Acting AG Bruck Announces $20.5 Million Settlement over Allegations Academy Bus Fraudulently Billed NJ Transit

NJ AG

Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck announced today that Academy Bus, LLC (Academy) and several related entities and individuals will pay a total of $20.5 million to resolve the State’s lawsuit accusing the defendants of overcharging New Jersey Transit by underreporting missed bus trips and by over-billing for hours and miles driven. The agreement represents the State’s largest-ever False Claims Act settlement outside the healthcare sector. read more »

BlockFi Agrees to Pay $100 Million in Penalties and Pursue Registration of its Crypto Lending Product

SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged BlockFi Lending LLC (BlockFi) with failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product. In this first-of-its-kind action, the SEC also charged BlockFi with violating the registration provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940. To settle the SEC’s charges, BlockFi agreed to pay a $50 million penalty, cease its unregistered offers and sales of the lending product, BlockFi Interest Accounts (BIAs), and attempt to bring its business within the provisions of the Investment Company Act within 60 days. BlockFi’s parent company also announced that it intends to register under the Securities Act of 1933 the offer and sale of a new lending product. In parallel actions announced today, BlockFi agreed to pay an additional $50 million in fines to 32 states to settle similar charges. read more »

Trial of Ex-Goldman Banker Involved in 1MDB Scandal Set to Begin

NEW YORK TIMES

The global scandal over the looting of a big Malaysian infrastructure fund nearly a decade ago — a crime that tarnished the reputation of one of Wall Street’s premier banks — is about to play out once again in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. read more »