Key Takeaways
- CFTC leadership suspended and removed senior officials who questioned regulatory applications from Polymarket, Crypto.com, and Gemini
- Each of the three companies maintains direct business connections to members of the Trump family
- Then-acting chair Caroline Pham and her senior counsel actively intervened to assist these firms against staff recommendations
- Cryptocurrency enforcement cases plummeted from more than 80 during the Biden administration to merely two under Trump
- Pham and her counsel subsequently accepted positions at companies they had previously helped authorize
A sweeping New York Times investigation published this Sunday reveals that senior Commodity Futures Trading Commission officials who voiced regulatory concerns about three cryptocurrency and prediction market operators faced suspension, internal investigations, and ultimate removal during the Trump administration. The report draws from internal agency documentation and conversations with over 30 current and former staff members.
Three companies form the core of this investigation: Polymarket, Crypto.com, and Gemini affiliate Gemini Titan. All three maintain documented financial connections to the Trump family.
Polymarket secured backing from 1789 Capital, an investment firm with partial ownership by Donald Trump Jr. Meanwhile, Crypto.com established a business partnership with Trump Media to launch “Truth Predict” on the Truth Social platform. The Gemini founders support American Bitcoin, an enterprise co-founded by Eric Trump.
Career staff at the CFTC identified particular regulatory issues with each company. Concerns about Crypto.com centered on potential unfair treatment of retail bettors. Polymarket drew scrutiny for insufficient fraud prevention measures. Staff also determined that Gemini Titan had begun operations without completing mandatory regulatory assessments.
High-Level Interference
According to the Times investigation, then-acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham and her senior counsel Brigitte Weyls directly intervened in each case. In a notable deviation from standard procedures, Weyls allegedly distributed a draft recommendation memo approving Gemini Titan’s application before staff members had concluded their evaluation. Normal protocol dictates that career staff independently draft such recommendations. The application received swift approval.
As 2025 concluded, two officials who had raised questions about these firms found themselves on administrative leave facing internal investigations. Three additional staff members involved in cryptocurrency law enforcement encountered identical treatment. None received explanations regarding alleged misconduct.
Multiple current and former employees informed the Times that the situation communicated an unmistakable directive: “Don’t cause trouble for those industries.”
Dramatic Decline in Enforcement Activity
During President Biden’s tenure, the CFTC pursued more than 80 enforcement actions related to cryptocurrency. Under the current Trump administration, that figure has collapsed to just two cases, both targeting individual operators rather than significant institutional players.
The agency has additionally abandoned at least five cryptocurrency investigations, including an advanced-stage examination of a major trading platform.
Pham subsequently departed the CFTC for MoonPay, a cryptocurrency company with a partnership arrangement with Polymarket. Weyls assumed the role of general counsel at Gemini Titan, the identical company whose application she had facilitated.
Current CFTC chair Michael Selig, presently the agency’s sole commissioner, previously provided legal representation to cryptocurrency firms in private practice. Trump has yet to nominate candidates for the four remaining vacant commissioner positions.
The House Agriculture Committee recently called on Trump to fill those vacant seats, cautioning that the agency cannot adequately fulfill its statutory obligations with only one commissioner.
The White House rejected allegations of misconduct. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public,” spokesman Davis Ingle stated to the Times. “There are no conflicts of interest.”
Earlier this month, the Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the CLARITY Act, legislation that would grant the CFTC expansive new regulatory authority over digital commodity markets.
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