US government legal stance poised to shift at SCOTUS under Trump, Bankman-Fried lieutenant builds fraud detection tool for prosecutors, and more ??
Reuters Legal
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?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today's top legal news:
??? Under Trump, US government legal stance poised to shift at Supreme Court
Republican Donald Trump's return to the presidency is expected to precipitate a shift in the U.S. government's legal stance in major cases pending at the Supreme Court, including a closely watched dispute involving Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
After Trump succeeds Democrat Joe Biden on Jan. 20, other big cases in which the new administration could change positions include ones involving the largely untraceable firearms called "ghost guns," nuclear waste storage, flavored vape products and securities fraud, according to legal experts.
Trump on Nov. 13 tapped Republican congressman Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general. He has not yet announced his nominee for U.S. solicitor general, the Justice Department official who represents the government in Supreme Court cases.
"I expect that the Trump solicitor general will change positions in major cases before the Supreme Court," said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley Law School.
"It happened in 2016 and it happened in 2020," Chemerinsky added, referring to transfers of power with a president of one party succeeding a president of the other.
The expected changes in positions by the new incoming administration may be a closer ideological fit for the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority, which includes three justices appointed by Trump.
?? Bankman-Fried lieutenant builds fraud detection tool for prosecutors
The former FTX executive who wrote computer code that enabled his imprisoned former boss Sam Bankman-Fried to steal billions of dollars from cryptocurrency customers has built software to help the U.S. government uncover fraud in the stock market.
Federal prosecutors made the disclosure in a court filing seeking leniency for Gary Wang, FTX's former chief technology officer, at his scheduled Nov. 20 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.
Wang is also building a tool to help spot crime on cryptocurrency exchanges, according to the filing.
"The tool has sufficient potential value to the government," the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said. "Wang's willingness to use his skills proactively, to help detect other criminal activity in financial markets, distinguishes his cooperation."
Bankman-Fried, 32, is serving a 25-year prison sentence imposed by Kaplan after a jury last year found him guilty of stealing $8 billion from customers to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research. He is appealing his conviction and sentence.
Wang, in his early 30s, will be the last member of Bankman-Fried's former inner circle to be sentenced by Kaplan following FTX's November 2022 collapse.
?? Crypto industry pushes for policy sea change after Trump victory
The crypto industry is pushing for an ambitious raft of policies that would promote the widespread adoption of digital assets and considering who best to promote them, as they anticipate a cryptocurrency-friendly regime under President-elect Donald Trump.
While crypto companies were already anticipating a lighter touch with a new administration, Donald Trump's decisive victory and a projected Republican sweep of Congress pave the way for a dramatic and lasting crypto policy overhaul. Trump courted crypto cash with promises to be a "crypto president," and industry executives say he now has a strong mandate to deliver.
The industry is now pushing for measures including potential executive orders on crypto firms' access to banking services and crypto-friendly picks in a range of roles, in addition to a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, executives said.
"We've had an administration that's been very negative, and so we're looking forward to unlocking that gridlock," said Mike Belshe, CEO of institutional crypto platform BitGo, who hosted a campaign fundraiser for Trump in July.
Bitcoin soared above $90,000 on Nov. 13 amid rising policy optimism, with some analysts predicting the world's largest token could hit $100,000.
While some industry asks could happen quickly such as pro-crypto nominees at financial regulatory agencies, others however could take longer, such as passing legislation to create a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Trump has also pledged to create a crypto advisory council. While it's unclear who might serve on the council, crypto executives are brainstorming who to elevate as key leaders in crafting crypto policy in the new administration.
?? Baltimore wins $266 million in opioid case against distributors
The city of Baltimore won $266 million in its lawsuit accusing top drug distributors McKesson and Cencora of fueling an epidemic of opioid addiction in the U.S. and is expected to seek billions more in the next phase of the case.
A six-person jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore found McKesson responsible for $192 million and Cencora for $74 million on Nov. 12 following a nearly two-month trial. The amount represents damages compensating the city for harms the companies were found to have caused.
Baltimore, which has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, opted out of large national opioid settlements in recent years in the hope of winning more money on its own. In 2022, Baltimore recorded 904 opioid overdose deaths, out of a total population of about 569,000, while the national opioid overdose death rate was about 25 per 100,000.
Next month, the city is expected to ask Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill for about $9 billion from the companies to pay for the cost of addressing the opioid crisis going forward. That is a legal remedy known as abatement, and is distinct from civil damages.
Baltimore accuses Cencora, formerly called AmerisourceBergen, and McKesson of ignoring red flags that opioids they supplied were being diverted into illegal channels. The companies deny the claim.
?? That's all for today, thank you for reading?The Legal File and have a great day ahead!
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