CSV Partner Andrew Rodgers Quoted in Financial Times Article Detailing Leadership Struggle at the CFTC

September 29, 2025

In a Financial Times article “Power struggle upends US crypto watchdog as Donald Trump embraces industry,” CSV partner and former CFTC trial attorney, Andrew Rodgers, is quoted regarding his work on an enforcement matter the CFTC brought against the crypto exchange, Gemini Trust Company, LLC, for false and misleading statements the exchange made to the CFTC in connection with the listing of a novel bitcoin futures contract.  The article details how the founders of Gemini, the Winklevoss twins of Facebook notoriety, continue to interfere with the nomination of a permanent Chairman to lead the agency after receiving a tepid response from the current nominee, Brian Quintenz, about his views of the $5 million settlement Gemini brokered to settle the false statement case on the eve of trial.  Despite claims of unfairness and regulatory over-reach, Andrew Rodgers observed that the “Winklevoss twins . . . had every opportunity to defend themselves in court” and that “they signed on to a settlement that presumably they thought was in their best interest and would avoid the embarrassment of trial.”  The settlement, which continues to be a source of contention for the Winklevoss twins, followed a string of losses in federal court where Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York upheld the viability of the CFTC’s false statement claims and ordered to case to trial.