"This is all about the FTC trying to crater this deal," counsel for GTCR-BC says in opposing the FTC's request for an extension of temporary hold on the deal

The antitrust agencies typically withdraw their deal challenge if a federal court doesn't grant the preliminary injunction they are seeking. During the Biden admin, the FTC sometimes appealed the PI loss, as in the MSFT/Activision case.

THE ANCHOR A satirical comedy song about the state of the media.

A US District Judge in Chicago has just denied the @FTC's request to block the merger of medical device companies GTCR-BC Holdings and Surmodics on antitrust grounds. The FTC is suggesting to the court it may appeal.

https://t.co/F3gVez2E76

Dismissed: the DOJ's long-running criminal case against Boeing tied to the 737 MAX crashes in 2018/19. DOJ moved this year to drop the case after earlier insisting on a guilty plea during the Biden administration.

Voting-tech company @smartmatic has become the rare company indicted over foreign-corruption claims, after the Trump admin paused bribery enforcement earlier this year

The SEC's battles with @elonmusk continue. @SECGov has moved for summary judgment in its lawsuit against Must over his delayed disclosure of buying up Twitter shares in 2022. Elon has asked the court to dismiss the case even though the rule is strict liability.

New from me and with exclusive details on the HPE/JNPR settlement: MAGA-aligned lawyers and lobbyists are being hired to influence the outcome of DOJ antitrust investigations and lawsuits. With @AnnieLinskey — https://t.co/H6I9Zmwnfr

Our story on the ouster of two of most senior antitrust officials at @TheJusticeDept. They were fired yesterday after disagreement in recent weeks over terms of a settlement that sources say staff in @AGPamBondi’s office supported and pushed thru.

Realized this morning that I’d lost track of status of things at the CFPB, so asked ChatGPT (app, free version) to inform me. It kept mixing up first Trump admin with second, then finally told me there hasn’t been a second Trump administration. 👀

Scams involving shares of obscure, mostly Nasdaq-listed Chinese companies have proliferated in recent years, harming thousands of small US investors. Now the @TheJusticeDept is involved in fighting the alleged fraud:

Access journalist

VCs so eager to throw money at the next AI thing they can't sniff out a guy who claims to automate the retail check out process, but instead "relies heavily on teams of human workers...to manually process transactions" ?

The Justice Department is scaling back how it polices crypto companies. The policy outlines a new approach to AML enforcement that seems to leave little room for the criminal case against Roman Storm

I’m told the monitorships (there were two) were actually slated to end in 15 months. So the relief is even more significant.

.@TheJusticeDept released @Glencore early from a compliance monitorship that was to end in May. Glencore pleaded guilty in 2022 to violations of the FCPA and market manipulation. Our story on it:

We're reporting that the @TheJusticeDept opened an antitrust investigation into the cause of soaring egg prices. The industry says supply shortage/price spike are solely due to the bird flu outbreak.

A great story by my colleagues @WSJmarkets about the rise and fall (pump/dump) of the $Libra "memecoin." @SECgov says memecoins aren't securities, but when people lose money to these things, they turn to the SEC

The @SECgov has filed for a stay in SDNY in its suit against Justin Sun and Tron, saying the 2 sides need time to discuss a "potential resolution." Unlike other crypto matters dropped so far, this involves fraud and manipulation claims.

I reported out Atkins's work as an expert witness, including his opinions on the case that @SECGov filed against @ATT in 2021 over alleged leaks to Wall Street analysts. Spoiler: Atkins argued the case was unwarranted, and the SEC lawyers tried to have him stricken as an expert