{"id":47346,"date":"2025-09-13T05:01:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=47346"},"modified":"2025-09-13T05:01:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:01:32","slug":"a-violation-of-public-trust-coinbase-demands-sanctions-over-secs-missing-texts-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=47346","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018Violation Of Public Trust\u2019: Coinbase Demands Sanctions Over SEC\u2019s Missing Texts Episode"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Coinbase has slammed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a \u201cdestroy-and-delay approach\u201d to records, accusing the agency of erasing crucial text messages related to pending crypto litigations<\/p>\n

Coinbase Accuses SEC Of \u2018Destroying\u2019 Records<\/h2>\n

On Thursday, crypto exchange Coinbase, through historical research firm History\u00a0Associates, asked<\/a> the federal court to \u201cbring the SEC\u2019s secretive policy shifts on crypto to sunlight\u201d with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case.<\/p>\n

Coinbase\u2019s CLO, Paul Grewal, explained that the company asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to address the \u201cgross violation of public trust\u201d that the regulatory agency was recently part of \u201cto ensure it never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC\u2019s own Inspector General,\u201d Grewal wrote<\/a> on X, affirming that the regulatory agency \u201cdestroyed\u201d key text message records, even though Coinbase had asked for \u201cinformation about \u2018all communications\u2019 within the SEC related to crypto regulatory and enforcement decision-making years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported<\/a> by Bitcoinist, the Commission was recently under fire after an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report detailed a series of \u201cavoidable\u201d mistakes from the watchdog\u2019s IT department that resulted in the loss of records linked to crypto enforcement actions during Gary Gensler\u2019s tenure, resulting in the loss of the former SEC Chairman\u2019s text messages between 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

According to the court filing, the SEC \u201crevealed to the world just days ago that the agency has forever stymied public investigation of these issues by flouting FOIA\u2019s mandates and destroying key documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coinbase\u2019s court case highlighted that the recent report detailed how the Commission has \u201cexcluded\u201d SEC officials\u2019 text messages when processing FOIA requests, even if many constituted agency records subject to the request. Additionally, it revealed that the lost Gensler text messages \u201cwere destroyed (\u2026) after these FOIA requests were filed, but long before the litigation began.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document also alleged that the same has happened to more than 20 other high-ranking SEC officials\u2019 texts, and dozens more have been or could be at imminent risk. \u201cAlthough the SEC has known of these glaring and urgent problems for two years, none of this was disclosed to this Court or History Associates during 14 months of litigation,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Holding the SEC To Its Own Standard<\/h2>\n

Previously, Coinbase\u2019s CLO affirmed that \u201cthis isn\u2019t some \u2018oops\u2019 moment. This was a destruction of evidence relevant to pending litigation.\u201d Similarly, the filing stated that the SEC can\u2019t claim \u201cno harm, no foul\u201d for running \u201cthirteenth-hour searches\u201d that come \u201cfar too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

It argued that if the regulatory agency had conducted prompt, proper searches when History Associates first submitted its FOIA requests in July and August 2023, the Commission could have reviewed the records<\/a> at the time or taken actions to preserve them.<\/p>\n

\"Coinbase\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be impossible to reconstruct how many responsive texts have been irretrievably lost due to the SEC\u2019s stonewalling and what critical information will never see daylight as a result. But what is <\/em>certain is that the SEC\u2019s destroy-and-delay approach to records must end immediately,\u201d the document read.<\/p>\n

The case noted that within the last few years, the SEC had imposed over a billion dollars in fines on private parties for similar failures to preserve securities-related text messages and communications while emphasizing that \u201ceverybody should play by the same rules\u201d and be held \u201caccountable for violating (\u2026) time-tested record keeping requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure that the SEC is \u201cheld to its own standard\u201d and prevent similar incidents<\/a> in the future, Coinbase asked the Court to hold a hearing and order appropriate relief, including an expedited proper search for and production of all relevant texts that the agency\u2019s searches did not uncover, discovery to \u201cget to the bottom of the agency\u2019s spoliation,\u201d and all appropriate sanctions.<\/p>\n

\"coinbase,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coinbase has slammed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a \u201cdestroy-and-delay approach\u201d to records, accusing the agency of erasing crucial text messages related to pending crypto litigations Coinbase Accuses SEC Of \u2018Destroying\u2019 Records On Thursday, crypto exchange Coinbase, through historical research firm History\u00a0Associates, asked the federal court to \u201cbring the SEC\u2019s secretive policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-47346","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\/47346","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=47346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}