In the News

Lucia ends eight-year battle with the SEC
Lucia refused “to bow to an agency with unlimited resources unwilling to admit that its prosecution efforts had become wholly disproportionate to the alleged infraction.” Read the full article

After almost a decade of fighting, the SEC and Ray Lucia finally settle
After eight years of litigation, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week said it had reached a settlement with veteran financial adviser Raymond Lucia, who rose to national prominence on his radio show and...

Radio host Ray Lucia settles with SEC but war over ALJ removals wears on
After eight years of litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the appointment process for SEC administrative law judges, the onetime “Buckets of Money” radio host Raymond Lucia has reached a...

Former Obama Official Challenges FSI’s ‘Regulation by Enforcement’ Argument
Phyllis Borzi, the former assistant secretary of Labor in the Obama administration, criticized some financial services advocacy organizations, including the Financial Services Institute (FSI), for a recent petition arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s...

New Civil Liberties Alliance warns Marco Island about use of fixed license plate readers
New Civil Liberties Alliance, the civil rights organization and law firm suing the city of Coral Gables over its use of license plate readers, has taken aim at the city of Marco Island over its plans to put readers on the S.S. Jolley and Goodland bridges. In a letter...

‘Buckets of Money’ Advisor Settles With SEC After Long Legal Battle
After a 10-year battle including a Supreme Court case in which he prevailed over the Securities and Exchange Commission, former RIA Raymond Lucia Sr. and his former advisory firm, Raymond J. Lucia Cos., agreed Tuesday to settle charges related to the marketing of...

Interview with attorney Jared McClain: SBA Unlawfully Denies Much-Needed PPP Loans

After Winning Supreme Court Battle, Adviser Settles With SEC
A former investment adviser who successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that the administrative law judge in his U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proceedings was appointed unconstitutionally has agreed to pay $25,000 to settle his case with the SEC,...

Interview With Attorney Jared Mcclain on The Lars Larson Show: The Case Against SBA

PPP wrongly denied to business owners with felonious past, lawsuit charges
Mark Weissman was filling out his federal Paycheck Protection Program application when he was asked if he has a criminal history. The answer was yes, which automatically disqualified his real estate business in Cedarhurst on Long Island. “It was another punch in the...

SBA Sued Over Criminal History Bar For Biz Relief Loans
A Maryland business owner is suing to force the Small Business Administration to open the Paycheck Protection Program to borrowers with a criminal past, claiming the agency can't pick and choose "who is and is not morally worthy" of aid from the coronavirus relief...

Store Owner on Parole Challenges Policy Barring Him From PPP Loan
A Maryland storeowner sued the Small Business Administration, alleging the agency exceeded its statutory authority when it decided to limit the availability of pandemic relief loans to business owners with a criminal record. The lawsuit was filed by the New Civil...

Criminal record shouldn’t bar small businesses from COVID-19 payroll loans, suit says
Small business owners with a criminal record aren't eligible to receive certain government aid under the coronavirus relief bill designed to help keep stores afloat while the pandemic drags on. The owner of a corner store in Maryland is looking to change that....

Lawsuit challenges criminal history bar on emergency COVID-19 loans
A Maryland convenience store owner has filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Small Business Administration’s prohibition of businesses owned by people with criminal histories from applying for emergency loans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit that Altimont...

NY Collection Law Firm Calls For Merging Dueling CFPB Suits
A New York debt collection law firm battling a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigation said Tuesday it wants to consolidate and pause their dueling court fights, telling a federal judge that the cases overlap too much to proceed separately and should wait...

Massachusetts Governor Declines Comment on Lawsuit Claiming He Has Overreached During Coronavirus Emergency
Governor Charlie Baker declined to comment today on a lawsuit claiming he has exceeded his authority under Massachusetts law by ordering the coronavirus emergency shutdowns. “Normally, we don’t really speak to lawsuits when they’re in process. Obviously, we’re aware...

N.J. landlord sues Murphy to stop order allowing tenants to pay rent with security deposits
A New Jersey landlord is challenging Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order allowing tenants to use their security deposits to pay their rent during the coronavirus crisis. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Matthew Johnson claims the governor’s order violates his...

Legal action needed to save Mass. from elitist leaders
Massachusetts has come to the point that legal action is needed, not to save itself from the coronavirus, but from power hungry politicians. Massachusetts and the rest of the country are fortunate to see all health trends pointing in the right direction. The curve is...

Business Owners To Governor: You Can’t Do This, It’s Not Legal
Restaurant owners, hair salon owners, pastors, and a Christian school are asking a state court to overturn Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s executive orders that seriously limit what they can do during the coronavirus emergency. The plaintiffs, whose lawyers...

Governor Baker sued by group over COVID-19 response
A group has sued Governor Baker over what they say is unjustified “draconian, “one-size-fits-all” measures across the Commonwealth” concerning his COVID-19 response involving businesses. Monday, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, based out of Washington D.C., filed a...

Massachusetts Businesses File Suit To Lift Pandemic Restrictions
Almost 10 weeks after Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker shuttered non-essential businesses and organizations in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, a group of business owners, pastors, and private school leaders have filed suit to lift the restrictions,...

10th Circuit Upholds Trump Administration’s Bump-Stock Ban
A 10th Circuit panel on Thursday upheld the federal government’s ban on bump stock accessories for guns, striking down a Salt Lake City resident’s challenge to the federal ban on the device that allows semiautomatic guns to fire ammunition at the same speed as...

Trump’s Bump Stock Ban Withstands Appeals Court Challenge
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday ruled against a Utah gun rights advocate who challenged the Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks, the gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns. A three judge panel from the 10th Circuit Court of...

Trump’s Bump Stock Ban Withstands Appeals Court Challenge
The Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks, devices that increase the rate of fire of semiautomatic firearms, is likely lawful, a divided Tenth Circuit held Thursday, rejecting a request to temporarily lift the ban. Federal regulators properly interpreted a machine...

So You Made A Joke On Twitter And Now It’s A Federal Case
On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, host Ben Domenech is joined by Mark Chenoweth and Adi Dynar, his lawyers at New Civil Liberties Alliance. In 2019, after employees at Vox Media Inc. staged a walkout demanding a new collective bargaining agreement,...