Pierce Leonard

Any risk, any size. That's the job. Funds, fintech, robotics, space, the restaurant down the street. If it's a real business, I'd love to help.

A proof of reserves attestation is not an audit. It shows a snapshot, not controls, and not liabilities. If your board treats that letter as comfort, the gap becomes a disclosure problem. Ask what was actually verified and by whom.

Your D&O application asks if you use AI in material decisions. You say no because a vendor tool does it. That is still your decision and still a misrepresentation. Silent AI is the fastest way to hand a carrier a rescission argument.

Delaware Chancery found two directors a controller added three days before a vote acted in bad faith. In Destiny XYZ it restored a co-founder's 36.5% stake after a reverse split cashed him out. The individual defendants pay his fees. Add directors before a vote, expect questions.

Whoa. A Delaware Chancery suit alleges Groq's directors ran a reverse acqui-hire with Nvidia at about $20B ($17B license + $3B in restricted stock units) without the stockholder vote a merger needs. Allegations only. Structure a deal like a sale, expect sale-level duties.

Testing the waters sounds free. It is not. Anything you say to gauge interest before you file can become a securities claim if the final terms differ. Keep the script, keep the dates, and assume every slide gets read back to you in a deposition.

Check who decides to settle your D&O claim. Many forms let the carrier settle without your consent once the retention is exhausted. A quiet settlement can end the case and your reputation. Ask for a consent clause, then ask what happens when you refuse.

Board minutes are an insurance document. In a derivative suit, the record of what the board reviewed and when decides whether the conduct exclusion bites. Sloppy minutes are free evidence for the plaintiff. Write them like the carrier will read them.

Domestic D&O forms are mostly silent on digital assets. Silence is not coverage. Bermuda forms define the asset, the custody standard, and what triggers a loss. Ask to see the definition page, not the marketing summary.

Fair value accounting now pushes Bitcoin swings straight through earnings. A 30% quarter is not a footnote, it is a reported loss. Expect securities claims to follow the earnings line, and check that your D&O covers disclosure, not just theft.

Carriers are adding a human in the loop condition to AI policies. If your product lets the agent act without review, that condition is breached and the claim is declined. Automation is a coverage decision, not just a product decision.

A vendor used Westlaw headnotes to write ROSS Intelligence's AI training memos. On Sept 29 the Third Circuit held ROSS's use of 2,243 headnotes was not fair use. ROSS did not contest that the vendor's copying was attributable to it. Ask your data vendor where its data came from.

Whoa. The SEC says BG Wealth Sharing and DSJ Exchange showed investors false SEC filings, including a Form D, as proof the SEC had approved them. A Form D is a notice, not an approval, the complaint says. It alleges $130M+ raised. If you file one, never write "SEC approved."

Reg A+ Tier 1 caps you at $20M and still sends you through state blue sky review, one state at a time. Tier 2 caps at $75M and preempts that review. Founders pick Tier 2 for the bigger cap and miss the bigger reason.

Two lawsuits, one from investors and one from the board, can count as one claim if they share a common fact pattern. That is the interrelated wrongful acts clause. One limit, one retention, not two. Read that definition before you assume you have two shots.

The insurance industry's AI problem is not underwriting. It is that nobody can explain a declination to a founder in plain English. The first broker who does that owns the AI startup market.