Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

Federal prosecutors have charged a Google employee with fraud, alleging that he made $1.2m from bets on Polymarket that used insider information. Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen, has been charged with money laundering, commodities fraud and wire fraud, according to the complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. “Spagnuolo had access to Google’s internal data systems, including a particular Google internal software tool that provided him access to confidential, nonpublic Year in Search data,” the prosecutors said in their complaint. “Google officially and publicly announced its Year in Search 2025 results on or about December 4, 2025. Soon after it did so, Spagnuolo’s AlphaRaccoon account profited approximately $1.2m on his Google Year in Search 2025-related bets,” the complaint said. A Google spokesperson, responding to the charges against Spagnuolo, said: "Using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We've placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action."

 

ABC News

NPR / National Public Radio

More than 30 former federal judges have urged a federal court in Florida to investigate whether the Trump administration’s $1.8bn settlement agreement tied to President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS amounted to “a fraud on the court.” The judges asked U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to reopen the case after Trump’s legal team withdrew the lawsuit earlier this month. The lawsuit accused the IRS of mishandling and leaking Trump’s tax information. Separately, the Justice Department announced the creation of a billion-dollar “anti-weaponization” fund to resolve the dispute, although the settlement details were not presented to the court. In their filing, the former judges argued that the agreement raises serious concerns about transparency and whether the court was misled, particularly because Trump appeared to control both sides of the dispute. They said the judge has the authority to review the dismissal under “extraordinary circumstances.” Judge Williams had already raised questions about whether the case met the legal standard of a genuine adversarial dispute before it was dismissed.

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Fender has launched legal action against guitar makers producing instruments resembling its iconic Stratocaster, escalating a dispute over ownership of one of the world’s most recognizable electric guitar designs. The company recently issued cease-and-desist letters to manufacturers ranging from boutique builders to established brands including PRS, demanding they stop producing Strat-style guitars and redesign existing models. Fender said it has a responsibility to protect the brand identity and designs associated with its instruments. The move follows a favorable German court ruling earlier this year which recognized the Stratocaster body shape as a copyrightable work of art, strengthening Fender’s position in Europe. Fender said it is now working with manufacturers to redesign products while selling through existing inventory. The legal push has alarmed independent guitar makers, many of whom argue the Stratocaster shape became generic decades ago after widespread industry use.

 

Wall Street Journal

The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have launched an investigation into Fifa’s ticketing practices around the 2026 World Cup. They have sent subpoenas to soccer’s global governing body following reports that ticket releases may have contributed to “soaring prices” and after complaints that fans may have been misled about the locations of seats they were purchasing. “No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive,” New York attorney general Letitia James said. The investigation focuses specifically on the matches due to take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

 

Financial Times

ESPN

The Guardian

Exxon Mobil shareholders have approved the company’s plan to shift its legal incorporation from New Jersey to Texas, despite opposition from major proxy advisory firms that warned the move could weaken shareholder rights. The proposal passed with 71.3% support at Exxon’s annual meeting. Although Exxon has been headquartered in Texas since 1989, the company said relocating its legal domicile to the state better aligns with its operations and business environment. The move comes as several major companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and Coinbase, have also relocated to Texas following legal changes that strengthened protections for corporations, including measures limiting shareholder litigation through ownership thresholds for lawsuits. Proxy advisers Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services had recommended voting against the proposal, arguing it could reduce investor protections. 

 

Financial Times

Reuters

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has said it is to reassign virtually all staff nationwide to its Washington headquarters later this year. The move to relocate roughly 450 employees stationed near the watchdog's former regional offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and New York and end remote work arrangements is likely ​to accelerate the recent pace of resignations, Reuters reports, as the Trump administration seeks to ‌minimize if not eliminate the agency. Beginning on August 31, "staff whose duty stations are greater than 50 miles from headquarters, staff associated with former regional offices" and all field employees will report to the new headquarters, an email said. The CFPB will cover relocation costs for "eligible" staff members in accordance with current ​rules, according to a ​memo also seen by ⁠Reuters.

 

Reuters

Krispy Kreme customers affected by a 2024 cyberattack exposing personal and financial data could qualify for payouts of up to $3,500 under a $1.6m class-action settlement. Customers who can provide evidence of fraud, identity theft, or other financial losses linked to the breach may receive the largest payments, while those whose data was compromised but who did not suffer financial harm can claim up to $75. Eligible customers may also receive one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Krispy Kreme denied wrongdoing or liability as part of the settlement, but agreed to strengthen its cybersecurity protocols. A final court approval hearing is scheduled for July 6th.

 

Los Angeles Times

London-based AI litigation legaltech start-up Crimson has raised $2.5m in an oversubscribed seed funding round. Crimson, whose platform is designed to handle complex litigation and arbitration, drafting legal documents, reviewing witness and expert evidence and creating event timelines, was co-founded last year by former Willkie Farr & Gallagher associate Mark Feldner. “Crimson is built specifically for litigators, giving them a faster and more reliable way to understand the case file, assess the evidence and produce high-quality work grounded in the full matter context,” Feldner said.

 

The Global Legal Post

Michael Dorf has joined DLA Piper as a partner in its corporate practice in San Francisco, focusing on public and private M&A transactions, venture capital financings, and joint ventures. He advises a range of clients, including public and private companies and sovereign wealth funds, across various sectors such as semiconductors and biotech. Previously, Dorf was with A&O Shearman.

 

Bloomberg Law

Jonathan Andic, the son of late Mango founder Isak Andic, has filed a legal defence rejecting allegations that he was involved in his father's death, arguing that a pre-existing knee condition may have contributed to the billionaire retailer’s fatal fall in 2024. The filing responds to a judge’s preliminary finding that Jonathan could bear criminal responsibility for the death of his father, who died after falling more than 300 feet while hiking in the Montserrat mountains near Barcelona. Jonathan has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. His legal team argued that Isak Andic suffered from bilateral gonarthrosis, a degenerative knee condition that could have caused his knee to give way and limited his ability to react during the fall. The defence also challenged forensic evidence relating to a footprint found at the scene, claiming the area had not been properly secured. Jonathan Andic has temporarily stepped down as Mango's vice-chairman while the investigation continues. A judge will now decide whether to bring formal charges, which could lead to a jury trial.

 

Wall Street Journal

Australia’s federal government has launched legal action against 3M and its Australian subsidiary, seeking more than A$2bn in damages over contamination caused by PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” used in firefighting foam at defense sites. The government said the claim is the largest legal action ever brought by the Commonwealth and alleges 3M withheld information about the environmental risks associated with the chemicals. 3M said it ceased selling PFAS-containing firefighting foam products around two decades ago and intends to defend the claims, noting that Australia’s Department of Defence continued using the products for many years afterwards.

 

CNN

Financial Times

Reuters

The Guardian

Panama's National Assembly has approved a law that requires ‌multinational companies domiciled in the country to demonstrate genuine local operations, including qualified personnel, adequate facilities and strategic decision-making, or face a 15% tax on passive foreign income. "At the ​fiscal level, it requires multinationals to demonstrate that they have ​physical operations and real activity in a country, beyond just seeking tax advantage," the National Assembly said. The law aims to satisfy European Union tax transparency requirements ⁠and support Panama’s removal from EU monitoring lists.

 

Reuters

Speaking virtually at a Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) conference in Sydney, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he was initially concerned about the impact AI would have on global employment ​levels, but believed the rapid development ‌and adoption of the technology would not lead to a global "jobs apocalypse." Altman said his executive team had been "roughly right" on the technological predictions made by OpenAI when it launched ​ChatGPT in 2022, but were "pretty wrong" on the social and economic implications. "I'm delighted to ⁠be wrong about this, I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than ​has actually happened," Altman said, adding that he didn't think the human interaction required in ⁠many jobs ​would be replaced by AI. "I don't think we're going to have the kind ​of jobs apocalypse that some of the companies in our space advocate or talk about."

 

Reuters