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:

• Flo Rida wins $82.6M from Celsius

• Gov't cooperator testifies to $30 million in FIFA bribes

• Mark Cuban's fight against a proposed class action

• The big crypto bankruptcy being filed imminently

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FLO RIDA WINS $82M FROM CELSIUS

Hip hop artist Flo Rida was awarded $82.6 million by a Broward County, Florida jury in a suit against energy drink maker Celsius Holdings Inc.

Flo Rida (aka Trama Dillard) and his production company, Strong Arm Productions, sued Celsius in May 2021 for breach of contract related to an endorsement deal Flo Rida had with Celsius. Flo Rida claimed that he was responsible for much of Celsius' initial growth.

Flo Rida argued that his involvement included growth in new production lines, including a powder and product called Celsius Heat, produced in connection with Flo Rida's partnership.

John Uustal of the Uustal Law Firm, Flo Rida's lawyer, had argued that Flo Rida was promised 1% of the company and certain royalties in exchange for his work for the company, which he never received. Celsius was represented by the IP law firm SRipLaw.

It is unclear whether Celsius plans to appeal the verdict. Flo Rida sipped on a can of Celsius speaking with reporters after the verdict was announced.

ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Big bribes. A key cooperator for the US government in the FIFA corruption trial currently underway testified that he conspired with a former 21st Century Fox executive to pay at least $30 million in bribes to certain FIFA executives.

Merger suit continues. The DE Chancery Court refused to dismiss seven of nine claims by a stockholder against Deutsche Telekom AG, SoftBank Group Corp. and 11 individuals of breaching their duties with respect to T-Mobile's $26 billion merger with Sprint Corp. in April 2020, keeping the suit alive.

Shark tank. A Florida federal judge rejected a proposed class from swapping out a named plaintiff in its suit against Mark Cuban over his work promoting bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital Holdings. The judge noted that if the proposed class wants to add more plaintiffs, it must file a second amended complaint.

Terminated merger. Crude oil shipper Euronav NV plans to request emergency arbitration following Front Ltd.'s recent sudden announcement that it was terminating its proposed $4.2 billion all-stock acquisition of Euronav without much else public explanation.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

Security auction. RSA Security is reportedly considering a sale of its risk and compliance software unit Archer for more than $2 billion. Archer is apparently growing profitably and has attracted attention from other companies and PE funds in the early stages of an auction RSA is running.

Crypto bankruptcy. Genesis Global Capital, the crypto lender owned by Digital Currency Group which has been hit hard by numerous crypto fund blowups in 2022, its spat with the Winkelvoss twins' Gemini exchange and recent SEC charges of unregistered securities offerings, plans to file for bankruptcy imminently and has already been negotiating a bankruptcy plan with creditors. Under the plan, creditors are reportedly weighing a one to two-year forbearance period in exchange for cash and equity in DCG, Genesis' parent.

Black gold. Oil and gas company Chesapeake Energy Corp agreed to sell part of its operation in south Texas to WildFire Energy for $1.43 billion in cash. The sale appears in part to be related to activist investor Kimmeridge Energy Management's calls for Chesapeake to focus on low-cost natural gas production rather than oil drilling.

Big funds. Blackstone announced that it raised $25 billion for two PE funds that focus on secondary and co-investments. Simpson Thacher is representing Blackstone.

Clearance. BNP Paribas announced that it received regulatory approval for its $16.3 billion sale of Bank of the West Inc. to BMO Financial Group (aka Bank of Montreal). The deal is set to close on February 1st.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves:

• Davis Polk hired partner James Dougherty, previously Jones Day's global head of M&A.

• Mayer Brown hired Richard Synder from Freshfields and Tim Nagy from Sidley.

• Reed Smith hired partner Jon Ammons from Winston & Strawn.

• Jenner hired partner Josh Hsu, a former lawyer for Vice President Harris.

• Weil hired partners Andy Hagan from Freshfields and Gilles Teerlinck from White & Case in London.

• Mintz hired partner Keith Kollmeyer from Jones Day.

Industry News:

• President Biden nominated Michael Delaney, a former New Hampshire attorney general, for a seat on the 1st Circuit.

• Still waiting on your bonus? Check out the Lookzy Reverse Bonus Tracker to see who else is left to announce.

BOILERPLATE

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