Key takeaways
- Federal prosecutors in Manhattan will focus less on crypto-related crimes after major convictions.
- Scott Hartman announced less attention to crypto cases from the Southern District of New York.
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Federal prosecutors in Manhattan will reduce their focus on crypto-related crimes after several major convictions, a senior prosecutor told Reuters today.
Scott Hartman, co-leader of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Securities and Commodities Task Force, made the statement a day after former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton was appointed U.S. District Attorney.
“You won’t see as much crypto stuff coming out of at least the SDNY in the future,” Hartman said at a Practicing Law Institute conference in New York.
The office will maintain oversight of crypto cases, but has reduced the number of prosecutors handling these cases compared to the crypto market collapse period in 2022.
“We’ve raised a lot of significant cases as a result of the crypto winter – there have been many significant fraud cases to bring to it – but we know our regulatory partners are very active in this space,” Hartman said, referring to the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Clayton, who led the SEC from 2017 to 2021 under President Trump, pursued some crypto-related enforcement actions but took a less aggressive approach to industry oversight than the current SEC chairman , Gary Gensler.
Donald Trump announced a pro-crypto platform, aiming to establish a national Bitcoin reserve and oppose central bank digital currencies in order to position the United States as a global crypto leader.
In May, the SEC signaled a potential shift in crypto regulation by approving Ethereum spot ETFs, influenced by political pressures and crypto lobbying.
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