for the month of May 2021. (What kind of resort charges round off to $9,000, $9,500 and $10,000? The lump sum of $10,000 appears 13 times on the spreadsheet.) Making this graph of expenses for May 2021 all the more suspect, is that CBS News reported that Trump moved from Mar-a-Lago to his summer residence in Bedminster, New Jersey on May 9, 2021. How could the Secret Service run up $50,000 in Mar-a-Lago expenses over the span of nine days? We admire and respect the courage and talents and exemplary history of the U.S. Secret Service, its agents and staff. Donald Trump and his minions – not so much.

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