Law and legal issues

A New York court ordered the freezing of $560 million in assets held by entities controlled by Renren CEO Joseph Chen, Softbank Group and others, an amount pegged to a stake in the personal finance startup Social Finance, which is slated for a blank-check merger this week.

DMB Financial, a debt-settlement firm near Boston that operates in 24 states, agreed to pay $5.4 million in restitution to consumers for allegedly charging upfront fees before providing any service, the CFPB said.

The reduction in debt during the first quarter was the second largest on record, according to a new report by the New York Fed. Government stimulus payments and continuing limitations on travel and entertainment spending are key factors.

Collectors are mulling a procedural overhaul after a three-judge panel said the practice of using vendors to inform consumers about outstanding debts is illegal. The case may also complicate the CFPB's upcoming rule on electronic messaging.

Malaysia’s 1MDB and a former unit have filed suits against firms including JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank as the nation seeks to recover assets worth more than $23 billion linked to the scandal-plagued state-owned investment fund.

Less than two years after shutting down its biggest business amid fraud allegations, the Michigan company has sold branches, settled a shareholder lawsuit and returned to profitability under turnaround specialist Thomas O’Brien.

JPMorgan Chase was warned by its compliance team over the “great risk” of corruption just days before it made the last of three transfers that totaled $875 million to a former Nigerian oil minister.

The state's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will reduce assessments by 61% this year because of overpayments in 2020, helping state-chartered credit unions deal with economic fallout from the pandemic.

A group representing bank directors says the regulator’s sudden attempt to increase penalties by millions of dollars would set a dangerous precedent.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disputes a district court ruling that misconduct claims against the company were already covered by a previous settlement.

The Maryland company is closer to addressing claims it lacked sufficient controls under its previous management.

The company paid Driver Opportunity Partners nearly $10 million for the shareholder's stock and to resolve a longstanding legal battle.

Revlon lenders that received more than half a billion dollars in accidental payments from Citigroup are asking a judge to free up the money he’s already ruled is theirs to keep.

After Wells Fargo became the first of the largest U.S. banks to do away with mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment complaints last year, Goldman Sachs Group is being urged to take steps in the same direction.

Alan Kaufman, who will be sentenced in June, faces up to 60 years in prison.

Visa and Mastercard are facing fresh opposition from U.S. retailers in a long-running legal fight over the fees merchants pay each time consumers swipe their credit or debit card at checkout.

Federal Savings Bank, the Chicago bank that lent millions of dollars to Paul Manafort under its founder and former longtime CEO, has now sued the former Trump campaign chairman and his wife, seeking to foreclose upon his mansion in the Hamptons.

Four former employees and several clients of Washington Federal Bank for Savings face charges of falsifying records to conceal the embezzlement of $31 million prior to the bank's December 2017 collapse.

The decision provides more clarity to noteholders in the state about when the six-year statute of limitations to bring a foreclosure action begins.

The Federal Reserve warned of significant risks of business bankruptcies and steep drops in commercial real estate prices in a report published on Friday.