SEC reassigns litigator who pursued crypto exchange lawsuits

White Lotus fans need to catch up on an earlier Mike White show, because it’s coming true over at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2011’s Enlightened, a moving tale of recovery and a whip-smart corporate drama, troublemaking employees were relegated to the de facto IT department in a grimy fluorescent-lit basement. The message was clear. We can’t fire you, but we can make you sit here and do a different job instead.

The SEC must’ve been making its way through its watchlist.

Last week, the agency transferred Jorge Tenreiro, a former head of litigation who oversaw crypto exchange lawsuits, to, you guessed it, the de facto IT department. Well, IT department, or see also: “an office that maintains the agency’s computer systems” slash “the agency’s office of information technology.”

Those synonyms for “office with fluorescent overhead lighting” come from the Wall Street Journal, which originally broke the news.

The SEC “also reassigned a lawyer who was involved in writing controversial accounting guidance that made it hard for banks to safeguard crypto for clients,” according to the Journal.

Unlike SEC chairs, Tenreiro’s position wasn’t one that typically changes alongside new presidential administrations. Instead, it’s more likely the switch-up was part of the agency’s broader push to pacify the crypto industry, following former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s more combative stance on crypto.

The switch-up comes on the heels of acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda’s recent move to establish a crypto task force, which will develop a regulatory path for crypto and improve the digital coin registration process.