Tag:litigation

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“True Lender” litigation heats up: small business sues marketplace lender and partner bank, alleging conspiracy to evade usury laws
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Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction and life sentence

“True Lender” litigation heats up: small business sues marketplace lender and partner bank, alleging conspiracy to evade usury laws

By David D. Christensen and Jennifer Janeira Nagle

Over the last several years, a number of U.S. state and federal government enforcement actions have challenged the viability of the bank partnership model that many marketplace lenders have used to fund consumer and small business loans.  Specifically, regulators have argued that, in partnerships where the non-bank entity controls much of the funding process or the bank has little-to-no risk of loss, the non-bank entity is the “true lender.”

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Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction and life sentence

By Nicole C. Mueller and Clifford C. Histed

On May 31, 2017 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the conviction and life imprisonment of Ross Ulbricht for drug trafficking and crimes associated with his creation and operation of the online marketplace known as Silk Road.  Among others challenges, Ulbricht argued on appeal that he should have been allowed to introduce evidence regarding former government agents who pled guilty to stealing Bitcoins as they investigated Silk Road and Ulbricht.  The Second Circuit disagreed, finding that while “the shocking personal corruption of these two government agents disgraced the agencies for which they worked,” it had nothing to do with whether Ulbricht operated Silk Road.  The Second Circuit similarly found Ulbricht’s other arguments unavailing, namely that (1) the government’s violated his Fourth Amendment rights through the use of pen registers and trap and trace devices to monitor IP addresses associated with internet traffic to and from Ulbricht’s wireless home router, and the search and seizure of his laptop and Facebook, Google accounts; (2) he was denied a fair trial due to the preclusion of certain testimony and evidence; and (3) it was improper for the court to consider six drug-related deaths relevant to his sentencing.

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