SEC offers deal to ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf CFO; Ex-Facebook lawyer joins Latham & Watkins; U.S. colleges lose bid to toss tuition aid antitrust claims
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The SEC proffered a settlement that could end an eight-year-old civil case with former Dewey & LeBoeuf CFO. A federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit alleging financial aid antitrust claims against 17 prominent U.S. universities. A former Facebook lawyer who testified before Congress over Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election joins Latham & Watkins. And structured finance lawyer Ronan Mellon joins Mayer Brown’s London office.
In a?letter?to U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it is considering a settlement proposal in an eight-year-old civil case from Joel Sanders, the former chief financial officer of defunct international law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who was?convicted?in 2017 of defrauding the firm's investors.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The settlement would resolve the SEC's monetary relief claim against Sanders, its only claim left. SEC senior counsel William Finkel said he is waiting for the commission to accept Sanders' offer, which could take six to eight weeks.
Dewey & LeBoeuf, which once had nearly 1,400 lawyers, went bankrupt in May 2012, unable to pay for the lavish compensation packages it had promised to recruit star partners.
Sanders was convicted and?sentenced?to a $1 million fine and 750 hours of community service in 2017.
Former Facebook top lawyer Colin Stretch has joined Latham & Watkins at its Washington, D.C. office, the law firm said.
Stretch, who served as the top lawyer at Facebook for about six years before leaving the tech giant in 2019, will work with both startups and public company clients.
As general counsel role at Facebook, now known as Meta, he?testified?before Congress in high-profile hearings in 2017 as the U.S. investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
After leaving Facebook, Stretch began lecturing at New York-based Columbia University's law and business schools. Latham said Stretch will continue teaching at both.
Ian Schuman, the global chair of Latham's capital markets and public companies practices, said:
"The judgment, the ability to see around corners, the war stories Colin has gotten at Facebook makes us more valuable to clients."
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A Chicago federal judge on Monday declined to dismiss a lawsuit alleging 17 prominent U.S. universities conspired for years to restrict financial aid to as many as 170,000 students who overpaid tens of millions of dollars in tuition.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly's?order directed?the defendant schools — including Brown University; Georgetown University; Columbia University; Yale University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania — to respond to the plaintiffs' amended complaint by Sept. 9.
The?lawsuit alleged a consortium to narrow the road to financial aid, claiming a
"price-fixing cartel that is designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition."
Federal antitrust law shields agreements between U.S. universities where students are admitted without consideration of a need for financial aid.
The plaintiffs' attorneys argued that this shield, called the "568 exemption," did not apply. They alleged that schools do not admit every student on a "need-blind" basis.
The schools have denied liability.
Structured finance lawyer Ronan Mellon has joined Mayer Brown’s London-based banking and finance practice as a partner.
Mellon joins from global law firm DLA Piper where he was a partner for eight years. He specializes in asset-backed securities (ABS) and collateralized loan obligations (CLO), the co-head of Chicago-headquartered Mayer Brown’s banking and finance practice Alex Dell said.
These are part of a?class of securities?created by bundling portions of different bonds and loans into a new, more diversified structure that spreads risk among investors.
Mellon’s hiring is a sign of the firm’s increased commitment to the London market, Mayer Brown London managing partner Dominic Griffiths said.
The firm?added?private equity partner Paul Rosen from Chicago-based Katten Muchin Rosenman in London in June.
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