In a partial win for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday upheld key aspects of the agency’s rules on cross-border swaps. The legal challenge was spearheaded by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Eugene Scalia, who’s built an impressive record challenging government regulations on behalf of Wall Street.
In a 95-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman rejected arguments by banking industry trade groups that the CFTC exceeded its authority by imposing new regulations, known as the Title VII Rules, on participants in the global swaps market. Friedman also signed off on the so-called cross-border guidance—a controversial July 2013 document in which the CFTC gave the Title VII Rules extraterritorial effect.
