Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all. 

Welcome to Lookzy.  In today's Lookzy:

• Breaking down SBF's arrest and charges

• Taylor Swift's copyright settlement

• Hostility and activism in the M&A world

• SCOTUS clerk hiring spree

SBF ARRESTED; INDICTMENT COMING

Sam Bankman-Fried ("SBF"), the founder and CEO of FTX, the centralized crypto exchange which collapsed last month, was arrested last night by Bahamian authorities following notification from the US that criminal charges against SBF had been filed.  

It's been a busy few months for SBF.  After being on stage with Bill Clinton and Gisele this summer, in November FTX and Alameda Research, SBF's hedge fund, spectacularly collapsed and the bankruptcy process has suggested that SBF's enterprise may have been based on fraud since the very beginning.  

The US Attorneys Office in SDNY is unsealing their indictment against SBF this morning, which will reportedly charge SBF with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering. 

Just a few hours prior to SBF's arrest, it was learned that SBF's inner circle apparently had a group chat they named "Wirefraud."  Fitting!

Piling on to SDNY's criminal charges, the SEC today filed a complaint against SBF for defrauding equity investors and other securities laws violations, alleging SBF was diverting funds from FTX to Alameda while concurrently seeking to raise $1.8 billion in funding.  Recent reports also suggest that FTX.US was indeed commingling funds with the rest of the FTX enterprise, contrary to assertions by SBF that they were separate.  

SBF was supposed to testify in a House Committee hearing today, following testimony by FTX's new interim CEO John Ray.  At least SBF finally has an excuse not to go. 

ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs.

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Keeping the DOJ busy.  The DOJ is reportedly split over whether to charge Binance, the world's largest centralized crypto exchange, related to violations of US AML laws and sanctions, including potentially charging individual executives like Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO.  Binance is reportedly being repped by Gibson Dunn on DOJ matters.

Suit shaken off.  Taylor Swift avoided a mid-January jury trial by settling a years-long copyright suit with artist 3LW over Swift's song "Shake it Off".  No terms of the settlement were disclosed.

Legal fee battle.  American Airlines is seeking 11 years' worth of legal fees after winning a $1 award from travel booking software Sabre in an antitrust suit recently, which Sabre fears may total more than $150 million.  O'Melveny is repping American and Skadden is repping Sabre.  

Big patent money.  Intel is seeking the dismissal of a $4.1 billion patent lawsuit from VLSI Technology, which had separately won more than $3 billion in patent infringement verdicts against Intel in Texas federal court.  Intel alleges that VLSI failed to comply with the judge's standing order for parties to name "every individual and corporation with a direct or indirect interest" in them.  WilmerHale is repping Intel and Irell & Manella is repping VLSI.  

Genius scrapping.  SCOTUS has requested that the solicitor general take a position on whether it should step into a dispute over Google LLC’s alleged illegal scraping of lyrics from lyric website Genius.  SCOTUS is considering whether to hear Genius' bid to overturn an appeals court's ruling that federal copyright law preempted its suit against Google.  

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

Unsatisfied shareholders.  Thomas Bravo agreed to purchase and take private Coupa Software in an $8 billion all-cash deal.  Although the $81/share price is at a 30.5% premium to Friday's closing price, some of Coupa's shareholder may still be unhappy.  As we previously reported, HMI Capital, Coupa's largest shareholder, had previously sent a letter to the Coupa board noting that it would oppose any sale below $95/share.  Freshfields is repping Coupa and Kirkland is repping Thoma Bravo.

Persistence is key.  Veris Residential has rejected its sixth unsolicited bid by Kushner Cos to purchase the company for around $4.7 billion, after Kushner raised its price by a dollar per share compared to its prior bid in early December.  Veris suggested the parties begin a constructive dialogue around price and financing.  

Defense warchest.  PENN Entertainment, the sports betting company and owner of Barstool Sports, announced it has authorized a new $750 million share buyback which appears poised to be used as a potential defense mechanism should another sports betting company seek to acquire PENN given its sagging share price.  

More activism.  Hestia Capital Partners LP sent a letter to the other shareholders of Pitney Bowes, of which Hestia owns 6.9%, notifying them that it plans to take control of the board by replacing five of the nine board seats, including the CEO's and Chairman's seats.  

Downrounds.  Cybersecurity startup Snyk raised another $196 million at a $7.4 billion post-money valuation, a 12% discount to its prior round. Snyk has now raised a total of $1.075 billion. 

More downrounds. Cooley analyzed median startup valuations between 1Q2022 and 3Q2022 across 1,000 deals: 

Series A: $58M Q2 ➡️ $45M Q3   Series B: $164M Q2 ➡️ $90M Q3  Series C: $502M Q2 ➡️ $130M Q3Series D: $3.5B Q1 ➡️ $527M Q3  

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves: 

• Jones Day hired seven Supreme Court clerks, all of whom clerked for conservative justices during the last term. The clerks are Alexa Baltes (Kavanaugh), Louis Capozzi III (Gorsuch), T. Elliot Gaiser (Alito), Michael Heckmann (Barrett), Shelby Baird Smith (Alito), John Henry Thompson (Gorsuch) and Sarah Welch (Kavanaugh). Jones Day noted that it has recruited 78 Supreme Court clerks since the October 2011 Term. Signing bonuses offered to SCOTUS clerks are reportedly as high as $400,000.

• Akin Gump hired former Virginia attorney general Mark Herring and former Virginia deputy solicitor general Martine Cicconi.

• Brown Rudnick hired partner Paul Doris, the co-leader of Dentons' energy transition group.

• Seyfarth Shaw elected Lorie Almon as chair and managing partner, the first woman to hold such position at Seyfarth.

• Judge Tamika Montgomery-Reeves, currently sitting on the Delaware Supreme Court, was confirmed by the Senate to join the Third Circuit.

Industry News:

• Fried Frank is moving NY offices in early 2024 to 535 Madison Avenue, a few blocks from its current space. The firm is increasing the square footage of its office space by nearly 23%; associates can likely guess what this might mean for their future WFH plans.

• Has your firm still not announced bonuses? You likely are not alone. Check out the latest updates to the Lookzy Reverse Bonus Tracker below for the full list of who has announced and who's left. Have any details about typical timelines for firms that haven't announced yet? Reply to this email and we can update.

BOILERPLATE

Alright, back to billing.  That's all, folks!