Commissioner Crenshaw's Imminent Departure Will Leave SEC on "Very Narrow Ledge"

Three Commissioners at SEC Puts Agency on Very Narrow Ledge

The SEC held a farewell event this week for Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, who will leave the Commission in the next few weeks. Once she departs, the Commission will be down to just three members.

On paper, that still works. Three Commissioners is a quorum. In practice, though, it puts the agency on a very narrow ledge.

With only three Commissioners, there’s no room for error. All three have to be available for the Commission to act. One recusal, a conflict, or even someone out sick can bring things to a halt.

Enforcement decisions also become harder to manage. A 2–1 vote is enough, but staff will have to be careful about when matters are scheduled to make sure all three Commissioners are present and able to vote. Inevitably, things will slow down.

Crenshaw has been a reliable pro-enforcement vote. Her departure doesn’t just shift the dynamics inside the Commission; it creates a real operational bottleneck for an agency that is only starting to regain its footing after the extended government shutdown.

Ex-Coinbase employee arrested in India over $400m heist

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on Friday that an ex-employee of the crypto exchange has been arrested in India, months after hackers stole customer data and demanded $20 million in ransom for its return.

The hack — which happened in May — saw Coinbase support agents bribed by criminals to release customer information such as home addresses, bank details and user ID photos.

Hackers then demanded the American crypto exchange pay $20 million to get the sensitive data back. No customer funds were stolen in the heist, and Coinbase refused to pay the ransom.

Gen Z NYC crypto crook busted for stealing $16M in digital heist

A Gen-Zer still living with his dad was busted for stealing $16 million in cryptocurrency from dozens of people — using the funds to gamble and shamelessly bragging about the jaw-dropping digital heist online, Brooklyn prosecutors said Friday.

Ronald Spektor, 23, allegedly scammed roughly 100 victims — ranging from cops to single moms — out of their hard-earned savings while running the scheme from his father’s house in Sheepshead Bay, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

“This was no different than someone robbing them, quite literally robbing them for everything they had. It’s heartbreaking,” Gonzalez said at a press conference.

The blockchain bandit contacted victims all over the country while posing as a representative from the crypto exchange company Coinbase, and claimed their money was at risk from a hacker, the DA’s office said.

The young con artist then convinced his marks — including victims in Virginia, California and Pennsylvania— to move the digital dough to a different online “wallet” that he secretly had access to, prosecutors said.

Accounting body scraps remote exams to combat cheating

The world’s largest accounting body has decided to scrap remote exams to combat a rise in students cheating when sitting tests remotely.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, which has 257,900 members, will end its online exams from March, requiring candidates to sit assessments in person unless there are exceptional circumstances, its chief executive Helen Brand told the Financial Times.

Remote invigilation was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic to allow students to continue qualifying into the profession during lockdowns.

But the ACCA has concluded that online tests have become too difficult to police, particularly as artificial intelligence has made cheating more difficult to combat.