An appeals court in Louisiana has ruled that Nasdaq can’t require diversity on the boards of companies that list on the exchange.

The decision comes more than three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s proposal to boost the number of women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people on U.S. corporate boards.

The proposed policy — which was to be the first of its kind for a U.S. securities exchange — would have required most of the nearly 3,000 companies listed on Nasdaq to have at least one woman on their board of directors, along with one person from a racial minority or who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer. It also would have required companies to publicly disclose statistics on the demographic composition of their boards.

Some conservative groups and Republican lawmakers have strenuously opposed the proposal, arguing the requirements were arbitrary and burdensome. And on Wednesday the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided that the proposal was not legal.

The court said in its ruling that the SEC should not have approved Nasdaq’s proposed diversity policy.

“It is not unethical for a company to decline to disclose information about the racial, gender, and LGTBQ+ characteristics of its directors,” the ruling stated. “We are not aware of any established rule or custom of the securities trade that saddles companies with an obligation to explain why their boards of directors do not have as much racial, gender, or sexual orientation diversity as Nasdaq would prefer.”

Nasdaq stands by its proposed policy.

“We maintain that the rule simplified and standardized disclosure requirements to the benefit of both corporates and investors,” Nasdaq said in a statement. “That said, we respect the Court’s decision and do not intend to seek further review.”

The Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange is dominated by technology companies, like Apple and Microsoft, but there are many financial, biotech and industrial companies as well.  The SEC also weighed in.

“We’re reviewing the decision and will determine next steps as appropriate,” an SEC spokesperson said in a statement.

The court ruling comes at a time when many companies are taking a closer look at their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In October a group of Democrats in Congress appealed to the largest U.S. companies to hold onto their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying such efforts give everyone a fair chance at achieving the American dream.

The 49 House members, led by U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, shared their views in a letter emailed to the leaders of the Fortune 1000. The move followed several major corporations saying in recent months that they would end or curtail their DEI initiatives.

A handful of U.S. companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Lowes and Molson Coors, dialed back their DEI initiatives over the summer. The retreats came in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing affirmative action in college admissions and after conservative activists targeted prominent American brands over their diversity policies and programs.

Caroline Ellison, a former top executive in Sam Bankman-Fried ’s fallen FTX cryptocurrency empire, faces the possibility of years in prison when she is sentenced Tuesday for fraud, but prosecutors said she deserves leniency for her “extraordinary cooperation” as they investigated the company.

Ellison, 29, pleaded guilty nearly two years ago and testified against Bankman-Fried for nearly three days at a trial last November.

In a court filing, prosecutors said said her testimony was the “cornerstone of the trial” against Bankman-Fried, 32, who was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Asking the court for a lighter sentence, Ellison’s own lawyers cited both her testimony at the trial and the trauma of her off-and-on romantic relationship with Bankman-Fried — though they also stressed that she wasn’t trying to evade responsibility for her crimes.

“Caroline blames no one but herself for what she did,” her lawyers wrote in a court filing. “She regrets her role deeply and will carry shame and remorse to her grave.”

FTX was one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, known for its Superbowl TV ad and its extensive lobbying campaign in Washington, before it collapsed in 2022.

U.S. prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried and other top executives of looting customer accounts on the exchange to make risky investments, make millions of dollars of illegal political donations, bribe Chinese officials and buy luxury real estate in the Caribbean.

Ellison was chief executive at Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund controlled by Bankman-Fried that was used to process some customer funds from FTX.

Her work relationship with Bankman-Fried was complicated by her romantic feelings for him, her lawyers wrote in a court filing.

“From the start, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s behavior was erratic and manipulative. He initially professed strong feelings for Caroline and suggested their liaison would develop into a full relationship. But after a few weeks, he would ‘ghost’ Caroline without explanation, avoiding her outside of work and refusing to respond to messages that were not work-related,” her lawyers said.

As the business began to faulter, Ellison divulged the massive fraud to employees who worked for her even before FTX filed for bankruptcy, her lawyers wrote.

Ultimately, she also spoke extensively with U.S. investigators.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of a major tool in fighting securities fraud in a decision that also could have far-reaching effects on other regulatory agencies.

The justices ruled in a 6-3 vote that people accused of fraud by the SEC, which regulates securities markets, have the right to a jury trial in federal court. The in-house proceedings the SEC has used in some civil fraud complaints, including against Houston hedge fund manager George Jarkesy, violate the Constitution, the court said.

“A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s conservative majority.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read from her dissent in the courtroom, said that “litigants who seek to dismantle the administrative state” would rejoice in the decision.

Federal agencies that oversee safety in mines and other workplaces are among many that can only impose civil penalties in in-house, administrative proceedings, Sotomayor wrote, joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.

“For those and countless other agencies, all the majority can say is tough luck; get a new statute from Congress,” she wrote.

The case is among several this term in which conservative and business interests are urging the nine-member court to constrict federal regulators. The court’s six conservatives already have done so, including in a decision last year that sharply limited environmental regulators’ ability to police water pollution in wetlands.

Still awaiting decision are cases calling on the court to overturn the 40-year-old ruling colloquially known as Chevron, which has made it easier to sustain regulation of the environment, public, health, worker safety and consumer protection. Some of the same parties that supported Jarkesy at the Supreme Court are calling for Chevron to be overturned.

The SEC was awarded more than $5 billion in civil penalties in the 2023 government spending year that ended Sept. 30, the agency said in a news release. It was unclear how much of that money came through in-house proceedings or lawsuits in federal court.

The agency had already reduced the number of cases it brings in administrative proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s resolution of the case.

The high court rejected arguments advanced by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration that relied on a 50-year-old decision in which the court ruled that in-house proceedings did not violate the Constitution’s right to a jury trial in civil lawsuits.

The justices ruled in favor of Jarkesy after the SEC appealed a decision in which the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out stiff financial penalties against Jarkesy and his Patriot28 investment adviser.

The appeals court found that the SEC’s case against Jarkesy, resulting in a $300,000 civil fine and the repayment of $680,000 in allegedly ill-gotten gains, should have been heard in a federal court instead of before one of the SEC’s administrative law judges.

Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.

Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months ago, Bankman-Fried testified that his intention had been to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not to steal.

Kaplan said the sentence reflected “that there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.” He added that it was “for the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time.”

Prior to sentencing, Bankman-Fried had said, “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”

Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried had cost customers, investors and lenders over $10 billion by misappropriating billions of dollars to fuel his quest for influence and dominance in the new industry, and had illegally used money from FTX depositors to cover his expenses, which included purchasing luxury properties in the Caribbean, alleged bribes to Chinese officials and private planes.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Tuesday to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his cryptocurrency trading platform.

Bankman-Fried, 30, is accused of illegally diverting massive sums of customer money from FTX to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm.

Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, announced his client’s plea, saying: “He pleads not guilty to all counts.”

Wearing a backpack, Bankman-Fried marched through a crush of cameras as he entered the courthouse on a rainy day to make his first appearance before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. Besides taking a plea during the arraignment, Kaplan was expected to discuss with lawyers a schedule for proceeding toward a trial.

Prior to his appearance, his lawyers sent a letter to the judge, saying Bankman-Fried’s parents in recent weeks have become the target of “intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats, including communications expressing a desire that they suffer physical harm.”

As a result, the lawyers requested that the names be redacted on court documents for the two individuals who were lined up to sign Bankman-Fried’s $250 million personal recognizance bond. Bankman-Fried was released with electronic monitoring about two weeks ago on the condition that he await trial at his parents’ house in Palo Alto, California.

Carolyn Ellison, 28, who ran Alameda, and Gary Wang, 29, who co-founded FTX, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with prosecutors in a bid for leniency. Both are free on bail.

Their pleas were kept secret until Bankman-Fried was in the air after his extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX is based, due to fears that he might flee.

Shortly before Bankman-Fried’s arraignment, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced that he was launching a task force made up of senior prosecutors in his office to investigate and prosecute matters related to the FTX collapse. He said the task force also will work to trace and recover victim assets.

“The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the implosion of FTX,” Williams said in a press release. “It is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We are launching the SDNY FTX Task Force to ensure that this urgent work continues, powered by all of SDNY’s resources and expertise, until justice is done.”

GameStop’s stock is back to the races Friday, and the overall U.S. market is down again, as the saga that’s captivated and confused Wall Street ramps up the drama.

GameStop shot up more than 70% in midday trading, clawing back most of its steep loss from the day before, after Robinhood said it will allow customers to start buying some of the stock again. GameStop has been on a stupefying 1,900% run over the last three weeks and has become the battleground where swarms of smaller investors see themselves making an epic stand against the 1%.

The assault is directed squarely at hedge funds and other Wall Street titans that had bet the struggling video game retailer’s stock would fall. A couple have already essentially admitted defeat, with one saying Friday it would stop publishing reports on stocks it expects to fall. The army of smaller and novice investors, meanwhile, is pledging to keep up the momentum for GameStop’s stock in hopes of inflicting more pain on the financial elite.

The moves are reverberating across Wall Street, as concerns rise about how much damage the frenzy could do as its effects spill out into the broader market. The big professional investors who had been banking on a drop for GameStop’s stock are taking sharp losses. Investors say that’s pushing them to sell other stocks they own to raise cash, and that is helping to pull down parts of the market completely unrelated to the revolt by Main Street investors.

One of Apple's former top lawyers is facing accusations of brazenly breaking the company's insider trading rules that he helped draft, while profiting from stock sales and investments made after he received confidential information about Apple's finances.

The allegations against Gene Levoff emerged in criminal and civil complaints filed Wednesday in a New Jersey federal court by the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Levoff, 45, realized gains and avoided losses totaling more than $600,000 in illegal trades made periodically from 2011 to 2016, based on estimates provided in the documents.

Before Apple fired him last September, Levoff held various roles in Apple's corporate law department starting in 2008. Apple promoted him to senior director of corporate law in 2013 overseeing as many as 30 attorneys. He also had responsibility for drawing up company policies designed to prevent employees from violating federal laws that prohibit stock market trading based on privileged information.

Levoff's alleged misconduct "was particularly egregious given his responsibility for implementing the company's insider trading compliance policy," said Antonia Chion, associate director for the SEC's enforcement division.

Kevin Marino, the attorney representing Levoff in the proceedings, said he is looking forward to fighting the allegations.

If he is convicted in the criminal case, Levoff faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years and a $5 million fine.

Levoff broke the law repeatedly, the complaints allege, by leveraging his position on a special committee that reviewed key numbers contained in Apple's quarterly earnings reports before the results were publicly announced.

His most brash move came in July 2015 when Apple was preparing to release its results for the April-June period of that year. As part of Apple's disclosure committee, Levoff received a July 10 preview showing that the company's sales of iPhones for the quarter had missed the targets set by Wall Street analysts — a shortfall that typically causes Apple's stock to fall.

Levoff then sold nearly all of his Apple holdings — more than 70,000 shares worth about $10 million at the time — four days before the company released the results, according to the complaints. The day after those numbers came out, Apple's stock fell by 4 percent. That downturn lumped Apple's shareholders with collective losses of $32 billion on paper, but Levoff avoided about $345,000 in losses by selling shortly before the announcement, the government alleged.