America's Justice Department Shuts Down Its Cryptocurrency Fraud Unit (usatoday.com) 44
America's Justice Department "has shut down its unit that investigates cryptocurrency fraud," reports USA Today.
A Monday night memo from U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the shut down was "effective immediately." Blanche directed the closure of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and ordered prosecutors to pivot to investigating transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups that use crypto to engage in illicit transactions... In his four-page memo, Blanche said the new order was meant to bring the Justice Department in line with Trump's own Executive Order 14178, which decreed that clarity and certainty regarding enforcement policy "are essential to supporting a vibrant and inclusive digital economy and innovation in digital assets." Blanche, one of several Trump criminal defense lawyers at the top ranks of DOJ, said the president "has also made clear that '[w]e are going to end the regulatory weaponization against digital assets'..."
Consistent with that narrowing of its cryptocurrency enforcement policy, the DOJ Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit will also cease cryptocurrency enforcement to focus on other administration priorities, including immigration and procurement fraud, Blanche said.
The Washington Post got this assessment from Yesha Yadav, a Vanderbilt University law professor who closely follows cryptocurrency and financial markets. "It's hard to underestimate the importance this task force has had ... in pursuing some really huge crypto hacks and cases."
More from USA Today: Public corruption and transnational crime experts warned that shutting down the unit could divert critical resources from efforts to stop criminals and corrupt regimes from using cryptocurrency for illicit gain, even as Trump claims he wants to crack down on them. "Dangerous US adversaries rely on cryptocurrencies to launder money and evade sanctions," said Nate Sibley, an anti-corruption expert and director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., in a post on X. "If this is accurate, hard to see how it squares with — for example-cracking down on cartel finances or maximum pressure sanctions on Iran...."
Trump's so-called "memecoin" surged from less than $10 on the Saturday before his inauguration to as high as $74.59 before eventually giving up some of its gains. The token, branded $TRUMP, has been criticized by ethics experts as a conflict of interest for the president since the company could likely benefit from his pro-crypto policies...
Last month, Trump signed an order to create a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, signaling new federal support for cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular.
Since the first-ever White House crypto summit in March, America's Securities and Exchange Commission "has dropped more than a dozen cases against crypto firms," notes the Washington Post: Last month, both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency pledged to stop evaluating banks based on "reputational risk" — a practice that some venture capitalists have claimed unfairly "de-banked" founders of cryptocurrency start-ups.
In other news, executives from cryptocurrency exchange Binance "met with Treasury Department officials last month," reports the Wall Street Journal, asking them to remove a U.S. monitor overseeing their compliance with anti-money-laundering laws, according to people familiar with the talks.
The article adds that Binance is also concurrently "exploring" a deal with the Trump family to list its new dollar-pegged stablecoin which "could catapult it into a huge market and potentially bring in billions in profit for the family. "
A Monday night memo from U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the shut down was "effective immediately." Blanche directed the closure of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and ordered prosecutors to pivot to investigating transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups that use crypto to engage in illicit transactions... In his four-page memo, Blanche said the new order was meant to bring the Justice Department in line with Trump's own Executive Order 14178, which decreed that clarity and certainty regarding enforcement policy "are essential to supporting a vibrant and inclusive digital economy and innovation in digital assets." Blanche, one of several Trump criminal defense lawyers at the top ranks of DOJ, said the president "has also made clear that '[w]e are going to end the regulatory weaponization against digital assets'..."
Consistent with that narrowing of its cryptocurrency enforcement policy, the DOJ Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit will also cease cryptocurrency enforcement to focus on other administration priorities, including immigration and procurement fraud, Blanche said.
The Washington Post got this assessment from Yesha Yadav, a Vanderbilt University law professor who closely follows cryptocurrency and financial markets. "It's hard to underestimate the importance this task force has had ... in pursuing some really huge crypto hacks and cases."
More from USA Today: Public corruption and transnational crime experts warned that shutting down the unit could divert critical resources from efforts to stop criminals and corrupt regimes from using cryptocurrency for illicit gain, even as Trump claims he wants to crack down on them. "Dangerous US adversaries rely on cryptocurrencies to launder money and evade sanctions," said Nate Sibley, an anti-corruption expert and director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., in a post on X. "If this is accurate, hard to see how it squares with — for example-cracking down on cartel finances or maximum pressure sanctions on Iran...."
Trump's so-called "memecoin" surged from less than $10 on the Saturday before his inauguration to as high as $74.59 before eventually giving up some of its gains. The token, branded $TRUMP, has been criticized by ethics experts as a conflict of interest for the president since the company could likely benefit from his pro-crypto policies...
Last month, Trump signed an order to create a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, signaling new federal support for cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular.
Since the first-ever White House crypto summit in March, America's Securities and Exchange Commission "has dropped more than a dozen cases against crypto firms," notes the Washington Post: Last month, both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency pledged to stop evaluating banks based on "reputational risk" — a practice that some venture capitalists have claimed unfairly "de-banked" founders of cryptocurrency start-ups.
In other news, executives from cryptocurrency exchange Binance "met with Treasury Department officials last month," reports the Wall Street Journal, asking them to remove a U.S. monitor overseeing their compliance with anti-money-laundering laws, according to people familiar with the talks.
The article adds that Binance is also concurrently "exploring" a deal with the Trump family to list its new dollar-pegged stablecoin which "could catapult it into a huge market and potentially bring in billions in profit for the family. "
In short (Score:5, Insightful)
Money laundering is no longer illegal.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: In short (Score:5, Informative)
Re: In short (Score:5, Informative)
Trump's real estate business is a money laundering operation for Russian oligarchs.
Nothing new under the sun... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think there are actually two ways to make a great fortune. One is the well-known criminal path and it is true that the large majority of recent large fortunes are based on new crimes. Not even a new trick to bribe politicians to legalize the crimes afterwards. However the crypto-coins are really good for such bribery and that's why this story is so recursively criminal.
However I think some great fortunes are based on luck. Yeah, lots of people did lose in the lottery, but someone had to win. There are even a few people who have won more than once--but it's really stupid to think that luck is the same as intelligence or other positive attributes. Luck is random. Period.
(The YOB is mostly way one while Musk is mostly way two.)
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, some of it is also a money laundering operation for Iran.
Re: In short (Score:2)
Exactly 100% this.
Same with bribery. Trump "pausing" the FCPA.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/pre... [whitehouse.gov]
What the FCPA is according to the justice department. Try to figure out which part Trump has a problem with.
https://www.justice.gov/crimin... [justice.gov]
But cases will proceed against anyone that isn't on team Trump.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news... [msn.com]
TL;DR It's ok to bribe foreign officials and launder money if you do it for Trump.
Re:In short (Score:4, Insightful)
If you pay your bribes to the man, you are free to launder. For the rest of us, the laws are strictly enforced. Particularly if you speak out against the president, or fall out of favor with him.
Re: (Score:2)
Money laundering is no longer illegal.
For now anyway. Trump will be out of office before the statute of limitations runs out -- same for the government (currently) not prosecuting foreign bribery. If they want to keep this rolling, they'll have elect someone willing to keep the corruption flowing.
Re: In short (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Are you the same person that said this after Bush II?
Re: In short (Score:2)
Who is we?
Re: (Score:2)
That means the people who will take advantage of the lack of enforcement have 4 years to use the money, cover their tracks, and run. Traffickers don't usually live with such a peace of mind.
Re: (Score:1)
It never really has been, if you're smart about it.
Tt might be a conflict of interest for real (Score:5, Insightful)
For the President to operate his own un-traceable bribe machine and then shut down the people who are there to regulate said machine. I don't know, maybe I'm out on a limb here in saying that any President but especially the already wealthy President has no practical use for a crypto-coin. We the people get exactly zero for this, in fact our lives are likely being made worse for it. Art of the deal baby!
Re: (Score:2)
Phew AC, for a second I thought you might actually have something but nah just still on about Hunter.
Don't scare me like that, we continue expect you regurgitate those talking points for the next 3.6 year's, don't wear them out all at once.
Re: (Score:2)
And yet the only thing republicans could find to charge him with was lying on a firearm form.
Re: (Score:2)
But the Bible specifically requires that!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know, maybe I'm out on a limb here in saying that any President but especially the already wealthy President has no practical use for a crypto-coin.
You're saying Trump doesn't need the money? Perhaps, but that's hardly the point. People don't think they're "rich enough" -- especially people who are rich already. They are more driven than most to keep acquiring more and more. That's how they got rich in the first place.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm close to the point where I would make it practically illegal to acquire a billion dollars for their own good, it seems to fuck with people's brains more than not. Like that's not an attitude good for society, it should be discouraged, heavily.
Re: Tt might be a conflict of interest for real (Score:4, Informative)
Heâ(TM)s got that handy pardon power, and the Roberts Court to free him from jams. He thinks heâ(TM)s golden, and heâ(TM)s still walking free despite convictions & charges. Tariff madness lets him take favors from around the world for cut-outs. Heâ(TM)ll stick anyone in a Squid-games prison for disagreeing. Heâ(TM)s squeezing the world economy for no reason whatsoever, and threatening to just take areas, islands, even countries also for no reason. Heâ(TM)s shutting down medical research, university funding, Medicare, all federal employment, any government reference to any history not performed by white people. He claims heâ(TM)s going to stay president forever, end voting, give himself a $200 million party on our dime for his birthday. Heâ(TM)s a one-man international disaster in several dimensions. This isnâ(TM)t even a complete list, by a lot.
Shutting down cryptocurrency fraud enforcement is pretty consistent with the mess heâ(TM)s making.
Re: (Score:2)
For the President to operate his own un-traceable bribe machine and then shut down the people who are there to regulate said machine. I don't know, maybe I'm out on a limb here in saying that any President but especially the already wealthy President has no practical use for a crypto-coin. We the people get exactly zero for this, in fact our lives are likely being made worse for it. Art of the deal baby!
And what exactly would the American people be getting by collecting or printing another $100 billion to send to Ukraine under Democrat rule?
Ukraine is down to sending grandfathers to the front lines due to bloody attrition. What exactly would have the Democrats sent other than money? Peace sure as shit wasn’t coming, so they were going to eventually be forced to send American lives instead.
In short, FUCK your pathetic crypto concerns.
Trump supporters (Score:3, Insightful)
Feel free to speak up and defend this. I thought you liked being tough on crime?!
If you have parents and grandparents (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just for their protection but for yours. Because when your dipshit parents get tricked by a cryptoscam they saw on Fox News or the equivalent then they're going to have to come running to you for help.
At least the next 4 years possibly indefinitely we are going to be inundated with crooks scamming us out of our money looking to take us for everything we own and who know that so long as they can take a few tens of millions out of their ill-gotten gains and hand them to the head of state as a bribe they'll get a pardon and off the hook.
Re: (Score:3)
and this is a website full of old farts so you might not
On behalf of the old farts, LOL. It's funny because it's true!
Educate your Parents. About Swamps. (Score:2)
At least the next 4 years possibly indefinitely we are going to be inundated with crooks scamming us out of our money looking to take us for everything we own and who know that so long as they can take a few tens of millions out of their ill-gotten gains and hand them to the head of state as a bribe they'll get a pardon and off the hook.
As opposed to sending another $100 billion in warmongering funds to a country that hires dishonorably discharged cokeheads to serve on executive energy boards? Don’t forget about the Bahamian crypto orgy fund that was in place to help launder some of that back to the DNC to secure 2022 wins. SBF served his purpose. Not unlike Diddy Epstein. And US American warfighters that would have been forced to replace the Grandfathers dying on Ukranian front lines today had a US President not stepped in to ch
Here's why (Score:4, Informative)
"The Trump family is going all-in on crypto projects"
https://finance.yahoo.com/news... [yahoo.com]
Serious question here (Score:3)
How effective was this unit to begin with?
Re: (Score:3)
Did you know only 65% of murder are solved in the USA? One of the worst results among developed nations. (Canada 75%, New Zealand 91%, Germany 88-94% South Korea 96%, etc.; source: https://journals.sagepub.com/d... [sagepub.com] ) Should we conclude that since the murder investigations unit in the USA are particularly ineffective, it's a good idea to shut them off?
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, some projects are scams or poorly designed. But that doesn’t mean the en
Crypto fraud - Remember marks (Score:2)
RTFA . . . The Whole Article (Score:2)
Read past the parts that bury the lede. It’s a shift in strategy, not a “shut down”. The JD is directed to concentrate on the criminal organizations using crypto instead of going after the exchanges themselves as “presumed guilty”. Who knows? Maybe that’ll work better.
Can't wait (Score:2)
For FTX the sequel
Smell a future investigation (Score:2)
"The article adds that Binance is also concurrently "exploring" a deal with the Trump family to list its new dollar-pegged stablecoin which "could catapult it into a huge market and potentially bring in billions in profit for the family."
So, what is Trump going to do when he leaves office and the new Democratic president reassembles the crypto fraud unit? Trump will have to try extra hard to override the Constitution and stay in office past 2029.