Warren, Hirono, Durbin Lead Colleagues in Urging DOJ to Reverse Decisions Greenlighting Cryptocurrency-Based Crime
“These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Mazie K. Hirono (D-H.I.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led 6 Senators in urging Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to reverse the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent decisions to effectively terminate the Department’s cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions. The memo, sent to staff earlier this week, also stated that DOJ will disband its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), which was established to investigate and prosecute criminal misuse of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. In their letter, the Senators also raise concerns about the potential connections between DOJ’s actions and the cryptocurrency ventures of President Trump and his family.
“We write in response to your April 7, 2025 memo announcing your decision to give a free pass to cryptocurrency money launderers and to disband the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (“NCET”),” begin the Senators. “These are grave mistakes that will support sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams, and child sexual exploitation.”
Specifically, the DOJ memo announced that the Department would no longer be enforcing a number of federal laws against entities that handle digital assets, including mixing and tumbling services. Mixers are often used to launder stolen cryptocurrency and used by drug traffickers, those who trade child sexual abuse material, and even North Korea, which uses mixers to evade sanctions and fund weapons of mass destruction.
“It makes no sense for DOJ to announce a hands-off approach to tools that are being used to support such terrible crimes,” wrote the lawmakers.
“Drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries will exploit this vulnerability on a large scale,” the Senators continued. “Further increasing the risks posed by bad actors is your decision to disband NCET, which has coordinated a Department-wide effort to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency.”
Since its creation in 2021, NCET has worked with U.S. Attorneys’ offices to prosecute illicit activity involving cryptocurrency, including prosecuting cases involving hundreds of millions worth of digital assets. Despite this proven record of success, Blanche’s memo stated that the disbandment of NCET will allow the DOJ to “focus on other priorities, such as immigration and procurement frauds.”
“Your decisions give rise to concerns that President Trump’s interest in selling his cryptocurrency may be the reason for easing law enforcement scrutiny,” the Senators concluded. “We urge you to reconsider these decisions.”
In addition to Senators Warren, Hirono, and Durbin, this letter was also signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
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