Outgoing Top SEC Lawyer Dined With SBF During FTX Lobbying Spree
- December 23, 2022
SHALINI NAGARAJAN, Blockworks
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) general counsel Dan Berkovitz reportedly dined with disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at an elite Indian restaurant in October last year.
Berkovitz is now set to leave the SEC at the end of next month, having worked there for a little over a year. He was a commissioner for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at the time of the Bankman-Fried dinner, which occurred at Rasika West End in Washington DC on Oct. 5.
Bankman-Fried’s FTX US acquired CFTC-regulated crypto derivatives firm LedgerX three weeks later, rebranding the unit to FTX US Derivatives.
Other executives including FTX general counsel Ryne Miller and former FTX President Brett Harrison joined them, according to the Washington Examiner, citing emails retrieved by the watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust under the Freedom of Information Act.
LedgerX CEO Zach Dexter, Association for Digital Assets Markets CEO Michelle Bond and former CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen may have also attended, per the emails. Wetjen served as FTX head of policy and regulatory strategy.