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☆ Elon Musk's go-to lawyer is facing possible sanctions over his behavior in the Tesla CEO's deposition
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alex Spiro faces potential sanctions over his behavior during Elon Musk's deposition. An opposing lawyer accused Spiro, Musk's go-to attorney, of acting "astonishingly unprofessional." At several points in the deposition, Spiro and Bankston traded barbs. "I've rarely met a lawyer with less decorum than you, if you could be called a lawyer," Musk said to Bankston. First of all, I know you're not a Texas attorney," Bankston said after Spiro told his client not to answer one of his questions in the deposition.

Persons: Alex Spiro, Elon, Spiro, Musk's, Musk, —, Ben Brody, Brody's, Mark Bankston —, Sandy, Alex Jones —, Bankston, he's, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan, HuffPost, he'd, Brody, we're, I've, Alex ., Neil Heslin, Scarlett Lewis, Sandy Hook, Jesse Lewis, Alex Jones, Jones Organizations: Nazi, Service, Bloomberg, New Locations: Texas, New York, Thailand

☆ Elon Musk's lawyer is helping Adam Neumann as he tries to buy back WeWork
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Adam Neumann is trying to buy back WeWork, the now-bankrupt company he cofounded. He's being aided by lawyer Alex Spiro, who helped Elon Musk take over Twitter in 2022. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdam Neumann is trying to buy back WeWork – with the help of a lawyer close to Elon Musk.

Persons: Adam Neumann, He's, Alex Spiro, Elon Musk, Jay, Megan Thee, —, Neumann, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan who's, Musk, Spiro, Quin Emanuel, Tesla, Vernon Unsworth, Randeep Hothi, Jeanine Zalduendo, Zalduendo, Bobby Shmurda, Robert Kraft, Dinesh D'Souza, Thabo Sefolosha Organizations: Twitter, Service, New York Times, Bloomberg, Bloomberg Law, SpaceX, Securities and Exchange Commission, JPMorgan Chase, New England Patriots Locations: British, Alameda County, Los Angeles

General Motors' troubled robotaxi service Cruise on Tuesday endured a public lashing from a California judge who compared the company to the devious TV character Eddie Haskell for its behavior following a ghastly collision that wrecked its ambitious expansion plans. After a vehicle driven by a human struck a San Francisco pedestrian in early October, a Cruise robotaxi named “Panini” dragged the person 20 feet (6 meters) while traveling at roughly seven miles per hour (11 kilometers per hour). He also reminded Mason that Cruise could still face other repercussions beyond California, with both the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probing the robotaxi service's conduct. But Mason indicated that he is leaning toward letting the case continue through the entire hearing process rather than approving a settlement. Tuesday's hearing came less than two weeks after Cruise released a lengthy report reviewing how the company mishandled things after the pedestrian was hurt.

Persons: Motors, Cruise, Eddie Haskell, Haskell, ”, Robert Mason III, Panini ”, Panini, specter, Mason, Jerry Mathers, ” Mason, Craig Glidden, Glidden, ” Cruise, ” Glidden, didn't, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan, Cruise’s, Kyle Vogt Organizations: Administrative, California Public Utilities Commission, General Motors, Cruise, U.S . Justice Department, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission Locations: California, San Francisco

Culture issues, ineptitude and poor leadership at General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit were at the center of regulatory oversights and coverup concerns that have plagued the company since October, according to the findings of a third-party probe. Results of the investigation, which reviewed whether Cruise representatives misled investigators or members of the media in discussing the incident, were published Thursday in a 105-page report. "This conduct has caused both regulators and the media to accuse Cruise of misleading them," the report stated. Quinn Emanuel, the business litigation firm that Cruise retained to conduct the three-month investigation, interviewed 88 Cruise employees and reviewed more than 200,000 documents, including emails, texts, Slack messages and more. The firm is known for representing high-profile celebrities and business owners, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Persons: Cruise, Quinn Emanuel, Slack, John Potter, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Elon Musk Organizations: General Motors, Cruise, CNBC, Sullivan, Tesla Locations: Cruise, San Francisco

☆ GM’s self-driving car division is under investigation by DOJ and SEC after pedestrian dragging incident
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In meetings with regulators after the October 2 incident, Cruise officials attempted to show a full video of the impact, shot from the car. Cruise commissioned the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to investigate the incident and Cruise’s response to it. Immediately after the incident, Cruise employees were not, themselves, aware that the woman had been dragged, according to the report. Actually, the pedestrian was struck by a human-driven Nissan car first and that impact propelled her into the path of the Cruise car. The report attributed its failures in communication to a “myopic focus” in clearing Cruise of fault in the initial impact.

Persons: CNN — Cruise, Cruise, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan, ” Cruise, Mary Barra, veihicle, “ Organizations: CNN, Motors, Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Cruise, GM, Nissan Locations: ”, California, United States

☆ Cruise Says Hostility Toward Regulators Led to Grounding of Its Autonomous Cars
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Tripp Mickle | Cade Metz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cruise, the driverless car subsidiary of General Motors, said in a report on Thursday that an adversarial approach taken by its top executives toward regulators had led to a cascade of events that ended with a nationwide suspension of Cruise’s fleet. The roughly 100-page report was compiled by a law firm that Cruise hired to investigate whether its executives had misled California regulators about an October crash in San Francisco in which a Cruise vehicle dragged a woman 20 feet. The investigation found that while the executives had not intentionally misled state officials, they had failed to explain key details about the incident. The report is central to Cruise’s efforts to regain the public’s trust and eventually restart its business. Cruise has been largely shut down since October, when the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its license to operate because its vehicles were unsafe.

Persons: Cruise, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Kyle Vogt Organizations: General Motors, California Department of Motor Vehicles Locations: California, San Francisco, Sullivan

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — General Motors is facing a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a gruesome collision that critically injured a pedestrian and derailed its self-driving car ambitions. GM didn't release any details about the nature of the Justice Department's investigation, or of another one by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The revelations about the latest troubles facing Detroit-based GM and San Francisco-based Cruise came in a report reviewing how things were handled after the pedestrian was hurt. “Cruise must take decisive steps to address these issues in order to restore trust and credibility,” according to the report's summary findings. Cruise had cleared a significant hurdle last August when California regulators approved its request to begin operating its robotaxi service throughout San Francisco at all hours — over the strenuous objections of city officials — only to have it all unravel in early October.

Persons: Cruise, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan, Cruise's, Panini, hadn't, “ Organizations: FRANCISCO, —, Motors, . Justice Department, Department, GM's, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, GM, Cruise Locations: San Francisco, Detroit, California

☆ Charlie Javice says JPMorgan is trying to use 'red tape' to avoid paying her legal bill of $3.8 million and growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

JPMorgan and prosecutors claim Charlie Javice fraudulently inflated the value of her startup. But JPMorgan was ordered to pay her legal fees – totaling almost $3.8 million, new filings show. AdvertisementAdvertisementLawyers for indicted startup founder Charlie Javice say JPMorgan Chase is defying a court order to pay almost a fifth of the nearly $3.8 million in legal bills they've racked up. But a Delaware judge said JPMorgan still had to honor its commitment to advance Javice's legal fees under agreements it made when it acquired Frank. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe bank's unpaid tab totals more than $835,000, Javice's lawyers claimed, amounting to about 22% of the total amount they've sought.

Persons: Charlie Javice, —, JPMorgan Chase, they've, Olivier Amar, Frank, Abrams, Bayliss, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan, Michael Barlow, Mintz Levin, wasn't Organizations: JPMorgan, Service, Javice, Securities and Exchange Commission Locations: Delaware

SummarySummary CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Google Play Music infringed Personal Audio playlist patents, jury saysVerdict follows California win for Sonos in Google audio patent fightJune 21(Reuters) - Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) must pay patent holding company Personal Audio LLC $15.1 million for infringing two patents related to audio software, a Delaware federal jury said in a verdict made public on Wednesday. Personal Audio had argued that Google's music app Google Play Music featured playlist downloading, navigation and editing features that violated its patent rights. Attorneys for Personal Audio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beaumont, Texas-based Personal Audio had requested $33.1 million in damages, according to a May court filing. The case is Personal Audio LLC v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

Persons: Jose Castaneda, Steve Hanle, Doug Hahn, Salil, Stradling Yocca Carlson, Melissa Baily, Jeff Nardinelli, David Perlson, Antonio Sistos, Patrick Stafford, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart, Sullivan Read, Blake Brittain Organizations: Sonos, Google, San, Google LLC, District of, Rauth, Thomson, & $ Locations: California, Delaware, Beaumont , Texas, Texas, The Delaware, San Francisco, District of Delaware, Salil Bali, Washington

Twitter is accusing Microsoft of using the social media company's data in ways that were unauthorized and never disclosed. However, for one of the Microsoft services using Twitter data, "account information outright states that it intends to allow its customers to 'go around throttling limits,'" Spiro wrote. A Microsoft spokesperson acknowledged receipt of the letter and told CNBC the company will review it and "respond appropriately." "Today we heard from a law firm representing Twitter with some questions about our previous use of the free Twitter API," the spokesperson said in an email. Read the full letter from Twitter to Microsoft, here.

☆ Bittrex approved to borrow $7 mln bankruptcy loan in bitcoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Seattle-based Bittrex filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying it intended to return customer funds and wind down its U.S. operations. Before filing for bankruptcy, Bittrex stopped accepting new deposits from U.S. customers and told its existing users to withdraw their crypto from the platform. Shannon approved the loan on an interim basis, allowing Bittrex to borrow 250 bitcoin from its parent company Aquila Holdings, which is not filing for bankruptcy. Bittrex will seek permission to borrow an additional 450 bitcoin at a hearing in June, and the total value of its proposed loan is $19.7 million, based on bitcoin prices when it filed for bankruptcy. The case is Bittrex Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No.

☆ Australia's Medibank served with third class-action suit over cyber breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Australia's Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX) said on Friday it was served with another class-action suit related to the cyber hack incident last year in which personal data of current and former customers was leaked on the dark web. The third class-action suit related to the incident was filed in the country's federal court by law firm Slater & Gordon on behalf of affected current and former Medibank customers, and healthcare service providers. In recent months, similar class action suits against the company have been filed by law firms Baker & McKenzie and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Medibank, which is also under investigation from the country's privacy regulator on how it handles personal information, said it would defend the proceedings. Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

(Reuters) - A Kirkland & Ellis partner whose clients have included General Motors Co, BP Plc and auto manufacturer Polaris Inc said he has joined the Chicago office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. R. Allan Pixton told a federal judge in Detroit on Friday that he has joined Quinn Emanuel's Chicago office. Pixton and a Kirkland spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to his defunct Kirkland profile, Pixton's litigation experience covered class actions and mass torts. In 2020, he left Kirkland to lead the new Chicago office of Hilliard Martinez Gonzalez, a Corpus Christi, Texas-based law firm.

It is the first major lawsuit in the public domain to be filed over the Swiss decision to wipe out around $18 billion of Credit Suisse's Additional Tier 1 (AT1) debt during the 3 billion Swiss franc all-share rescue deal last month, which stunned markets and alerted litigators. The appeal against FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority that ordered the writedown, was filed on April 18 in the Federal Administrative Court in St Gallen, north east Switzerland. "FINMA's decision undermines international confidence in the legal certainty and reliability of the Swiss financial center," said Thomas Werlen, Quinn Emanuel's Swiss managing partner. FINMA declined to comment and Credit Suisse did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. ($1 = 0.8941 Swiss francs)Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Credit Suisse bondholders sue Swiss authorities
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Investors representing more than 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) of Credit Suisse bonds have sued the Swiss financial regulator over its decision to wipe out their investments during last month’s emergency government-orchestrated takeover. Law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which is representing the bondholders, said Friday the move was the first in a series of steps to seek redress for clients it said had been unlawfully deprived of their property rights during the takeover of Credit Suisse (CS) by bigger rival UBS (UBS). The appeal against FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, which ordered the writedown, was filed on April 18 in the Federal Administrative Court in St Gallen, north-east Switzerland. “FINMA’s decision undermines international confidence in the legal certainty and reliability of the Swiss financial center,” said Thomas Werlen, Quinn Emanuel’s Swiss managing partner. The Federal Administrative Court said it was still receiving complaints but declined to name claimants or comment on how many had been lodged by bondholders or their lawyers.

☆ Factbox: Lawsuits lodged over state-backed Credit Suisse takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 21 (Reuters) - Several lawsuits have been filed over the terms of last month's emergency deal to save Swiss lender Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) by selling it to its bigger rival UBS (UBSG.S). Around 16 billion Swiss francs of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) Credit Suisse debt was written down to zero, in a shock to markets. But it has declined to name claimants or provide an ongoing tally of those lodged by bondholders or their lawyers. UNITED STATESOne of the first proposed U.S. class action s against Credit Suisse over alleged false or misleading statements pre-dates the rescue. Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Public Investment Fund LIV Golf Trump World Performance54 LIV Golfers PLUS 45 OTHERS CONSULTANTS LAWYERS McKinsey & Company PwC Public Investment Fund Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan White & Case M. Klein & Company Teneo Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Majed al-Sorour Newcastle United Aramco Golf Saudi Benjamin Quayle Yasir al-Rumayyan Ari Fleischer Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LIV Golf Performance54 Trump World Greg Norman Donald J. Trump Gary Davidson Jed Moore Eric Trump Jared Kushner LIV Golfers Cameron Smith Phil Mickelson Dustin Johnson PLUS 45 OTHERSLIV Golf has cleaved men’s professional golf like no other force since the 1960s. Some of the world’s top players, including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, have become the faces of LIV Golf. The Public Investment FundDiagram of the major figures in LIV Golf that are connected to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund. LIV Golf Trump World Eric Trump Jared Kushner Donald J. Trump Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund.

ZURICH, April 4 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) will face shareholder anger on Tuesday at what will be its final annual general meeting after the bank was rescued last month by Swiss rival UBS (UBSG.S). Tuesday's shareholder meeting marks an ignominious end for the 167-year-old flagship bank founded by Alfred Escher, a Swiss magnate affectionately dubbed King Alfred I, who helped build the country's railways and then Credit Suisse. After a run on deposits, the Swiss government turned to UBS, which agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), a fraction of its earlier market value. In the lead up to Tuesday, Credit Suisse said it had withdrawn certain proposals from the meeting's agenda. Meanwhile, the office of the attorney general on Sunday said Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Credit Suisse takeover.

☆ Credit Suisse AT1 bondholders hire law firm for possible litigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Some holders of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds wiped out by the bank's planned merger with UBS have instructed law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to represent them for discussions with Swiss authorities and possible litigation to recover losses. The bondholder group holds a "significant percentage of the total notional value" of the AT1 bonds, the law firm said in a statement on Monday. AT1 bonds are the riskiest type of debt banks can issue, ranking immediately after equity in the event of losses. Banks' AT1 bonds fell after the Swiss decision highlighted the risks of investing in these securities. Meanwhile, Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the state-backed takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS Group, the office of the attorney general said on Sunday.

☆ Panic over the rise of AI is hitting a fever pitch
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: The panic over the AI boom hit a new peak this week. A prominent AI researcher went further, saying six months wasn't long enough, and "we need to shut it all down." But those fears also make sense against the backdrop of a shaky economy and a distrust of Big Tech. Goldman Sachs has forecast that AI systems could impact 300 million full-time jobs. AI has been described as the next transformational technology, on a par with the creation of the internet or the television.

☆ Inside a shake-up at the world's 'most feared law firm'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Casey Sullivan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

It's been a tumultuous period for Quinn and the storied law firm he built over the past 37 years — now the world's largest litigation firm with hourly rates that can be north of $2,000. But behind the scenes, a shift at QE has been the talk of elite law firm circles. Indeed, the firm – known as a singular, even freewheeling, institution that brands itself as the "#1 Most Feared Law Firm in the World" — may appear to be less in the image of its founder as a generational shift brings changes. "We all thought it was important that the world understands this is not a one generation law firm." One former firm partner in California says he believes Quinn's inner circle generally got better deals.

☆ The second day of Tesla's racial bias trial included testimony from a former worker who said he found feces on a factory cart
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

It was part of a retrial for an ex-contractor who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Tesla. Wheeler was one of a handful of former Tesla workers that testified on Tuesday regarding their experience as Black workers at Tesla's Fremont factory. Wheeler said that the incident occurred one evening during his night shift at the factory after he took a 30-minute break. Wheeler had testified about the alleged incident in the initial trial in 2021. His complaints echo similar lawsuits from other Tesla factory workers.

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) bondholders are seeking legal advice after the Swiss regulator ordered 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.5 billion) of Additional Tier-1 (AT1) debt to be wiped out under its rescue takeover by UBS (UBSG.S). Not only did bondholders expect protection, but UBS is paying $3.23 billion to Credit Suisse shareholders. One Paris-based manager of a debt fund that held Credit Suisse AT1s said he had been "spammed" with emails from lawyers. Facing any challenge could be Credit Suisse, its new owner UBS, Swiss regulator FINMA or the Swiss government. It also cited an emergency March 19 ordinance which it said authorised FINMA to instruct Credit Suisse to write off the bonds.

March 21 (Reuters) - Investors on Tuesday took some heart from the rescue of troubled lender Credit Suisse by its Swiss rival UBS (UBSG.S), though concerns lingered about the risk of shockwaves further damaging credit markets and smaller U.S. banks. "The current situation in U.S. regional banks and Credit Suisse has raised concerns about contagion risk," said Grace Tam, chief investment advisor Hong Kong at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner, who was expected to attend the conference, however, dropped out and the event was closed to media after the weekend rescue. Shares in First Republic Bank (FRC.N) halved on Monday on worries that last week's $30 billion infusion of capital would not be enough. The regulators said owners of this type of debt would only suffer losses after shareholders have been wiped out - unlike at Credit Suisse, whose main regulators are in Switzerland.

☆ PIMCO lost $340 mln with Credit Suisse AT1 bonds write-off - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Davide Barbuscia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Credit Suisse's (CSGN.S) Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds in PIMCO’s mutual funds had been worth about $340 million on Friday, the source familiar with the matter said. PIMCO's current holdings of Credit Suisse bonds, excluding the AT1 debt, were worth over $4 billion, said the source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity. Some Credit Suisse bonds rallied on Monday after the state-backed rescue of the embattled lender. AT1 bonds issued by other European banks, instead, fell sharply on Monday as the treatment of Credit Suisse AT1 bondholders highlighted the risks of investing in these securities. Meanwhile, law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said it was talking to a number of Credit Suisse AT1 holders about possible legal action.

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