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

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 change will happen as Trump recalibrates the policies of the Justice Department and regulators. Crypto fraud cases will not get a free pass, but they are no longer a priority, the lawyers said. 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. That means fewer prosecutors will handle 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 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 Commission 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 current Chairman Gary Gensler. (CryptoSlate)