SEC unethically going after crypto companies outside of its jurisdiction

Table of Contents

• Unethical industry sweeps

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with its chairman Gary Gensler, were lambasted during the House Committee on Financial Services on Tuesday by Republican Senator Tom Emmer. He accused them of unethical action against crypto companies.

Senator Emmer posted a video on his Twitter account, which shows a conversation between himself and Gurbir Grewal, SEC Enforcement Director. He accused the SEC of politicising regulations, and of making unethical “industry sweeps” against crypto companies outside of its jurisdiction.

The Senator stated that “it was clear to everyone, except maybe those at the commission, that the SEC is not regulating in good faith”. He also said that even though many companies were having to endure the “politicisation of regulation over the last 14 months”, the digital asset industry was where this was most clearly seen.

Unethical industry sweeps

Emmer talked of the industry sweeps where the SEC contacts all companies in a similar situation, and requests documentation. If the company is outside of the SEC jurisdiction then the company’s participation is voluntary.

The Senator got Grewal to admit that the SEC did extra industry sweeps of companies outside of its jurisdiction. He also questioned if Grewal and his colleagues were asked to “make it a bloodbath for companies that don’t respond to a sweep letter?”. He said:

“We’ve become aware that chair Gensler has in the past directed the division of enforcement to send a sweep letter to a particular sector of the crypto community, designed to jam them into a violation that is allegedly unconstitutional, and if any company does not respond to said sweep letter (which are supposed to be voluntary), then the SEC would make it a [quote] ‘bloodbath’ for them.”

Senator Emmer finished the video conversation with the following statement, which was also posted on his Twitter account:

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