Six senators accused Deputy Attorney General #Todd #Blanche this week of having a "glaring" conflict of interest
when he shut down investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges
and eliminated an enforcement team dedicated to looking for crypto-related fraud and money-laundering schemes.
A letter written by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth #Warren, Dick #Durbin and Mazie #Hirono and signed by Sens. Sheldon #Whitehouse, Christopher #Coons and Richard #Blumenthal
cited a ProPublica investigation that revealed
đBlanche owned at least $159,000 worth of crypto-related assets when he ordered an end to the work.
Durbin, Hirono, Whitehouse, Coons and Blumenthal serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department.
The same senators previously sent a letter to Blanche raising concerns that his actions would help Donald Trumpâs financial interests in cryptocurrency.
In their letter sent on Wednesday, they said Blancheâs actions appeared to violate the federal conflict of interest law.
âLast year, we asked for the rationale behind your puzzling decision to scale back the Department of Justiceâs (DOJ) cryptocurrency enforcement efforts and urged you to reconsider.
We write now in light of recent reporting that you held substantial amounts of cryptocurrency at the time you made this decision,â the senators wrote.
âAt the very least, you had a glaring conflict of interest and should have recused yourself.â
Blanche, the second-highest-ranking official at the Justice Department, signed an #ethics #agreement đĽin February promising to dump his cryptocurrency within 90 days of his confirmation and not to participate in any matter that could have a âdirect and predictable effect on my financial interests in the virtual currencyâ until his bitcoin and other crypto-related products were sold.
âBut on April 7, before he divested, he issued a memo titled
âEnding Regulation by Prosecutionâ
-- that halted investigations launched under President Joe Biden. In the memo, Blanche condemned the Biden Justice Departmentâs tough approach toward crypto as âa reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution, which was ill conceived and poorly executed.â
đThe memo disbanded the agencyâs National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which had won several high-profile crypto-related convictions.
Blanche said the agency would instead target only the terrorists and drug traffickers who illicitly used crypto, not the platforms that hosted them.
Days later, the six senators urged Blanche to reconsider, contending that his decision would otherwise help support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams and child exploitation.
đĽIn their latest letter, they said their concerns had been realized.
They cited an independent report that found there was a surge in illicit cryptocurrency activities in 2025,
including crimes tied to
#money #laundering and
#human #trafficking.
They also questioned Blancheâs reasons for the policy shift.
â ď¸âCertainly, President Trumpâs financial interests seem to have motivated some of his pardons of criminals convicted of cryptocurrency-related crimes,â their letter stated.
â ď¸âBut the fact that you held substantial amounts of cryptocurrency at the time you made this decision calls into question your own motivations"
https://www.propublica.org/article/todd-blanche-crypto-conflict-senator-letter
