Let's start with Luke Barefoot, Andrew Weaver and their team at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton who helped bankruptcy crypto lender Genesis Global Capital fend off claims for shares of a cryptocurrency trust that are now worth more than $1.2 billion. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane in White Plains, New York last week denied a request from Genesis's former business partner, crypto exchange Gemini Trust, for a security interest in 31,180,804 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Gemini claimed Genesis pledged, but never transferred, those shares to Gemini. The judge found that since the underlying shares had never been transferred, Gemini had no security interest in them under the applicable agreement. The Cleary team also included partners Sean O'Neal, Brandon Hammer, senior attorney David Schwartz, associates Jack Massey, Thomas Lynch, Katharine Ross, Alec Mitchell, Madeline Hundley, Adrian Gariboldi, international lawyer Marina Coelho Reverendo Vidal, and law clerks Madeline Finnegan and Rodnika Carter.  

A Latham & Watkins team representing multinational telecom company Telefónica also secured runners-up honors this week by getting a summary judgment win in a busted deal suit against Millicom International Cellular. Millicom agreed to purchase Telefónica's Costa Rican subsidiary in 2019, but backed out of the deal after the onset of the global pandemic. Millicom initially cited the move as a "business decision" to investors, but later stated that the deal hadn't received a required "endorsement" from Costa Rica's Comptroller by a required deadline. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok this week found "that Millicom's litigation position that an endorsement of this transaction is a closing condition of this transaction is just that—a litigation position." The judge found Telefónica was deprived of the use of the full $623 million final purchase price and was owed about $140 million. The Latham team representing Telefónica included Blair Connelly, Zachary Rowen, Corey Calabrese, Ryan Jones, Katie Garcia and Molly Babad.