Insights

With the appointment of legal scholar Lina Khan as chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency will likely bring antitrust action against Amazon – but how aggressive will it be? Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sirota, a former U.S. federal antitrust prosecutor, shared his thoughts when he sat down with Fast Company.

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Though China Evergrande Group, the heavily indebted Chinese real estate developer, made a US $84 million interest payment to its offshore bondholders just shy of the end of a grace period, the move has not allayed investor anxieties. Kobre & Kim’s Hong Kong-based John Han, who focuses on monetization of Greater China-based distressed debt, spoke to Reuters about what the payment means and how it falls short.

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Though much of English law has developed to adapt to the rise of digital assets, the tort of conversion has not followed, depriving claimants of a tool to recoup losses from third parties. Kobre & Kim’s Andrew Stafford KC and James Chapman-Booth explained the shortfall in an article for New Law Journal. 

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The pandemic has led U.S. federal and state governments to increase telehealth services' accessibility and economic feasibility, including through payment parity. However, the long-term durability of parity remains uncertain, and increased enforcement against telehealth fraud has fueled further uncertainty for providers and patients, Kobre & Kim's Adriana Riviere-Badell and Alexandria Swette wrote in Law360.

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Jonathan Kanter, the nominee to head the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, is set to face his Senate nomination hearing. Kobre & Kim's Benjamin Sirota, a former federal prosecutor in the division, shared his thoughts with CQ Roll Call on Mr. Kanter's potential tenure.

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A typical instance of bribery occurs when an officer of a company bribes an official or politician. But who is the victim here – the company, whose assets were misappropriated, or the state, whose official abused his power? In English common law jurisdictions, the answer decides who receives any recovered assets, as Kobre & Kim’s Andrew Stafford KC and Evelyn Sheehan wrote in an analysis for International Comparative Legal Guides’ “Business Crime 2022.”

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Moody’s estimates that non-performing loans (NPLs) across 14 APAC economies will double by 2022, including in China and India. What opportunities does this present to investors? Kobre & Kim’s John Han, who focuses on distressed debt in Asia Pacific, will discuss during a virtual panel at the 3rd Global NPL Conference at 10:30 am Berlin time / 9:30 am London time / 4:30 pm Hong Kong time, October 5, 2021.

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With the signing of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was able to leave Canada, where she was held pending extradition to the United States. Kobre & Kim’s William McGovern, a former prosecutor focused on government enforcement matters with a nexus to Asia, offered his analysis of the case when he sat down with Foreign Policy.

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Chinese property giant Evergrande Group’s possible default, with its US $300 billion worth of liabilities and missed interest payment on one of its US-dollar bonds on September 23, has shaken global financial markets. Kobre & Kim’s John Han, who focuses on the monetization of distressed debt in Greater China, diagnosed the prospects for offshore investors when he spoke with the Financial Times.

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Despite engaging with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before launching its stablecoin lending platform, Coinbase abandoned the project when faced with the agency’s unexpectedly negative reaction. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter, who represents clients in the cryptocurrency industry against government enforcement actions, offered his thoughts on the case when he sat down with Compliance Week.

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Though cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have soared in popularity, the lack of mature regulation and surge of unsophisticated investors have led to a corresponding rise in fraud. However, as Kobre & Kim’s Timothy de Swardt and Merrick Watson wrote in collaboration with Kalo’s James Drury, there are many tools available, especially in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) where many crypto firms and exchanges are based, that enhance the prospect of recovery.

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A Florida federal judge has sentenced Benjamin Forrest McConley to 13 years in prison for defrauding film and theater investors and producers out of millions of dollars. Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan, who represents one of the victims and whose team brought the case to the U.S. Department of Justice, spoke to the court in comments later quoted in Law360.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) aggressive response to Coinbase’s proposed digital currency lending program has sparked criticism over its use of enforcement, rather than public notice and rulemaking, to engage with the crypto industry, including from Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter when he spoke with Law360.

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