On May 8, 2025, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (“CSBS”) asked the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”)  to comply with Executive Orders 14129 and 14267 by reversing its regulations governing national bank preemption.[1] Executive Order 14129 directed federal agencies to rescind unlawful regulations,[2] and Executive Order 14267 directed federal agencies to reduce anti-competitive regulatory barriers.[3] If the OCC had adopted the position advocated by the CSBS, it could have opened the door to state-level oversight of national banks and federal savings associations, likely resulting in a more fragmented regulatory landscape, where national banks face varying rules across different states. But the OCC refused to change course. The federal government has recently pursued deregulatory policies on multiple fronts, and the OCC’s position on preemption effectively limits state banking regulators that might otherwise seek to apply stricter regulatory requirements on national banks and federal savings associations.

Last month, the New York Supreme Court issued a well-reasoned order denying the Archdiocese’s insurers’[1] motion to dismiss its claim against them for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, holding that the policyholder’s complaint sufficiently alleged its Insurers claim handling conduct amounted to bad faith.[2]  The Order is part of a new trend in New York that allows bad-faith claims to proceed when styled as claims for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, where the conduct supporting the alleged bad-faith claim is independent of the alleged conduct giving rise to a breach of contract claim, and the policyholder sufficiently alleges damages arising from the bad-faith conduct. 

On May 20, 2025, the Senate cleared procedural obstacles to consider the GENIUS Act on the Senate floor. Originally introduced on Feb. 4, by Senator Bill Hagerty, R-TN, along with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-SC, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and Cynthia Lummis, R-WY, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025…

In a pro-policyholder ruling, the North Carolina Supreme Court recently held that a homeowner’s claims against an insurance agent for negligence and gross negligence, seeking punitive damages, survived a motion to dismiss based on the insurance agency’s course of dealing with the homeowner. The decision, Jones v. J. Kim Hatcher Insurance Agencies, Inc., et al., is a win for policyholders and demonstrates how the North Carolina Supreme Court is willing to balance the normal expectation that a person must read what he signs with an insurance agency’s role in inducing the policyholder to do otherwise.

In a recent speech, Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Examinations (Exams) Keith Cassidy reminded SEC registrants of the new requirements imposed by the amendments to Regulation S-P. He noted that the dates for compliance are approaching and provided information about how Exams intends to proceed. The bottom line on compliance preparedness is that…

On May 12, 2025, the United States Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division released a major policy memorandum outlining its enforcement priorities for the upcoming year. Unsurprisingly, the number one priority for the Division was investigating and prosecuting white-collar crimes related to waste, fraud, and abuse—and particularly healthcare fraud. This emphasis on prosecuting healthcare fraud reflects the current administration’s broader goals of eliminating waste in federal programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and effectively.

On May 22, 2025, the Supreme Court published its opinion in Kousisis v. United States, No. 23-909, 605 U.S. __ (2025), holding that one who induces a victim to enter into a transaction under materially false pretenses may be convicted of federal fraud even without the intent to cause the victim economic loss. In a unanimous decision, the Court upheld the validity of federal fraud convictions when the defendants delivered the full economic value of the deal. This breaks a trend of recent Supreme Court decisions that have more generally limited the government’s ability to prosecute fraud and corruption cases.

On May 6, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a plan to expand its use of unannounced inspections of foreign manufacturing facilities that produce foods, essential medicines and other medical products intended for American consumers and patients. The FDA stated that this new inspection strategy will ensure that foreign manufacturers receive the…

On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General announced its new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which aims to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to investigate and pursue claims against entities that tolerate antisemitism, allow men to enter women’s spaces or compete in female athletic competitions, or engage in unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

There has been much speculation that States will fill the void created by the Trump Administration’s drastic scaling back of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Congress authorized both state attorneys general and state regulators (like New York’s Department of Financial Services and California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation) to enforce the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), except against national banks and federal savings associations.[1] Under that authority, States may enforce the CFPA’s prohibition on engaging in UDAAPs,[2] and they may also have authority to enforce the CFPA’s separate prohibition on violating “Federal consumer financial law,” a term that the statute defines to include “the enumerated consumer laws”: TILA, FCRA, the FDCPA, EFTA, RESPA, and others.[3]