United States lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee have demanded answers from the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regarding how Prometheum obtained a special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) license.
In separate letters dated Aug. 9, House committee Chair Patrick McHenry and 20 other members wrote to SEC Chair Gary Gensler and FINRA president and CEO Robert Cook. The lawmakers questioned the “timing and circumstances” of FINRA approving Prometheum’s SPBD license as they were continuing to consider legislative solutions to regulatory gaps on digital assets.
“While Prometheum claims it is the silver bullet for regulated digital asset offerings, it has not yet served a single customer,” claimed the lawmakers. “It is unclear why FINRA would have chosen to approve a firm with no operating history and no track record of serving customers over all the applications that it has received.”
#NEW: Chairman @PatrickMcHenry led Republicans on the Financial Services Committee in letters to @FINRA and @SECGov regarding the shady approval of Prometheum as the only Special Purpose Broker-Dealer for digital assets.
Prometheum, founded in 2017, had been largely unknown to many members of the crypto space prior to its co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan testifying before the House committee in June. The firm received an SPBD license in May, prompting many crypto advocacy groups and lawmakers to question its products and services and in some cases call for an investigation.
The House committee members requested the SEC and FINRA provide documents and communication records related to Prometheum’s SPBD license before Aug. 22. In addition, the lawmakers called on FINRA to answer specific questions related to Prometheum, alleging the firm may have had ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.