Wire fraud: the most powerful law in crypto right now

Reuters has published “Wire fraud: the most powerful law in crypto right now,” an article by Akin Gump white collar defense partner Ian McGinley.

In the article, McGinley discusses the debate on whether to classify digital assets as securities, commodities or a separate asset class and how the Department of Justice (DOJ) is using the wire fraud statute “to bring innovative cases in the cryptocurrency space that do not depend on how a digital asset is classified.”

He notes that, since his previous article (“Expect indictments in the NFT space soon”), DOJ has used the statute to prosecute the first two “rug pulls” (“take the money and run” schemes) involving NFTs and to prosecute two digital asset insider trading cases.

In the article, he examines the history of the wire fraud statute, DOJ’s use of the statute in 2022 to date, and examines what to expect going forward.

To read the full article, click here.