By Luc Cohen and Chris Prentice
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Less enforcement in the cryptocurrency sector is on the horizon, as Republican President-elect Donald Trump prepares to reset policy at the Justice Department and regulatory agencies, current and former senior government lawyers said on Friday.
Speaking at a conference in New York, the lawyers said financial fraud cases would still be brought, but that the new administration's Justice Department would prioritize other areas such as enforcing immigration laws - a major focus of Trump's campaign.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan will devote fewer resources to policing cryptocurrency crimes after securing several major convictions, including that of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, said Scott Hartman, the co-chief of the office's securities and commodities task force.
Hartman told the conference hosted by the Practising Law Institute that the office would not ignore crypto cases, but has fewer prosecutors working on them than when digital asset prices collapsed in 2022, a period known as "crypto winter."
"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," Hartman said. "But we know our regulatory partners are very active in this space, and we don't have a lot of people."
Hartman gave his assessment one day after Trump said he would nominate former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Jay Clayton to become the new U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
Clayton led the SEC during Trump's first term as president from 2017 to 2021. He would replace Damian Williams, an appointee of President Joe Biden, as U.S. attorney.
While at the SEC, Clayton pursued some crypto-related cases, but was less aggressive at policing the industry, which was smaller at the time, than current SEC chair Gary Gensler.
Gensler has targeted large crypto firms for failing to register with the agency and is still embroiled in litigation with some of them, including Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance.
Trump has not yet proposed an SEC chair but has said he will fire Gensler. It is unclear whether those cases will continue in his administration.
Many cryptocurrency executives supported Trump's campaign, believing Gensler's crackdown went too far.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a regulator with roots overseeing agricultural markets, brought its first crypto-related case in 2015. By last year, digital assets had grown to occupy nearly half its docket, CFTC enforcement director Ian McGinley told the PLI conference.
"I don't know if that trend will necessarily continue," McGinley said. "To the extent there's fraud and manipulation in those markets, we'll continue to be active."
PIVOT TO IMMIGRATION
Beyond cryptocurrency cases, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan is known for bringing high-profile financial crime cases against traditional Wall Street firms and executives, as well as corruption cases against prominent politicians.
Steve Peikin, who led SEC enforcement under Clayton, praised Clayton as a "great choice" to lead the office, but said the Justice Department's overall priorities may change.
"There could be a reallocation of substantial resources to immigration enforcement," said Peikin, now a partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. "I would be surprised if that doesn't happen."
Hartman acknowledged the president had the right to set priorities, but said his unit's work cracking down on financial fraud was nonpartisan.
"I don't have a ton of people right now," Hartman said, noting there are 16 prosecutors in the securities and commodities unit. "I hope they don't trim it more."