Empower Oversight
@EMPOWR_us
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Accountability and public integrity through the power of information. Tristan Leavitt, President @tristanleavitt
Washington, DC
Joined April 2021
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UPDATE: Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for D.C. has ordered
@TheJusticeDept
to respond to our motion by May 20th.
Highlight 🧵for our motion to intervene and unseal
@TheJusticeDept
arguments for hiding its broad subpoenas for phone and email logs of attorneys advising congressional oversight committees. ⬇️
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"Empower Oversight...is calling for an investigation into ethics failures at the SEC after records emerged alleging one of its former employees, William Hinman, had a direct financial interest in a law firm...while working at the SEC."
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Empower Oversight Sues SEC For Access to FOIA Documents Amid Crypto Conflict of Interest Concerns
@SEC_Enforcement
@SECGov
@GaryGensler
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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This admission from SEC means its previous “no records” response was false.
Empower Oversight expects full, legally required transparency from
@SECGov
.
🚨BREAKING: Document released by
@EMPOWR_us
reveals
@SECGov
found "approx. 1,000 pages" of records detailing communications between William Hinman and Simpson Thacher while he was in office, responsive to watchdog group's FOIA request 👇(1/4)
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Empower Oversight Obtains Additional Documents Shedding Light on Potential Cryptocurrency Conflicts of Interest within the SEC
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Statement from IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley's legal team on U.S. Attorney David Weiss's letter today to the Senate Judiciary Committee: "U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s story continues to change. As a practical matter, it makes no difference whether Weiss requested…
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The documents show that the SEC ethics office cautioned former SEC official William Hinman that he had a direct financial interest in Simpson Thacher, yet Hinman continued to meet with the firm in spite of these warnings.
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Hinman met with Josh Bonnie, a partner at Simpson Thacher, at least three times after that warning. Hinman also met with the co-founders and investors in Ethereum ahead of a market-moving speech he gave in 2018 declaring the digital asset Ether to not be a security.
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Statement from IRS Agent Gary Shapley's legal team: "In an October 7, 2022, meeting at the Delaware U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Attorney David Weiss told six witnesses he did not have authority to charge in other districts and had thus requested special counsel status. Those six…
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"The SEC’s action essentially wiped out $15 billion in value for tens of thousands of retail holders around the world. That didn’t exactly further the SEC’s official mission of protecting investors." —
@JsnFostr
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Empower Oversight Requests SEC-OIG Conduct Investigation into the Failure of the SEC’s Ethics Office to Prevent Cryptocurrency Conflicts of Interest by Senior Staff
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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🧵1. The
@SECgov
has now turned over 324 pages of new documents in response to our crypto conflicts FOIA requests.
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Empower Oversight Supports Motion to Unseal Hinman Docs Related to SEC Crypto Conflicts of Interest
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight Sues SEC in D.C. Court for Documents in Crypto Conflicts Controversy
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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"The emails were accessed by...Empower Oversight, which made public SEC documents detailing improper conduct by some officials concerning the Ripple lawsuit....Hinman was warned about a potential conflict of interest with his previous employer"
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Empower Oversight Exposes SEC’s Bad Faith FOIA Tactics in Crypto Conflicts Lawsuit Filing
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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"Empower Oversight...claims Hinman didn't follow instructions that the SEC's ethics office gave him to avoid conflicts tied to his financial interests in Simpson Thacher, including the firm's connection to the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, or EEA"
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All of the released emails can be found in full on the link below:
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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NEW: Gov't motion asks judge for an extra week to answer our FOIA suit—without producing a single page from what SEC has already located.
Empower Oversight would have agreed to an extension if SEC provided some docs now, but SEC claims it is "unable to release documents today."
“It has taken two administrative appeals and a federal lawsuit to get the agency to even admit that it has the documents we are seeking. At first, it issued a letter claiming that no such records could be found, which turned out to be false.”
-
@JsnFostr
Amazing work!
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SEC Lifts Unspecified Redactions on Nearly 1,500 Pages of Crypto Conflict Documents
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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SEC Seeks Delay in Crypto Conflicts Case to Allow Former Official’s Law Firm Time to Object
Empower Oversight Seeks Discovery, Documents, and a Timely Briefing Schedule
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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WATCH:
@mirandadevine
&
@TuckerCarlson
report on FBI Whistleblower Steve Friend’s protected disclosures about FBI misconduct in J6 cases.
@EMPOWR_US
has been helping him, but now that his identity is public, the retaliation will likely intensify.
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Empower Oversight files FOIA request seeking information on conflicts of interest in cryptocurrency at the SEC.
@SEC_Enforcement
@SECGov
@GaryGensler
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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"If the Inspector General decides to act on our referral...as a part of the review of the failure of the ethics review process to stop this clear public controversy from occurring, they could get all of the documents." -
@JsnFostr
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight received about 200 pages of emails from the SEC responsive to its FOIA request for records that could shed light on allegations of conflicts of interest associated with the SEC’s selective enforcement actions involving cryptocurrencies.
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SEC Releases E-mails to Empower Oversight in Crypto Conflicts Lawsuit, Still Searching for More
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Empower Oversight Doubles Down on Efforts to Expose SEC Crypto Conflicts in New Filing for Documents about Its IG Referral and Litigation
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight filed a *new* request with the SEC seeking documents that would show how it searched for records related to alleged crypto conflicts of interest before claiming that “no responsive records” existed.
Empower Oversight Appeals SEC's Claim of "No Responsive Records" on Cryptocurrency FOIA
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight Presses for Additional Crypto Communications from Clayton SEC Tenure
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"The people who were in charge of making sure that Mr. Hinman didn't violate his ethical obligations didn't succeed...They allowed him to participate in this speech...Did they know about the implications of the speech?" -
@JsnFostr
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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The attack dogs are circling IRS SSA Gary Shapley and other
#whistleblowers
who did the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons.
Please support our Law Enforcement Whistleblowers Defense Fund to help protect them from retaliation.
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Empower Oversight Wins Appeal of Erroneous SEC Fee Decision:
Must be treated as a "media requestor" in seeking ethics records of senior officials
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight Files Amended Complaint in Lawsuit Against SEC - Empower Oversight
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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"This conflict of interest has also won the attention of Empower Oversight, a non-profit legal watchdog which filed a raft of FOIA requests. Such conflicts forced Clayton’s predecessor...to recuse herself from more than four dozen enforcement actions."
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“This is another example of the SEC playing silly games with serious litigation. Americans deserve better treatment than this, and these tactics are further evidence of bad faith and lack of professionalism.” -
@JsnFostr
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Former senior SEC official William Hinman received millions of dollars in compensation from his former employer, Simpson Thacher, while helping guide the SEC’s regulation of cryptocurrencies. Hinman helped promote Enterprise Ethereum during his time at the SEC.
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"[Empower Oversight] is suing the [SEC] in an effort to compel the agency to comply with document requests relating to potential conflicts of interests associated with former high-ranking SEC officials and their oversight of cryptocurrency."
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"Empower Oversight has appealed SEC’s claim of 'no responsive records' on its cryptocurrency [FOIA].
[They have] not let go of the case on suspicions of improper conduct by the SEC officials when filing the complaint against Ripple Labs."
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The SEC's Office of FOIA Services suggested recently that there may be an investigation in response to Empower Oversight’s referral to the SEC Inspector General regarding conflicts of interest and selective enforcement in cryptocurrency cases at the SEC.
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Empower Oversight filed a complaint against the SEC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to compel the SEC to comply with the other six categories of the FOIA request. This is Empower Oversight's second FOIA lawsuit filed since its launch.
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"Empower Oversight Whistleblowers and Research, sued the SEC...seeking information about communications between Simpson Thacher and former SEC Division of Corporate Finance Director William Hinman and former acting Enforcement Director Marc Berger."
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The creator of another cryptocurrency, known as XRP, was later sued by the SEC, which claimed that it was a security, causing XRP to lose a quarter of its value. The man who brought the lawsuit against XRP, Marc Berger, left for Simpson Thacher shortly after Hinman did the same.
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.
@JsnFostr
tells
@JohnEDeaton1
how the SEC chose to ignore
@EMPOWR_us
FOIA requests before sending some responses that turned out to be false, beginning the consistent trend that continues to this day of resistance from the SEC.
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Here's the text of the IG referral discussed below...
"If the Inspector General decides to act on our referral...as a part of the review of the failure of the ethics review process to stop this clear public controversy from occurring, they could get all of the documents." -
@JsnFostr
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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"SEC produced some records at the last minute...Given the SEC's pattern of bad faith negotiations...and history of incomplete productions, we are skeptical that this production is fully responsive" -
@JsnFostr
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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🧵1/4 Hinman Emails
12/20/17 meeting materials from consensys
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“I took an oath of office, and when I saw the egregiousness of some of these things, it no longer became a choice for me. It’s not something that I want to do, it’s something that I feel like I have to do.” — IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley, represented by Empower Oversight
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The SEC failed to comply with six of the eight categories of documents in Empower Oversight’s FOIA request. According to the SEC, searches for two of the categories found no records.
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In August, Empower Oversight submitted a detailed FOIA request to the SEC seeking any communications related to senior SEC officials and their current and former employers regarding cryptocurrencies.
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Judge Orders NIH to Deliver Unredacted Documents for the Court’s Review in Lawsuit on Deletion of COVID-19 Data
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Thanks to
@JohnEDeaton1
for discussing Empower Oversight's recently released documents in our lawsuit against the SEC. Read the documents here:
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“The SEC is trying to duck accountability and delay judicial review of its failure to comply with FOIA by hiding behind the confidentiality interests of the law firm with whom its own ethics officials said its employee had a conflict" -
@JsnFostr
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“In 2017, Hinman received $7.8 million in profit sharing and another $1.8 million the following year...[prompting] the agency’s Ethics Office to bar him from meeting with Simpson Thacher while he was at the SEC"
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Empower Oversight files appeal to SEC fee waiver denial on FOIA related to potential conflicts of former SEC officials.
@SEC_Enforcement
@SECGov
@GaryGensler
@CGasparino
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Empower Oversight Notifies Court of New SEC FOIA Request Related to Pending Litigation on Crypto Conflicts
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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The SEC’s attempt to impose fees would shut down transparency. What is the SEC hiding?
@SEC_Enforcement
@SECGov
@GaryGensler
@CGasparino
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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“Empower Oversight, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to enhancing independent oversight of government and corporate wrongdoing, has submitted a FOIA...request to the Securities and Exchange Commission."
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Empower Oversight Appeals SEC's Claim of "No Responsive Records" on Cryptocurrency FOIA
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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“[It] is also possible that the SEC is acting like it has something to hide because it actually has something to hide. That’s why FOIA exists, to hold government accountable through transparency. The law requires more than the SEC seems willing to provide.” -
@JsnFostr
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“It’s abundantly clear that the SEC is doing everything within its power to hide information from the public about these issues...Despite its stubborn delays...the few documents that we managed to pry loose from the agency point to serious ethical concerns." -
@JsnFostr
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.
@TheJusticeDept
’s actions have confirmed SSA Shapley’s account of the meeting—charges were presented for approval to the Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in D.C. and California, Weiss did let the statute of limitations expire for the D.C. charges, and Weiss was appointed special…
Scoop: the FBI agent overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden disputed whistleblower claims that David Weiss was stymied by the Biden admin -- a critical detail McCarthy cited when announcing plans to pursue an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday...
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His
@FBI
supervisors immediately threatened retaliation and then made good on those threats. He has now been suspended, without pay, while the FBI “reviews” his security clearance for bogus concerns about his “loyalty.”
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In a new joint status report, SEC argued that Empower Oversight’s FOIA lawsuit should be delayed while the SEC waits for approval from Simpson Thacher to release documents at issue in the litigation.
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"New documents obtained recently by...Empower Oversight revealed the recipients of those drafts to be around 30 people including staffers in the Office of the General Counsel...and staffers in the office of Chairman Jay Clayton among others." -
@CGasparino
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Hinman had repeated contact with the law firm’s personnel. These contacts included the referral of a business prospect and participation in at least one exclusive conference designed to provide insiders with special access to high-level SEC officials.
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"Three former SEC officials had a direct hand in crypto enforcement actions that moved the markets: former Chairman Jay Clayton, former Director of Corporation Finance William Hinman, and former Director of Enforcement Marc Berger."
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3. Joseph Lubin and Consensys played a more central role than previously known in then-SEC Dir. Corp. Fin. William Hinman’s controversial June 14, 2018, crypto speech.
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In contrast to the instructions from the SEC’s Ethics Office, the records disclosed to Empower Oversight and other information tend to show that Mr. Hinman failed to disclose Simpson Thacher’s—and by extension his—direct financial interest in the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
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4. Lubin also apparently brought Hinman and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin together as the speech was drafted.
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7. SEC Ethics Office had repeatedly warned Hinman against such meetings since he was receiving millions of dollars in payments from Simpson Thacher while at the SEC.
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The FBI’s alleged violations include phony recordkeeping and excessive force. Friend was one of many field agents improperly listed as the “case agent” on J6 cases in the FBI’s system, contrary to reality and FBI regulations.
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He objected to the disproportionate use of SWAT teams and tactics in nonviolent misdemeanor J6 cases where the subjects were cooperative and represented by lawyers, where less risky and less violent tactics would normally be used.
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“The SEC has flat-out refused to conduct a reasonable search despite the concessions we’ve made to narrow and clarify which names could be used as search terms to find responsive documents.” -
@JsnFostr
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He has filed complaints with Congress,
@JusticeOIG
&
@US_OSC
—making further legally protected disclosures about the underlying FBI misconduct and the retaliation he is suffering for refusing to go along with it.
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Allies are joining the fight to investigate the
@SECGov
. An amazing piece by the founder of
@EMPOWR_us
👇🏻
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5. Investors and attorneys closely associated with Ethereum were prominent on the list of a March 28, 2018, meeting on a crypto safe harbor proposal.
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According to the SEC, the documents consist of new versions of all the previously produced documents, but with some redactions lifted to publicly reveal new information. However, the SEC failed to indicate where exactly it had lifted redactions.
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"Empower Oversight, led by [
@JsnFostr
] former chief investigative counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, is suing the Biden SEC over perceived FOIA intransigence."
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The filing demonstrates that the SEC intentionally misinterpreted the plain text of Empower Oversight’s request, admittedly ignored statutory deadlines without cause, and solicited search terms to locate documents, only to ignore those as well.
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For the past year,
@SECGov
has been delaying and refusing to search for documents regarding conflicts of interest by top SEC officials, specifically communications between those officials and individuals at entities with interests in the SEC’s cryptocurrency enforcement agenda.
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"Empower Oversight recently filed an administrative appeal challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) claim that 'no responsive records exist' in several categories of Empower Oversight's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request."
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Empower Oversight sent a letter to the SEC-OIG requesting a comprehensive review of the SEC’s ethics officials to properly manage SEC official William Hinman’s potential conflict of interest regarding cryptocurrency issues.
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6. An August 22, 2019, email shows Hinman met with Simpson Thacher partner Chris Lin while Lin was representing Canaan, a crypto mining client, on its IPO.
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Empower Oversight filed a motion in its lawsuit against the SEC seeking time to conduct a detailed review of about 1,500 pages of documents the SEC dropped just one day before filing for summary judgment in FOIA litigation over cryptocurrency conflicts of interest at the agency.
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When Empower Oversight sought clarification about how and whether the SEC had marked the newly revealed information, the agency advised that Empower Oversight would have to conduct a page-by-page comparison to the original document productions to hunt for the new information.
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2. The latest batch of documents follows a May FOIA lawsuit brought by Empower Oversight in the District of Columbia.
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Empower Oversight Counters SEC’s Bad Faith FOIA Tactics with New Filing on Crypto Conflicts
#cryptotrading
#crypto
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
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Statement from Gary Shapley legal team: "This suit against the IRS is just another frivolous smear by Biden family attorneys trying to turn people’s attention away from Hunter Biden’s own legal problems and intimidate any current and future whistleblowers. The federal judge in…
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"The public deserves answers from the SEC as to what exactly the agency knew about Hinman’s speech and when they knew it." -
@JsnFostr
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"The FBI orchestrated these circumstances and controls the ultimate timing of any internal appeals..." wrote
@tristanleavitt
.
The
@FBI
is "financially pressuring Mr. Allen to surrender ... in the face of an indefinite administrative limbo that could literally never end."
🧵7. Marcus is a decorated Marine combat veteran with excellent evaluations and a spotless record.
His bosses admitted his Qs were reasonable and raised no questions about his loyalty to the U.S.
Still,
@FBI
grasped at straws to smear him as "hostile" to the U.S. govt.
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Empower Oversight filed its opposition to the SEC's motion for summary judgment in the ongoing FOIA lawsuit over documents related to conflicts of interest and selective enforcement in cryptocurrency cases.
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"The SEC has consistently stonewalled any attempts from public interest transparency organizations, including Empower Oversight, to shine a light on conflicts of interest and ethical questions at the agency." -
@JsnFostr
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TONIGHT:
@JsnFostr
joins host
@JohnEDeaton1
of
@CryptoLawUS
along with
@attorneyjeremy1
,
@JWVerret
, and
@EleanorTerrett
to discuss our efforts to expose
@SECGov
ethics issues with its selective regulation-by-enforcement
#crypto
strategy.
#cryptotrading
#Bitcoin
$BTC $ETH $XRP
🚨TONIGHT!🚨
#CryptoLawTV
LIVECAST: The Hinman Speech +4 Years: The Legal, Policy & Ethics Legacy
Hosted by
@JohnEDeaton1
, with
@attorneyjeremy1
@JWVerret
@EleanorTerrett
&
@JsnFostr
Watch the Livecast here at 7pmET/11pmUTC 👇
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Specifically, this request aims to uncover exactly how diligently the SEC searched for records relating to Clayton, Hinman, and Berger communications.
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The SEC has consistently resisted complying with its legal disclosure obligations. As Empower Oversight explained in its court filing this week, the SEC admittedly failed to provide a FOIA “determination” within the time required by law, without citing any reason.
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Records that were disclosed to Empower Oversight show that the SEC’s Ethics Office cautioned Hinman that he had a direct financial interest in his former law firm, Simpson Thacher, and thus, he needed to recuse himself from any matters that would affect the firm.
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At the SEC’s request, in February
@EMPOWR_us
provided a list of names to help locate responsive communications with SEC officials. But, the SEC then refused to conduct reasonable searches for those names, resisting basic transparency about its senior officials’ communications.
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“Government watchdog group Empower Oversight…opened up a second front in its ongoing battle to compel the [
@SECGov
] to hand over documents that it claims could provide insight into potential conflicts of interest related to the agency's crypto dealings.”
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