CFTC Officials Suspended Over Trump-Linked Crypto Firms
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- CFTC officials who flagged concerns about Polymarket, Crypto.com, and a Gemini affiliate were suspended, investigated, and ultimately pushed out of the agency, per a New York Times investigation published Sunday.
- Then-acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham and her senior counsel Brigitte Weyls intervened to help the three firms get what they wanted, sources told the NYT.
- By the end of 2025, two officials were placed on administrative leave and under internal investigation, and three others who had enforced crypto laws faced the same fate — none were told what they had done wrong.
- Crypto enforcement collapsed from more than 80 actions under President Biden to just two under Trump, with at least five crypto investigations dropped and both recent cases targeting individual operators rather than major firms.
- Pham left the agency to join MoonPay, a Polymarket partner; Weyls became general counsel at Gemini Titan, the same company whose application she helped approve; and current sole commissioner Michael Selig previously represented crypto firms as a corporate lawyer.
- Crypto.com is a Trump Media business partner; Polymarket received investment from 1789 Capital, backed by Donald Trump Jr.; and Gemini's founders are financial backers of American Bitcoin Corp, co-founded by Eric Trump — White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the NYT 'there are no conflicts of interest.'
- The CFTC has filed lawsuits against Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois over state attempts to regulate prediction markets, even as the House Agriculture Committee urged Trump to nominate four commissioners, warning the agency is 'ill-equipped' with only one member.
Why it matters: The article documents a concrete collapse in CFTC crypto oversight — from more than 80 enforcement actions under Biden to just two under Trump, with at least five investigations dropped — alongside the removal of officials who flagged consumer-protection issues at firms tied to the president's family. With Pham and Weyls now working directly for two of the companies they shepherded through the agency, the pattern reported here is a self-described chilling effect: staffers said the message was 'Don't cause trouble for those industries.' The agency's only commissioner previously represented crypto clients, and the House itself says the CFTC is understaffed for its expanding mandate.
