A document revealed by legal representatives of crypto firm Binance showed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, Gary Gensler, offered to work for the exchange back in 2019.
The document, filed by the SEC on Wednesday, noted that Binance lawyers Gibson Dunn and Latham & Watkins disclosed that Gensler applied for an advisory role in the leading exchange in March 2019. Although the reason why Gensler was not employed was not revealed, the lawyers noted that the SEC chair met up with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao for lunch in Japan, as the filing claimed.
Old Crypto Ally
The SEC chair may have been a crypto ally before he was employed by the regulator, according to documents revealed on Wednesday. America’s current president appointed Gensler as head of the SEC in 2021 after resuming office.
Since then, Gensler has clamped down on digital assets, with several cases of legal action against Coinbase, Kraken, and even his would-have-been employer, Binance. But documents filed by the SEC revealed Gensler was not always a crypto antagonist.
The SEC chair had close ties with Zhao during his teaching days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Gensler, at one time, even Zhao sat down for an interview with the SEC’s chair as part of the cryptocurrency course he was studying at the institution.
Their relationship furthered, and Gensler even sent Zhao a copy of what he would testify about in a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee in 2019. Gensler was to testify in a case involving Facebook’s proposed digital asset, Libra.
Lawyers Ask for Gensler’s Abstinence from Case
Owing to the ties with the crypto firm, Binance’s legal representatives have asked that Gensler be exempted from participating in the legal process. The lawyers, however, noted that they had not gotten approval for these requests.
An SEC spokesperson noted in a press release that Gensler understands his ethical obligations in recusal cases and would fully comply with that requirement.
