Lawyer's view: Immigration becomes a priority during Trump's term, and crypto enforcement cases will take a back seat

Odaily News Trump promised during his campaign to ease up on cryptocurrency enforcement, and current and former U.S. government lawyers said at a conference in New York on Friday that the change will happen as Trump recalibrates the policies of the Justice Department and regulators. Crypto fraud cases will not get a free pass, the lawyers said, but they will no longer be a priority. The focus of government agencies and departments may shift to areas such as immigration enforcement, another Trump campaign promise. Scott Hartman, co-chair of the securities and commodities task force at the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, said the office will devote fewer resources to cryptocurrency-related crimes. This means that there will be fewer prosecutors handling cryptocurrency cases than when the cryptocurrency industry collapsed in 2022, triggering the "crypto winter." Hartman said the securities and commodities task force currently has 16 prosecutors, "I'm short on staff right now, and I hope they don't cut it any further." Steve Pelkin, a partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell who led SEC enforcement efforts during President Trump's term from 2017 to 2021, said: "There will probably be a lot of resources reallocated to immigration enforcement. I would be surprised if it doesn't." The lawyers made the above remarks a day before Trump said he would nominate Jay Claton, who served as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Commodities Task Force during the previous Trump administration, as the new U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. Under Claton's leadership, the SEC has handled some cryptocurrency cases, but the agency has not been as aggressive as it was under the leadership of current Chairman Gary Gensler. (CryptoSlate)