Former CFTC Chair Calls Reversal of Gemini Settlement 'Extraordinarily Unusual'

A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair criticized the agency’s move to seek vacatur of a $5 million settlement with Gemini. In a motion filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the CFTC joined Gemini Trust Company in asking relief from the judgment in a case first brought in June 2022; the parties had reached a $5 million settlement in January 2025 while the agency was under President Joe Biden.

Tim Massad, a former CFTC chair and research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, said: '[T]he CFTC’s action in reversing itself on a settled case is extraordinarily unusual.' He added that 'the explanation seems to be that the staff got it wrong, not that the law was unclear.' The CFTC’s motion states a whistleblower was found 'not to be credible' and alleges evidence was concealed by the commission’s previous leadership.

United States, Southern District of New York

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