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WARSAW, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Polish regulator UOKiK has started proceedings against PayPal (PYPL.O) over possible prohibited contractual provisions, it said on Wednesday, adding that the possible fine could amount to 10% of the company's revenue. The regulator said it has doubts regarding the payments company's right to impose contractual penalties, such as blocking access to accounts, financial sanctions, or terminating contracts among others. UOKiK said that prohibited activities which could incur penalties were described in an unclear way and users may not understand exactly what was not allowed and what action the company could take in such cases. PayPal did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Koper, additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has filed for U.S. bankruptcy court protection, had a total cash balance of $1.24 billion as of Nov. 20, according to a court filing on Monday. FTX will see a drop in its cash flow by $20 million to $459 million by Dec. 23, from $479 million as of Nov. 25, the filing said. In an earlier court filing, FTX had said that it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion. read moreReporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Supreme Court clears way to Congress for Trump tax returnsThe conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court cleared the release of Trump's tax returns to the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. The committee in its request invoked a federal law that empowers its chairman to request any person's tax returns from the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Trump's lawyers have said the committee's real aim is to publicly expose his tax returns and unearth politically damaging information about Trump. The complaint seeks $250 million in damages, to stop the Trumps from running businesses in the state and to ban Trump and his company from acquiring New York real estate for five years. Trump lawyer James Trusty told the judges that Trump's status as a former president made this an unusual case that required a special master's review.

Companies Honeywell International Inc FollowNov 18 (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc (HON.O) will pay $1.3 billion to end asbestos-related claims stemming from its former unit, the industrial giant said on Friday, helping it reduce its environmental liabilities. Honeywell said the one-time, lump sum payment will have 'limited obligations' to the trust following the completion of the deal. The company's former unit, North American Refractories Company (NARCO), had filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after facing lawsuits over asbestos-related illnesses. Following the bankruptcy, Honeywell set up the compensation trust to resolve billions of dollars worth of asbestos claims. Additionally, the North Carolina-based company reaffirmed its previously announced full-year and fourth-quarter outlook.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowNov 21 (Reuters) - The Golden State Warriors were sued on Monday by an FTX customer who accused the reigning National Basketball Association champions of fraudulently promoting the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. The Warriors last December had named FTX its official cryptocurrency platform, in what it called a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency partnership in professional sports. The lawsuit seeks damages under California consumer laws for customers outside the United States with FTX yield-bearing accounts. Another NBA team, the Miami Heat, on Nov. 11 said it would drop the FTX name from its arena and seek a new naming sponsor. The Heat is not a defendant in the Miami lawsuit.

Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Golden State Warriors were sued on Monday by an FTX account holder who accused the reigning National Basketball Association champions of fraudulently promoting the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. Elliott Lam, a Canadian citizen and Hong Kong resident who said he lost $750,000 in his FTX yield-bearing account, filed his proposed class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court. Other defendants include Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded FTX, and Caroline Ellison, who led Bankman-Fried's trading firm Alameda Research. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for people outside the United States with FTX yield-bearing accounts. The team had last December named FTX its official cryptocurrency platform, in what it called a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency partnership in professional sports.

Companies Us Justice Department FollowNov 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday launched a probe into whether Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the city's police department discriminate against people who have mental health disabilities in the provision of behavioral care services. The ADA requires state and local governments to provide people with disabilities equal access to programs and services. In addition, the department will look into how Oklahoma City responds to emergency calls that involve a mental health crisis and if city police follow ADA standards on the scene of such calls. "We will evaluate whether the state of Oklahoma’s failure to provide community-based services for people with behavioral health disabilities in Oklahoma County results in unnecessary institutionalization and unnecessary police contact," Clarke said. The investigation came after a discrimination complaint was filed with the agency, according to a senior Justice Department official.

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court in Cincinnati sentenced a Chinese national to 20 years in prison on Wednesday after he was convicted last year of plotting to steal trade secrets from several U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, the Justice Department said. Xu Yanjun, the first Chinese spy extradited to the United States for trial, was convicted in Nov. 2021 by a federal jury on counts of conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and trade secret theft. Xu, 42, accused of being a career intelligence officer for China's Ministry of State Security, was detained in Belgium in 2018 after a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. officials say the Chinese government poses the biggest long-term threat to U.S. economic and national security, and is carrying out unprecedented efforts to steal critical technology from U.S. businesses and researchers. FBI Director Christopher Wray has said his agency opens a new counterintelligence case related to China about twice a day.

Companies Trump Organization Inc FollowNEW YORK, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Allen Weisselberg, a longtime senior executive at former U.S. President Donald Trump's family business, took the stand on Tuesday as the prosecution's star witness at the Trump Organization's tax fraud trial in New York state court. Weisselberg, 75, pleaded guilty in August to avoiding taxes on $1.76 million in personal income and helping Trump's real estate company engineer the tax fraud scheme. During questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger on Tuesday, Weisselberg said he began working as an accountant for Trump's father, the real estate developer Fred Trump, in 1973. Weisselberg said the Trump Organization's business portfolio grew more diversified since he began working there, branching out into hotels, golf courses and commercial properties. Weisselberg is the third witness to take the stand in the trial, which began with jury selection on Oct. 24.

DePape pleaded not guilty on Nov. 2 to state charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse, false imprisonment and threatening a public official. He is accused of gaining entry to the home of Paul and Nancy Pelosi on Oct. 28 and striking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, leaving him hospitalized with a skull fracture and injuries to his hand and arm. Paul Pelosi has since been released from a San Francisco area hospital. DePape faces a maximum sentence of up to 50 years in prison if found guilty of the federal charges, although sentencing guidelines typically call for less time behind bars. The state charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 13 years to life.

Companies Tesla Inc FollowSAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - California prosecutors have asked a court to delay a trial for a Tesla (TSLA.O) Model S driver who faces manslaughter charges over a 2019 crash that left two people dead, according to court documents. Prosecutors want to push back the trial to late February or later, saying two police officers assigned to the case would be on medical leave and vacation. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said the two sides will set a new date for the trial on Tuesday. In October, prosecutors charged Tesla driver Kevin George Aziz Riad of "vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence." Tesla was not charged in the case, but the company's claims about its partially automated driving systems are expected to be in focus.

Companies United States of America FollowNov 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has extended a block on President Joe Biden's administration from fulfilling his plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt at the urging of six Republican-led states, a court filing on Monday showed. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction barring the U.S. Department of Education from erasing student loan debt as part of Biden's plan to deliver "life-changing relief" to tens of millions of borrowers. The court on Oct. 21 temporarily barred Biden's administration from discharging student loans while it considered an emergency request by the six states for an injunction. Debt forgiveness would eliminate about $430 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding student debt and that over 40 million people were eligible to benefit, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The plan calls to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for married couples.

A federal jury in 2009 had found the businessman, Thomas Petters, guilty of orchestrating a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, and he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Those sums became unavailable for repayment to creditors when the fraud was uncovered in 2008, a trustee said in a lawsuit. The jury found the count against the bank which had alleged that the bank's unit "substantially assisted or encouraged" the businessman Petters to commit the breach. As part of the provision, Bank of Montreal said it would book an after-tax charge of C$830 million during the fourth quarter. ($1 = 1.3426 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nov 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court on Tuesday denied requests to temporarily block Albertsons Companies Inc's (ACI.N) $4 billion dividend payment to shareholders before closing of the proposed merger with Kroger Co , but the payout remained blocked due to another court order. The federal court in Washington D.C. denied issuing a restraining order in the case, which was filed by the attorneys general of California, Illinois and Washington D.C and sought to block the payout until antitrust reviews of the proposed merger were completed. The lawsuit filed by attorneys general of Washington D.C., California and Illinois argued the same. Kroger snapped up Albertsons in a $25 billion deal in last month's mega merger between the No. "People living in poverty will suffer most of all—not only because of skyrocketing prices as competition vanishes, but through probable store closures," the groups said, adding the "unusual" $4 billion dividend to shareholders should be investigated.

WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a bid by Bristol Myers Squibb Co's Juno Therapeutics Inc to reinstate a $1.2 billion award it won in its patent fight with Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) subsidiary Kite Pharma Inc over a lymphoma drug. The justices turned away Juno's appeal of a lower court's ruling throwing out the award in the litigation over Kite's biologic drug Yescarta, in a case that could have repercussions for the cutting-edge biologic drug industry. Juno and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research sued Kite in 2017 in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing it of copying technology that the institute licenses to Juno. Juno and Sloan Kettering have told the Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit's decision to invalidate the patent and other rulings against biologic patents have been "devastating for innovation." On Nov. 4, the Supreme Court took up another patent case involving biologic drugs, agreeing to hear Amgen's bid to revive patents on its cholesterol drug Repatha.

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking a forfeiture order for more than $1 billion in Bitcoin that was stolen from the Silk Road online marketplace in 2012, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. Zhong on Friday pleaded guilty to wire fraud that tricked Silk Road's processing system into releasing the funds into his accounts. The Bitcoin was at the time worth more than $3 billion, but the value of the cryptocurrency has since lost about two-thirds of its value. Silk Road was seized by the U.S. government in 2013, when officials described the underground website as a massive illegal drug- and money-laundering marketplace. The website's creator Ross Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 of seven counts of enabling illegal drug sales via bitcoin.

[1/3] A man rides a scooter past the front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. September 30, 2022. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its conservative justices have signaled skepticism toward expansive regulatory power and the duty of judges, under Supreme Court precedent, to give deference to that authority. Axon sued the FTC in 2020 in federal court in Arizona following an investigation by the agency into its 2018 acquisition of Vievu, a rival body-camera provider. Cochran sued in 2019 to stop the enforcement action, like Axon contesting the SEC's in-house judges under Article II.

[1/2] SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk gestures during a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. REUTERS/Adrees LatifCompanies Twitter Inc FollowTesla Inc FollowWILMINGTON, Del., Nov 7 (Reuters) - As Elon Musk is engulfed in his overhaul of Twitter, the entrepreneur is headed to trial to defend his record $56 billion Tesla Inc pay package against claims it unjustly enriches him without requiring his full-time presence at the carmaker. The disputed pay package allows Musk to buy 1% of Tesla's stock at a deep discount each time escalating performance and financial targets are met; otherwise Musk gets nothing. Does Elon Musk work for the board or does the board work for Elon Musk," said Minor Myers, a professor at UConn School of Law. Myers said if the pay package is rescinded, the board could simply create a new one and do so with McCormick's ruling to guide them.

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking the forfeiture of more than $1 billion in Bitcoin stolen from the Silk Road online marketplace, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. By the time it was seized, the Bitcoin was worth more than $3 billion. Some of the stolen Bitcoin was found on a computer in a popcorn tin stored in a bathroom closet, IRS special agent Trevor McAleenan said in an affidavit. The U.S. government seized Silk Road in 2013, describing the underground website as a massive illegal drug and money-laundering marketplace. Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 of seven counts of enabling illegal drug sales via bitcoin.

A dispute arose over the price Fox would pay for a stake in the market-leading FanDuel app, leading to arbitration that began in the spring of 2021. The sports betting app Fox Bet is available in four states, with just 0.2% share of the U.S. market, according to researcher Vixio. A free version called Fox Bet Super 6 has attracted some 6 million users whom Fox hopes to eventually convert to betters. The growth of Fox Bet has stagnated since Flutter acquired Stars Group, the company that helped launch Fox Bet and owns and operates the app. Fox claimed that Flutter failed to provide reasonable resources behind Fox Bet, a claim Flutter said the arbitrator rejected, finding that Flutter had agreed to commit "commercially reasonable" resources behind the offering.

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump said on Friday it had given the former president until next week to begin producing documents requested under a subpoena. The Jan. 6 committee announced on Oct. 21 that it had sent a subpoena to Trump requiring documents be submitted by Nov. 4 and for him to appear for deposition testimony beginning on or about Nov. 14. The panel said then it had "overwhelming evidence … that (Trump) personally orchestrated" an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Chevron Corp FollowNov 4 (Reuters) - The Contra Costa County District Attorney on Friday said it has reached a settlement with Chevron Corp (CVX.N) over a diesel spill into the San Francisco Bay from the company's 245,271 barrel-per-day Richmond, California refinery last year. Officials did not release financial details of the settlement, and Chevron was not immediately unavailable for comment. "Corporations must be held strictly liable for any discharges of diesel into San Francisco Bay," said District Attorney Diana Becton in a statement. Around 757 gallons of a diesel water mixture leaked into the bay at the Richmond Refinery Marine Terminal in February last year. Some provisions in the judgment mandate Chevron implement various prevention and response measures to address and mitigate the identified hazards discovered in the investigation.

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) said an arbitrator on Friday reaffirmed its right to acquire a nearly one-fifth stake in FanDuel, settling a longstanding dispute with the betting app's owner, Flutter Entertainment Plc (FLTRF.L). The New York-based Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services also settled a dispute over the price to exercise that option. Fox has a 10-year option to acquire an 18.6% stake of FanDuel for $3.7 billion. In April 2021, Fox filed its lawsuit against the Irish gaming company, seeking to secure its option to buy an stake in the market-leading FanDuel app. The arbitrator Friday settled on an option price based on a $20 billion valuation for FanDuel.

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) said an arbitration court on Friday reaffirmed its right to acquire a nearly one-fifth stake in FanDuel, settling a longstanding dispute with the betting app's parent company, Flutter Entertainment Plc (FLTRF.L). The court also settled a dispute over the price to exercise that option. Fox has a 10-year option to acquire an 18.6% stake of FanDuel for $3.7 billion. Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The justices took up Amgen's appeal of the lower court ruling that threw out the Repatha patents. Amgen and other drugmakers have called the case a test of their ability to earn and defend patents for important drugs. Amgen first sued Regeneron and Sanofi in 2014 over their rival drug Praluent, which works by a similar mechanism as Repatha. Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen sold more than $1.1 billion worth of Repatha worldwide last year. Regeneron sold $170 million worth of Praluent in the United States last year, and Sanofi sold over $200 million worth in the rest of the world.

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