Law and legal issues

A federal judge harshly criticized the settlement of a civil suit between the Department of Justice and a Texas land developer.

Plaintiffs allege the banks failed to safeguard names, Social Security numbers and account data after a breach at a vendor neither bank has named.

A federal judge finds that the embattled brokerage Alpine Securities' argument that FINRA should answer to the federal executive branch amounts to " wishful thinking" that "collapses under the weight of spiraling aspiration."

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an interim final rule Friday to clarify banks' leeway to charge interchange fees, explicitly blocking the applicability of a law passed in Illinois that would ban charging interchange fees on taxes and tips that goes into effect in July.

Bankruptcy filings rose 11.9% during the past 12 months, according to statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; JPMorganChase named Jerry Lee and Nick Richitt as global co-heads of health care investment banking; Goldman Sachs appointed Akila Raman as global head of its private and alternatives capital markets business; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

A California man's complaint alleges that Morgan Stanley's website enabled tracking tech from Google and Microsoft to collect web visitors' browsing data for targeted online ads.

James filed a pair of lawsuits against Coinbase and Gemini arguing that they violated New York's sports gambling laws.

Some litigants are "knuckleheads" but others are real threats, and well-pleaded cases can easily cost companies millions of dollars, TCPA attorney Eric Troutman said.

A federal judge refused to sign a settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and Houston developer Colony Ridge because it failed to provide any consumer relief. DOJ agreed to an out-of-court settlement instead.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has dismissed scores of enforcement attorneys early in President Donald Trump's second term, is staffing up its litigation arm in anticipation of defending its rules in court.

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles, who served during President Trump's first term, said members of the Fed board should be removable by the president, but that the decentralized structure of the Fed will ensure that monetary policy decisions remain sound.

A trade group representing debt collection agencies alleges that the Golden State is charging unlawfully high licensing fees in an effort to fund an inflated budget. California regulators declined to comment on the suit.

The payments processing firm recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with a nearly $3 million disputed charge owed to a subsidiary of Global Payments.

Swiss banking giant UBS tried to get a federal court to reject new allegations that Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023, had concealed Nazi-linked assets.

A federal appeals court has agreed to rehear a challenge to a Colorado law intended to combat "rent-a-bank," arrangements that would impose Colorado's interest rate caps on certain out-of-state banks.

As the CFPB reconsiders its open banking rule, banks and fintechs are locked in a bitter battle over who will pay for the new digital infrastructure.

The Department of Justice is seeking court approval to immediately fire more than 600 employees, slashing the CFPB's workforce by 53%.

Alessandro DiNello, who served as Flagstar's executive chairman in 2024, said he's leaving in order to enjoy his retirement. Meanwhile, a lawsuit accusing him of various wrongdoings is still pending.

The federal court rejected Flagstar's attempts for both a panel rehearing and an en banc hearing to overturn California's interest on mortgage escrow rule.

The nation's second-largest bank agreed to the massive settlement to avoid a looming trial in May over accusations that it enabled suspicious, multimillion-dollar transactions — including a staggering $170 million payment from the former Apollo CEO Leon Black — to Epstein.