Judge Upholds Gemini’s $5 Million Penalty, Rejecting CFTC Bid to Undo Settlement
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
Judge Upholds Gemini’s $5 Million Penalty, Rejecting CFTC Bid to Undo Settlement
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
Summary
$5 million in penalties against Gemini Trust will stand after Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to unwind a settlement over the firm’s statements about its Bitcoin business.
Hellerstein said the facts had not changed since Gemini agreed to settle and wrote that the firm’s top officials willfully misrepresented material facts to federal regulators.
Gemini and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had jointly asked in May to reverse the deal, arguing agency lawyers pressured the company into settling and breached internal legal standards.
The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration’s pro-crypto push because Gemini’s founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, are close Trump allies and major backers of Trump-linked projects.
It also lands as the CFTC has sharply reduced enforcement since Trump returned to office, with crypto and prediction-market firms among the biggest beneficiaries.