The acting chief of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto and cyber unit is now heading the agency’s overall litigation efforts, getting in just weeks before the Trump administration takes over the White House.
Jorge Tenreiro changed his title on his LinkedIn profile this month to the SEC’s chief litigation counsel, a role that has him oversee the agency’s Division of Enforcement lawsuits and investigations, a role that advertised a salary of up to $305,000 a year, according to a now-closed job post.
Mark Sylvester, the former assistant director of the crypto unit, and Laura D’Allaird, the former counsel to outgoing commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, both changed their LinkedIn profiles on Dec. 2 to list themselves as the new co-chiefs of the crypto assets and cyber unit.
Tenreiro takes over from former SEC litigation chief Olivia Choe, whose LinkedIn shows she left the agency in July for a partner role at the international law firm Milbank LLP.
Tenreiro’s rise comes a little under seven weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has promised to ease the regulator’s scrutiny of the crypto industry.
Tenreiro joined the crypto assets and cyber unit in October 2022 as deputy chief before taking over in June after the unit’s former boss, David Hirsch, departed.
His roles in the crypto unit have seen him lead the SEC’s multiple lawsuits against some of the industry’s biggest players, including exchanges Kraken and Coinbase, blockchain firm Tron and founder Justin Sun and a multi-year legal battle against Ripple Labs.
Tenreiro’s name is listed among the SEC’s lawyers who sued Terraform Labs and Do Kwon in early 2023. Source: CourtListener
The unit has spearheaded lawsuits against FTX and its former executives. It scored the SEC’s biggest-ever settlement after Terraform Labs and former CEO Do Kwon settled for $4.47 billion in June.
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Tenreiro was also there when two SEC lawyers resigned after the agency was sanctioned for lying about evidence it gave in court against the crypto company Debt Box.
Tenreiro has his share of critics in the industry, with crypto lawyer John Deaton writing in a Dec. 1 X post that the litigation boss is at the top of a list of lawyers who the crypto industry shouldn’t hire if they leave the agency.
Source: John Deaton
The SEC did not respond to a request for comment on Tenreiro’s move. Tenreiro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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