House Democrats Want SEC Chairman Atkins to Testify About "Abandoning" Crypto Enforcement

As Democrats gain in odds to take U.S. House, Waters bashes SEC chair on crypto

With Democrats favored at 75% to win the U.S. House of Representatives majority in 2026 on prediction market Kalshi, Representative Maxine Waters’ new criticism of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins’ crypto policies could gain more energy.

Though Congress remains on its winter break, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee called Monday for Atkins to testify before the committee, where she wants him to answer for the dismissal of significant digital assets industry enforcement actions.

“The SEC has terminated or stayed major enforcement actions against multiple crypto companies and individuals that had been credibly accused of major violations of our securities laws, including Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun,” Waters wrote in a letter sent to the panel’s Republican chairman, Representative French Hill. “The committee has not scrutinized the SEC’s rationale for abandoning these matters, nor how the agency intends to deter fraud and manipulation in markets touching millions of retail investors.”

Deputy Director of Enforcement Nekia Hackworth Jones Concludes Her Tenure at the SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Nekia Hackworth Jones, Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement (Southeast), concluded her tenure with the agency on December 26, 2025. […]

In April 2025, Ms. Jones was appointed to serve as the Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement (Southeast). In that role, she supervised the agency’s enforcement investigations and litigations across the Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Miami offices.

Prior to that national role, Ms. Jones served as the Regional Director of the Atlanta Regional Office from March 2021 through April 2025. As Regional Director, she supervised more than 100 attorneys, accountants, analysts, securities compliance examiners, and other staff, and she led the regional examinations and enforcement programs covering Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Top US law firms hand associates $300,000-plus bonuses

Mid-level lawyers at some US firms will be paid bonuses of more than $300,000 this month as top firms battle to hire and keep star performers.

New York law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel has announced total bonuses for associates worth up to $315,000, including a “super bonus” of up to $200,000 for top performers. […]

The majority of large US law firms offer less generous bonuses than the highest payers, as they tend to use the so-called Cravath scale, matching the rewards set by elite corporate firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. This year the scale reaches $140,000 for top performers.

‘Grift’ ETF Tied to Washington Access in Trump Era Hits a Wall

Wall Street’s $13 trillion ETF machine pushed boundaries this year, cranking out ever-riskier products to feed retail traders hooked on yield, leverage and novelty.

But when Connecticut-based Tuttle Capital Management proposed an exchange-traded fund tracking the perceived value of political access, the machine ran into a wall.

The Tuttle Capital Government Grift ETF — ticker GRFT — is designed to target firms with apparent ties to Washington powerbrokers, from cabinet officials to stock-trading lawmakers. Yet no major exchange has agreed to list it, according to Matt Tuttle, chief executive of Tuttle Capital.