Manhattan US Attorney’s Office to Reduce Pursuit of Crypto Cases

The Manhattan US Attorney’s Office plans to reduce its pursuit of crypto cases and devote fewer resources to policing crypto crimes, prosecutors said Friday. This comes after the office succeeded in multiple recent crypto cases, including against Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.

Manhattan US Attorney’s Office Will Lighten Up On Crypto Cases

Scott Hartman, co-chief of the securities and commodities task force at the Southern District of New York, spoke Friday about the office’s future efforts in crypto cases. Hartman said the office would not ignore crypto cases but has fewer prosecutors working on them than in recent years. This assessment comes just one day after new president-elect Donald Trump nominated former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton to become the next US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“You won’t see as much crypto stuff coming out of at least the SDNY in the future,” Hartman said at a conference hosted by the Practising Law Institute. “We brought a lot of big cases in the wake of the crypto winter – there were a lot of important fraud cases to bring there – but we know our regulatory partners are very active in this space,” Hartman added.

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Trump’s newest elect as US attorney is highly favored by the former and upcoming president. “Jay [Clayton] is a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social. Clayton led the SEC during Trump’s first term as president from 2017 to 2021. While at the SEC, he pursued some crypto-related cases but was less aggressive at policing the industry. He was far less aggressive in attacking crypto cases than current SEC chair Gary Gensler. The crypto community is currently waiting to see if Gensler will resign as SEC chair.

With Clayton as attorney for the Manhattan District of New York, many crypto firms currently entrapped in scandals could expect less-harsher cases. With the pursuit of crypto crimes lessening in NY, it opens the door for more free reign for crypto platforms.