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SEC to pay $150,000 as it settles Coinbase suit over missing texts
The SEC agreed to the settlement after an internal watchdog review found nearly a year of former Chair Gary Gensler’s texts were deleted due to “avoidable errors,” and the agency said it has fixed its record-retention policies.
Coinbase reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the exchange’s attempt to obtain internal records, according to Cointelegraph. The regulator will pay $150,000 in legal fees to end the two-year lawsuit.
The dispute focused on texts attributed to former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, which were reportedly lost after an internal watchdog report said “avoidable errors” led to the deletion of nearly a year of messages. Coinbase had argued the agency’s record-keeping failures occurred during the period of heightened crypto enforcement.
Cointelegraph reports that Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the SEC’s policing role did not prevent it from losing communications during the most intense anti-crypto campaign, and he noted the SEC would pay the $150,000 “award” while also revising its record retention policies.
The settlement also follows other recent legal progress for Coinbase, including an earlier FDIC-related resolution in which the FDIC agreed to pay $188,440 in legal fees after a federal court found it violated the Freedom of Information Act. Grewal is also set to transition from his chief legal officer role to an advisory position starting July 31, Cointelegraph said.