{"id":38487,"date":"2025-07-24T04:01:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=38487"},"modified":"2025-07-24T04:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:01:42","slug":"doj-closes-investigation-into-kraken-co-founder-jesse-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=38487","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Closes Investigation Into Kraken Co-Founder Jesse Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The US Justice Department has dropped its criminal investigation into Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell. The investigation was launched in 2023 and did not focus on Powell\u2019s crypto dealings.<\/p>\n

Instead, it centered on allegations from the Verge Center for the Arts \u2013 a nonprofit he founded \u2013 that he had hacked its accounts and blocked email access during a governance dispute.<\/p>\n

Kraken Founder Cleared After FBI Raid<\/h2>\n

The FBI\u2019s raid on the former chief executive\u2019s Los Angeles home resulted<\/a> in the seizure of dozens of devices. It drew attention due to his prominence in crypto and the broader crackdown on the sector during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

Newly filed court documents confirm<\/a> that prosecutors informed Powell\u2019s legal team in April that they would not pursue charges. They also returned the seized electronics, which Powell claims contain evidence supporting his position that Verge board members conspired to remove him unlawfully.<\/p>\n

Powell, who stepped down<\/a> as Kraken\u2019s CEO in 2022 but remains on its board, described the raid as \u201cdevastating\u201d and revealed plans to continue pursuing civil action against Verge. He also accused its leadership of defamation and withholding documents. The dropped case arrives as Kraken weighs a potential IPO by early 2026. The crypto exchange had settled with the SEC last year over its staking services for $30 million.<\/p>\n

On X, Powell noted,<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cVery glad to have this behind me. It never made sense, but neither does the Roman Storm trial. Wild how quickly you can have your life upended. I\u2019m grateful for those who saw through it and for my stellar legal team. Now, turning my attention back to Kraken.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Industry Voices Support Jesse Powell<\/h2>\n

Industry leaders swiftly welcomed the end of the Justice Department\u2019s probe into the Kraken co-founder. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, for one, called<\/a> the investigation \u201cbaseless\u201d while noting Powell\u2019s contributions to the sector. He added that while the regulatory landscape still needs improvement, decisions like this signify progress in cleaning up \u201cpast lawfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp echoed<\/a> the sentiment and said that the \u201cbaseless persecution\u201d of Powell was \u201cfinally over.\u201d Meanwhile, Binance\u2019s Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao remarked<\/a> that it \u201cmust be a tough few years\u201d for Powell, and acknowledged the toll of the process before adding it was \u201cgood to see everything is cleared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post DOJ Closes Investigation Into Kraken Co-Founder Jesse Powell<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Justice Department has dropped its criminal investigation into Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell. The investigation was launched in 2023 and did not focus on Powell\u2019s crypto dealings. Instead, it centered on allegations from the Verge Center for the Arts \u2013 a nonprofit he founded \u2013 that he had hacked its accounts and blocked email […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-38487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}