Ex-SEC chair, now heading SDNY, offers rebuke in $12M crypto fraud case
Jay Clayton, recently appointed interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has begun offering statements in criminal cases involving crypto fraud.
In an April 23 notice, the US Attorney’s Office said Eugene William Austin, also known as Hugh Austin, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison following his conviction on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. Together with his son, Brandon, sentenced to four years, Austin offered fraudulent crypto investment services, resulting in roughly $12 million in losses to more than 24 people.
“For years, Hugh Austin was the leader of a fraud and money laundering scheme that stole more than $12 million from more than two dozen victims,” said Clayton. “Austin involved his own son in his crimes, working with him to rip off victims and spending investor money on personal expenses, like luxury hotels […] Austin will now be held accountable for the harm he caused to individual investors and others.”
The criminal case involving digital assets marked one of Clayton’s first public statements since becoming the interim US Attorney on April 22. US President Donald Trump nominated Clayton on Jan. 20 when he took office. The district has since seen the resignation of acting US Attorney Danielle Sassoon in response to the Justice Department directing her to halt a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Related: US prosecutors file over 200 victim statements in Celsius ex-CEO’s case
The nation’s ‘sovereign district’ overseen by a Trump appointee?
Under current law, Clayton can serve as interim US Attorney for the district for 120 days without Senate confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked a vote on Clayton’s nomination, saying Trump had “no fidelity to the law.”
Clayton will likely oversee SDNY during the sentencing hearing for former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and potentially other criminal cases involving cryptocurrency. The district is home to Wall Street firms and many of the country’s most prominent financial institutions.
Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
US bank SoFi Technologies has launched crypto trading services to its customers, as clearer rules have allowed the crypto market to court greater interest from traditional finance.
SoFi said on Tuesday that its crypto service will aim to offer dozens of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and started in a phased rollout on Monday, with more customers able to gain access in the coming weeks.
SoFi CEO Anthony Noto told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday that his bank is the first and only nationally chartered bank to launch crypto trading to consumers and was spurred to do so after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) eased its stance on how banks can engage with crypto in March.
“One of the holes we’ve had for the last two years was in cryptocurrency, the ability to buy, sell, and hold crypto. We were not allowed to do that as a bank. It was not permissible,” he said.
SoFi withdrew from the crypto industry in 2023 as a condition of obtaining a bank charter in a stricter regulatory environment. The bank returned to crypto in June, when it rolled out international payment options, allowing conversions from fiat to crypto and transmission via the blockchain.
Blockchain and crypto a “super cycle technology”
SoFi also plans to introduce SoFi USD, a stablecoin backed dollar-for-dollar by reserves, and integrate crypto into its lending and infrastructure services for borrowing and faster payments.
“We believe blockchain and cryptocurrencies are a super cycle technology just like AI, and it will be pervasive across all the financial system,” Noto said.
He added that stablecoins would fundamentally change payments, provided they have liquidity and don’t carry credit risk or duration risk.
“I actually worry quite significantly about stablecoins from operators that are not banks. Where are the reserves sitting? Is there duration risk for those reserves? Is there credit risk for those reserves? Are those reserves bankruptcy remote?” he said.
“That’s three elements that you have to think about with whatever stablecoin you use. Just because it’s back dollar for dollar doesn’t mean those dollars will be there when you try to liquidate.”
Members back crypto shift
SoFi has over $41 billion in assets, according to financial metric platform Business Quant. The bank’s third-quarter results list its net revenue as $962 million and show a member base of 12.6 million people.
Related: How TradFi banks are advancing new stablecoin models
Noto said 60% of the bank’s members surveyed were interested in crypto investments and also revealed he has allocated 3% of his personal portfolio to crypto, mainly Bitcoin.
“We have exposure to it because I believe we’re investing in a technology not in a currency. The analogy I use with people is imagine if in 1990 you could have bought a piece of the World Wide Web through some coin called the World Wide Web coin.”
“It’s very similar to that. These are networks, communication networks used for payments and other applications,” Noto added.
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Bitwise’s spot Chainlink exchange-traded fund (ETF) has appeared on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s registry, a usually positive sign that the fund is moving closer to launch.
The Bitwise Chainlink ETF was added to the DTCC’s “active” and “pre-launch” categories on Tuesday under the ticker CLNK. The listings don’t guarantee that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will approve the ETF, but they have historically been a good indicator that a product is set to be greenlit.
DTCC is a post-trade market infrastructure platform that clears, settles, and records transactions, serving as a central hub for markets to ensure trades in assets like stocks and ETFs are processed efficiently and securely.
Bitwise is yet to file a Form 8-A for its Chainlink product, one of the final documents that must be lodged before securities are offered on an exchange, and often means that a product’s launch is imminent.
Bitwise filed a Form S-1 statement for the ETF in August to register the product with the SEC. The ETF seeks to track the price of Chainlink (LINK), the token powering Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network to provide real-time data to smart contracts onchain.
Grayscale is another crypto asset manager that has a spot Chainlink ETF in the works. However, it may face more regulatory challenges than Bitwise’s as it seeks to incorporate staking.
Government shutdown slows ETF process
Dozens of spot crypto ETFs are currently awaiting SEC approval amid the US government shutdown, which is in its 42nd day but is expected to end sometime this week after the Senate passed a funding bill.
Related: XRP lawyer runs again for US Senate seat in 2026
Crypto asset managers have filed ETFs to track increasingly speculative altcoins in the hopes of attracting investor attention, from Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) to Aptos (APT), Avalanche (AVAX) and Hedera (HBAR).
New SEC listing standards could see more approvals
Industry analysts are now expecting more spot crypto ETFs to be approved as the SEC created new generic listing standards that enable the approval of crypto investment products without them needing to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The SEC’s new listing standards were released on Sept. 17, less than two weeks before the US government shutdown, leaving little time for the new rules to be put to use.
Since then, the government shutdown has forced the SEC to operate with limited capacity and funding.
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Sir Keir Starmer is vowing to fight any challenge to his leadership rather than stand aside, amid claims of plotting by MPs being compared to TV’s The Traitors.
Number 10 is going on the attack ahead of a difficult budget this month, with fears it could prove so unpopular that Labour MPs may move against Sir Keir.
But Sky News political editor Beth Rigby reports the prime minister “has no intention of giving way”, with allies warning any challenge would lead to a “drawn-out leadership election, spook the markets, and create more chaos that further damages the Labour brand”.
One senior figure told Rigby any move against Sir Keir would be more likely to arrive after next May’s elections, rather than the budget.
They said many Labour MPs could probably get behind measures like tax rises for wealthier workers, pensioners and landlords, as well as scrapping the two-child benefit cap, if that’s what the chancellor announces on 26 November.
But there are a series of potentially damaging elections in May, including in London and for the Senedd in Wales, as Labour face a challenge from Reform UK on the right and parties like the Greens and Plaid Cymru on the left.
Rigby said there is a “settled view among some very senior figures in the party that Starmer lacks the charisma and communication skills to take on Nigel Farage and win over the public, particularly if or when he breaks a bunch of manifesto pledges”.
Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves have refused to rule out breaking their manifesto promises not to raise income tax, national insurance, or VAT at the budget.
The Number 10 operation to ward off a challenge comes after Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates likened the febrile mood in the Labour high command to the TV hit The Traitors.
Speaking on the Politics At Sam And Anne’s podcast, he said: “A minister got in touch at the start of the weekend to say they believe that there’s some quite substantial plotting going on.
“They say there was at least one cabinet minister telling colleagues that Keir Starmer, and I quote, is finished.”
We’ve been here before…
When Boris Johnson was facing mutiny from Conservative MPs, his allies launched “Operation Save Big Dog”.
When Margaret Thatcher was about to be ousted by her rebellious MPs in 1990, she declared: “I fight on, I fight to win.”
And Harold Wilson, constantly paranoid about plots, famously quipped in 1969: “I know what’s going on. I’m going on.”
Boris Johnson was ousted less than six months after “Operation Save Big Dog”, Margaret Thatcher resigned the following morning after saying “I fight on”, and Harold Wilson lost a general election to Edward Heath a year after vowing that he would go on.
Just saying.
Read more:
What tax rises will Reeves announce?
Coates said the cabinet minister “absolutely and totally denies they are up to anything nefarious whatsoever”.
“I actually do think that this is all in the style of The Traitors, because I’m not sure that there is hard and fast evidence of plotting – there might be some hints from some quarters,” he added.
“But what seems to be completely logical is that if you’re a bit worried in Number 10, you’re trying to pitch roll and ward off people who are maybe thinking about the need to position themselves by starting to get out rumours of plots and hoping that the political system turns against them for disloyalty.”
Who is plotting to unseat the PM? Pic: PA
Cloak-and-dagger
Reports emerged on Tuesday night in The Times, The Guardian, and from the BBC of a “bunker mode” in Number 10, “regime change”, and “plotting” to replace Sir Keir.
Responding to the reports, Health Secretary Wes Streeting denied he was seeking to oust the prime minister.
A spokesperson for Mr Streeting told Sky News: “These claims are categorically untrue.
“Wes’s focus has entirely been on cutting waiting lists for the first time in 15 years, recruiting 2,500 more GPs and rebuilding the NHS that saved his life.”
It’s not me, insists Wes Streeting. Pic: Reuters
However, there is clearly a co-coordinated campaign by allies of the increasingly unpopular Sir Keir to try to prevent a leadership challenge by a cabinet minister or stalking horse.
Sir Keir’s biographer Tom Baldwin questioned the logic of those briefing from within the corridors of power.
“I’m at a loss to understand why anyone would think this sort of briefing will help Keir Starmer, the government, or even their own cause,” he said on social media. “Some people just can’t resist, I guess, but it’s all a bit nuts.”
What next?
It comes ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions this lunchtime, handing Tory leader Kemi Badenoch the chance to make it an awkward afternoon for Sir Keir.
The health secretary will start his day on Sky News’ Morning With Ridge And Frost and will then speak at an NHS providers’ conference.
Watch and follow live coverage across Sky News – including in the Politics Hub.
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