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Many of the details of the case are unclear, as the names of the law firm and client have been kept from the public record during the normally secretive grand jury probe. The law firm says it prepared the client's tax returns and also provided legal advice on how to determine ownership of cryptocurrency assets and value them. Those records, the firm said, were "dual-purpose" communications that contained legal advice as well as non-legal, advice concerning the preparation of its tax returns. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower-court judge in saying legal advice had to be the "primary" purpose of the communication to qualify for attorney-client privilege. She jokingly asked a lawyer for the law firm to comment on "the ancient legal principle of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

Jan 23 - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked President Joe Biden's administration to weigh in on whether it should review Republican-backed laws in Texas and Florida that would undercut efforts by major social media companies to curb content deemed objectionable on their platforms, actions the states call impermissible censorship. Supporters of the laws have argued that social media platforms have silenced conservative voices while advocates for the judicious use of curbing content have argued for the need to stop misinformation and advocacy for extremist causes. Florida is seeking to revive its law after a lower court ruled largely against it, while the industry groups are appealing a separate lower court decision upholding the Texas law, which the Supreme Court had blocked at an earlier stage of the case. The Texas law forbids social media companies with at least 50 million monthly active users from acting to "censor" users based on "viewpoint." Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 upheld the Texas law, concluding that it "chills no speech whatsoever.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Garcia Luna gave the Sinaloa Cartel sensitive information about its rivals as well as safe passage for drug shipments. Garcia Luna has previously accused drug traffickers of leveling false allegations against him as revenge for the actions he took against cartels. Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 following his conviction in Brooklyn on drug trafficking and murder conspiracy charges. Mexico's government in 2020 issued an arrest warrant of its own for Garcia Luna on charges of illegal enrichment. Mexico also sued Garcia Luna in Florida, where he had been living before his 2019 arrest, in an effort to recover what it called illegally obtained assets.

He called it the most democratic way to communicate but said his tweets did not always affect Tesla stock the way he expected. "Just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly," Musk told the jury in San Francisco federal court. [1/5] Tesla CEO Elon Musk testifies during a securities-fraud trial in San Francisco, California, U.S., January 20, 2023 in this courtroom sketch. Earlier on Friday, Tesla investor Timothy Fries told the jury that he lost $5,000 buying Tesla stock after Musk sent the tweet, which sparked volatile swings in Tesla's stock. Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro, told the jury in his opening statement Wednesday that Musk believed he had financing from Saudi backers and was taking steps to make the deal happen.

The report said investigators interviewed 97 court employees but was silent on whether the nine justices who sat on the court at the time of the leak were interviewed, prompting calls from Democratic lawmakers and others for clarity. "During the course of the investigation, I spoke with each of the justices, several on multiple occasions," Curley said in the statement, released by the court. "I followed up on all credible leads, none of which implicated the justices or their spouses," Curley added. Curley said on that basis she decided it was not necessary to ask the justices to sign sworn affidavits affirming they did not leak the draft, something court employees were required to do. Gabe Roth, executive director of the court reform group Fix the Court, said the fact that the report initially omitted the fact that the justices were interviewed "smells fishy."

U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said halting the lawsuit until the Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews the patents would unnecessarily delay the court case and prejudice Caltech. Representatives for Samsung and Caltech did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The school's 2021 lawsuit alleges Samsung's Galaxy phones, tablets, watches and Wi-Fi-enabled Samsung products like televisions and refrigerators infringe its data-transmission patents. The Texas case is scheduled to go to trial in September. The case is California Institute of Technology v. Samsung Electronics Co, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No.

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[1/2] U.S. Supreme Court police officers stand on the front steps of the Supreme Court building prior to the official investiture ceremony for the court's newest Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the start of the court's 2022-2023 term in Washington, U.S. September 30, 2022. The report said the Supreme Court's information security environment was "built fundamentally on trust with limited safeguards to regulate and constrain access to very sensitive information." But it called the court's information security policies "outdated" and recommended that it overhaul its platform for handling case-related documents and remedy "inadequate safeguards" for tracking who prints and copies documents. The Supreme Court's IT systems operate separately from the rest of the federal judiciary. U.S. judiciary officials have said the systems used by federal appellate and district courts also are outdated and need modernization.

Companies Apple Inc FollowJan 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday affirmed a decision to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for allegedly infringing a patent related to digital rights management. PMC, a patent licensing company, first sued Apple for infringing several patents in 2015. He said PMC's patent was unenforceable because the company had used a "deliberate strategy of delay" in applying for the patent, representing a "conscious and egregious misuse of the statutory patent system." The Federal Circuit affirmed Gilstrap in a 2-1 ruling, finding that PMC's "inequitable scheme to extend its patent rights" had prejudiced Apple. Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington Editing by David Bario and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Bangladesh Bank has accused RCBC and several others, including top executives, of conspiring to steal its money. The New York Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 13 that, contrary to Rizal bank's argument, it does have jurisdiction over the case, and dismissed Rizal bank's motion against Bangladesh Bank. In the same ruling, the court ordered the Bangladesh central bank and RCRC to initiate mediation. In response to the ruling, Rizal bank said it would continue to fight the case. Bangladesh Bank has welcomed the court ruling, saying in a statement this week that it clears the way for the matter to progress in court in New York as needed.

Former top FTX attorney Daniel Friedberg also opposed Sullivan & Cromwell's hiring, saying Thursday that the law firm had conflicts of interest stemming from its connections to Miller. Sullivan & Cromwell has told the court it should not be disqualified simply because it performed some pre-bankruptcy work for FTX. A Sullivan & Cromwell spokesperson has said the firm had a "limited and largely transactional" relationship with FTX prior to the bankruptcy and never served as primary outside counsel to any FTX entity. Serving as primary bankruptcy counsel to FTX would likely allow Sullivan & Cromwell to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, legal experts have said. FTX has sought bankruptcy court permission to pay top Sullivan & Cromwell attorneys more than $2,000 per hour.

Companies Tesla Inc FollowJan 20 (Reuters) - Elon Musk, Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) chief executive, is likely to be called to testify on Friday in a jury trial over his 2018 tweet that he had "funding secured" to take the electric carmaker private, which shareholders allege cost them millions in trading losses. The billionaire entrepreneur is listed as the third possible witness on Friday, after a securities expert and a Tesla investor, in the class action trial in San Francisco federal court. Fearing leaks to the media, Musk tried to protect the "everyday shareholder" by sending the tweet, which contained "technical inaccuracies," Spiro said. The defendants include current and former Tesla directors, whom Spiro said had "pure" motives in their response to Musk's plan. The trial resumes after a day off on Thursday.

Intended for a political purpose, noneof the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim," Middlebrooks wrote in the 45-page written ruling. Representatives for Trump and his lead attorney in the case, Alina Habba, could not be reached for comment by Reuters on Thursday evening. Trump sued Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, claiming that she and other Democrats sought to rig that election by falsely accusing his campaign of links to Russia. read moreMiddlebrooks, who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1997, dismissed the case in September, calling the lawsuit "a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him." He has launched a run for the 2024 presidential election, setting up a potential rematch against Biden.

The lawyers, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, did not specify when the incident took place, describing it only as recent. The news organizations argued last week that the right of the public to know the two sureties' identities outweighed their privacy and safety rights. Bankman-Fried's lawyers said the media groups "assign far too much weight to the presumption of access" and ignored the safety of the guarantors. Prosecutors took no position on whether to disclose the sureties' identities or not, Bankman-Fried's lawyers wrote in the filing. Prosecutors interviewed and approved the two individuals on Jan. 4, Cohen and Everdell wrote.

[1/7] Abortion rights campaigners participate in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. The report detailed an eight-month investigation conducted by Supreme Court marshal Gail Curley at the direction of Chief Justice John Roberts. The report did not identify a specific source of the leak, noting that none of the 97 court employees interviewed by investigators confessed to the disclosure. It was critical of some of the court's internal security protocols, and made clear that investigators would continue to pursue any new leads. "In time, continued investigation and analysis may produce additional leads that could identify the source of the disclosure," the report stated.

REUTERS/Andrew KellyJan 19 (Reuters) - A New Mexico prosecutor on Thursday charged actor Alec Baldwin and others in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of Western "Rust." District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin and the film's armorer after more than a year of investigation into the October 2021 shooting on a film set outside Santa Fe. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, she said. Under New Mexico law, involuntary manslaughter is a fourth-degree felony and is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The sheriff's office focused on how live rounds got onto a movie set and how they were loaded into a firearm.

[1/3] District attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies speaks at a news conference after actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of the movie "Rust" in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S., October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Adria MalcolmJan 19 (Reuters) - A New Mexico prosecutor on Thursday will announce a long-awaited decision on whether she will charge actor Alec Baldwin or others for fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 as Baldwin rehearsed a scene on the Western movie "Rust." Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded when a gun Baldwin was using during a rehearsal in October 2021 fired off a live bullet. Authorities have been trying to determine how a real bullet made its way to the movie set. Under the agreement, filming on the low-budget movie is set to resume this month with Hutchins' husband serving as an executive producer.

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) Chairman Rupert Murdoch is expected to be questioned under oath on Thursday and Friday in a defamation lawsuit over his network’s coverage of unfounded vote-rigging claims during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. "From the highest levels down, Fox knowingly spread lies about Dominion," the election machine company said in a statement. Murdoch is expected to be questioned in person in Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday by lawyers for Dominion, according to a filing in Delaware Superior Court. Dominion alleged in its March 2021 lawsuit that Fox amplified the false theories to boost its ratings and stay abreast of hard-right competitors including One America News Network, which Dominion is also suing.

Companies Costco Wholesale Corp FollowJan 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday said Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) must face a lawsuit claiming it falsely advertises and labels its canned tuna as "dolphin safe" despite using fishing methods that harm and kill dolphins. The Issaquah, Washington-based retailer said Wright only speculated about the risk to dolphins in tuna she bought, and that it made no promises about dolphin safety beyond using a "dolphin safe" logo on labels. He said this was particularly important because consumers "overwhelmingly" prefer tuna labeled dolphin-safe when given a choice. The case is Wright v Costco Wholesale Corp, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Mehr Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tesla investor Glen Littleton is seeking damages on behalf of shareholders who traded the company's stock in the days after Musk posted his plan to take the company private on Twitter in August 2018. Musk's lawyer disputed this characterization, saying that the billionaire was "serious" about taking the company private in 2018, but ultimately encountered shareholder opposition. Musk believed that financing was not an issue and was "taking steps" to make a deal happen, Spiro told the jury. The self-employed investor said he viewed Musk's "funding secured" statement as "absolute." Spiro said on Wednesday that Tesla's stock price jumped in response to Musk saying he was considering taking the company private, which he said was true.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A lawyer for Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) investors said on Wednesday that CEO Elon Musk "lied" when he tweeted in 2018 that funding was "secured" to take the company private. Musk's alleged lies caused "regular people" to lose millions, Nicholas Porritt, lead attorney for the investors, told a jury in San Francisco during opening statements. Musk's lawyer disputed this characterization, saying that the billionaire was "serious" about taking the company private in 2018, but ultimately encountered shareholder opposition. Tesla investor Glen Littleton is seeking damages on behalf of shareholders who traded the company's stock in the days after Musk posted his plan to take the company private on Twitter in August 2018. Reporting by Jody Godoy in San Francisco Editing by Peter Henderson, Noeleen Walder and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Attorneys for Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and for investors will make opening arguments in a San Francisco court on Wednesday in a case to decide whether CEO Elon Musk's 2018 tweet that funding was "secured" to take the company private damaged shareholders. The case is a rare securities class action trial, and Musk and his company are bucking the norm of settling claims that clear high legal hurdles, making for a potentially dramatic trial at which Musk himself may testify. Tesla investor Glen Littleton is seeking "billions" in damages on behalf of shareholders who traded the company's stock in the days after Musk posted his plan to take the company private on Twitter in August 2018. While shareholders sue hundreds of companies and their executives for alleged securities fraud every year, very few of those cases make it to trial. Reporting by Jody Godoy in San Francisco Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee will hold a hearing on Jan. 24 on the lack of competition in the ticketing industry after Ticketmaster's problems managing the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is titled "That’s The Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment." "We will examine how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industries harms customers and artists alike." Consent decrees are often used to prohibit potentially anticompetitive practices or impose other requirements as a condition of merger approvals. A previous Ticketmaster dispute with the Justice Department culminated in a December 2019 settlement extending the consent agreement into 2025.

Jan 18 (Reuters) - A University of Kansas professor avoided prison on Wednesday for making a false statement related to work he was doing in China in the latest setback for a Trump-era U.S. Department of Justice crackdown on Chinese influence within American academia. Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kansas, to sentence Feng "Franklin" Tao to 2-1/2 years in prison, even after the judge in September threw out most of his trial conviction for concealing work he did in China. Robinson instead sentenced the chemical engineering professor to time served with no fine or restitution. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The closing arguments on Wednesday marked the end of the second major seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the attack. The Oath Keeper members are accused of conspiring to block Congress from certifying Biden's election victory. Seditious conspiracy is a rarely prosecuted Civil War-era statute that carries up to 20 years in prison if convicted. In November, a jury convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and a Florida chapter leader of seditious conspiracy, but acquitted three other Oath Keeper defendants of the charge. All five Oath Keepers in that case, however, were convicted of obstructing Congress from certifying the electoral votes - a charge that can also carry up to 20 years.

Others were adopted in July after the Supreme Court the prior month struck down New York's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home in a landmark ruling expanding gun rights. New York officials have said the new gun restrictions, which face numerous legal challenges in lower courts, are needed to protect public safety. The Supreme Court has broadened gun rights in three key rulings since 2008. Alito wrote that the New York law at issue "presents novel and serious questions" under the U.S. Constitution's provisions on gun rights and free speech. Nine individuals who sell firearms in upstate New York and a gun collectors association sued state officials in federal court to challenge a series of laws regulating purchases.

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