June 2024 - cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Black Unicorn
by zeynep＠keemail.me 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

What good is freedom to you! If you’re free, your faith will soon be choked by thorns! Be glad you’re in prison. Here you have time to think about your soul.

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2nd Circ. Reopens Insider Trading Suit Against Hedge Fund
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

2nd Circ. Reopens Insider Trading Suit Against Hedge Fund <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1850743?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…> By Jessica Corso The Second Circuit on Monday revived a lawsuit accusing hedge fund Raging Capital Management LLC of profiting off its position as a corporate insider of 1-800-Flowers, rejecting arguments that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned circuit precedent allowing shareholders to sue beneficial owners who partake in short-swing trading. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1850743?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1850743?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…>

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Trump Mar-A-Lago Case Is Unlawfully Funded, Fla. Judge Told
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Trump Mar-A-Lago Case Is Unlawfully Funded, Fla. Judge Told <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1844654?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> By David Minsky An attorney defending Donald Trump against the federal government's accusation that he illegally retained classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House in 2021 told a Florida judge Monday the criminal indictment should be dismissed against the former president, saying that the case isn't lawfully funded. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1844654?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1844654?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…>

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Sirius XM Made Millions Off Hidden Royalty Fee, Suit Alleges
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Sirius XM Made Millions Off Hidden Royalty Fee, Suit Alleges <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1850394?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> By Nadia Dreid Sirius XM Radio Inc. has been tricking customers into paying an extra 21% every month by tacking a hidden "royalty fee" onto bills, according to a new proposed class action alleging that the fee is responsible for every bit of the company's profits for the last several years. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1850394?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1850394?nl_pk=2bd720dd-746c-4744…>

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Apple, Amazon Assail Hagens Berman's Class Rep 'Charade'
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Apple, Amazon Assail Hagens Berman's Class Rep 'Charade' <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1850875?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> By Bryan Koenig Apple and Amazon.com blasted Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to "have it both ways" in an antitrust suit over a pact between the companies restricting Amazon iPhone and iPad sales to approved vendors, arguing the firm cannot withdraw its original named plaintiff without forcing him to testify. Response attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1850875?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cannabis/articles/1850875?nl_pk=c844ee6a-f80e-4e60-b…>

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Bill Pay Co. Tricks Consumers With 'Dark Patterns,' Suit Says
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Bill Pay Co. Tricks Consumers With 'Dark Patterns,' Suit Says <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1850951?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> By Emilie Ruscoe Third-party bill payment company Doxo Inc. and two of its co-founders have been hit with a proposed class action alleging the company uses so-called dark patterns to trick consumers into using its website to pay other companies' bills online. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1850951?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1850951?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…>

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Lloyd's Seeks To Avoid Coverage For Beach Umbrella Death
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Lloyd's Seeks To Avoid Coverage For Beach Umbrella Death <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1851022?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> By Ganesh Setty Certain underwriters at Lloyd's, London told a South Carolina federal court Monday they should have no coverage obligations to a vacation rental owner over a wrongful death suit alleging that a woman was impaled by a "wind-driven" beach umbrella. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1851022?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1851022?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…>

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CFTC Says Gemini Can't 'Heighten Burden' Over Omissions By Aislinn Keely The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has urged a New York federal judge to grant it a pretrial win on claims cryptocurrency exchange Gemini provided incomplete information that misled the regulator on a proposed bitcoin futures contract, arguing Gemini's defense is nothing but a "convoluted exercise in avoidance." Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

CFTC Says Gemini Can't 'Heighten Burden' Over Omissions <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850786?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Aislinn Keely The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has urged a New York federal judge to grant it a pretrial win on claims cryptocurrency exchange Gemini provided incomplete information that misled the regulator on a proposed bitcoin futures contract, arguing Gemini's defense is nothing but a "convoluted exercise in avoidance." Memorandum attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850786?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850786?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Aislinn Keely The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has urged a New York federal judge to grant it a pretrial win on claims cryptocurrency exchange Gemini provided incomplete information that misled the regulator on a proposed bitcoin futures contract, arguing Gemini's defense is nothing but a "convoluted exercise in avoidance." Memorandum attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850786?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850786?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Seyfarth Atty Dropped From Yeshiva U. Rape Cover-Up Suit
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

Seyfarth Atty Dropped From Yeshiva U. Rape Cover-Up Suit <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850856?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Ryan Boysen A female Yeshiva University student who claims she was raped by a player on the men's basketball team, then sued the school claiming it conspired on a cover-up with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, has voluntarily dismissed two Yeshiva officials and a Seyfarth attorney from the lawsuit. Notice attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850856?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1850856?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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Goldman Sachs’ Bank Derivatives Have Grown from $40 Trillion to $54 Trillion in Five Years; So How Did Its Credit Exposure Improve by 200 Percent?
by Gunnar Larson 25 Jun '24

25 Jun '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/06/goldman-sachs-bank-derivatives-have-… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 25, 2024 ~ Last Friday, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, the federally-insured, U.S. taxpayer-backstopped commercial bank that the international trading behemoth, Goldman Sachs Group, is allowed to operate, got a smackdown from two of its regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed). The two regulators released a letter they had sent to David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, which revealed that the commercial bank had flunked its wind-down test known as its “living will.” Derivatives were specifically cited for the “shortcomings.” Of particular note, the regulators wrote that Goldman Sachs Bank USA “…did not demonstrate the ability to model its derivatives portfolio unwind by counterparty for segmenting the portfolio in resolution. In the [upcoming] 2025 Plan, the Covered Company should demonstrate the ability to view derivatives positions at a counterparty level within both the portfolio unwind and segmentation capabilities.” The above statement from regulators calls into serious question how Goldman Sachs Bank USA has been able to exponentially expand its derivatives from $40 trillion at the end of 2018 to $54 trillion at the end of last year but somehow reduce its ratio of credit exposure to capital from 354 percent for the quarter ending December 31, 2018 to 142 percent for the quarter ending December 31, 2023. (See charts above using data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.) Since knowing the risk of one’s counterparties is a key component of risk-weighting to determine capital needs, Goldman Sachs should have been able to “model its derivatives portfolio unwind by counterparty.” The fact that it couldn’t raises more serious questions about regulator capture in the U.S. For essential background, see our report: The Fed Has a Dirty Little Secret: It’s Been Allowing the Wall Street Mega Banks to Calculate their Own Capital Requirements. Following the financial crash of 2008, Phil Angelides, the Chair of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), stated the following on June 30, 2010 at a hearing convened specifically to examine “The Role of Derivatives in the Financial Crisis”: “I must say that despite 30 years in housing, finance, and investment — in both the public and private sectors — I had little appreciation of the tremendous leverage, risk, and speculation that was growing in the dark world of derivatives. Neither, apparently, did the captains of finance nor our leaders in Washington. “The sheer size of the derivatives market is as stunning as its growth. The notional value of over the-counter derivatives grew from $88 trillion in 1999 to $684 trillion in 2008. That’s more than ten times the size of the Gross Domestic Product of all nations. Credit derivatives grew from less than a trillion dollars at the beginning of this decade to a peak of $58 trillion in 2007. These derivatives multiplied throughout our financial markets, unseen and unregulated… “In June 2008, Goldman’s derivative book had a stunning notional value of $53 trillion.” Today, after the much touted (but toothless) Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010, two more financial crises which included bailouts of Goldman Sachs and its peers, the derivatives book at Goldman is $1 trillion more than during the crisis of 2008 – the worst crisis since the Great Depression. For why Goldman Sachs needs far more heightened scrutiny of its derivatives book than is currently happening, carefully consider the graph below which was released by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that investigated the crash of 2008. The three largest counterparties to Goldman Sachs’ credit derivatives — Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley – all had to tap massive bailouts from the Fed. Source: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Source: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Largest Recipients of Federal Reserve Bailout Funds, 2007 to 2011

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