Oct 13, 2022 - 51min
EPISODE 26
TRM Talks: U.S. DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team One Year In
With Paul Hemesath, and Sujit Raman, and Sanjeev Bhasker and
A year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), building upon their Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), with a mission to “to tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services and money laundering infrastructure actors."
Over the course of the last year, the NCET, consisting of Criminal Trial Attorneys and Assistant United States Attorneys from across the nation, has worked with law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute crypto-related cases. These cases have ranged from darknet mixing services to insider trading, ICO scams to national security threats.
Beyond investigations and prosecutions, the NCET has been charged with responding to President Biden’s crypto executive order as agencies grapple with how to regulate in the digital assets space.
This month, TRM Talks was joined by United States Digital Currency Counsels, members of both the DCI and NCET, to talk about DOJ’s focus on crypto and what comes next.
About the guests
Paul Hemesath is Senior Counsel at Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. Previously, Paul Hemesath was counsel to the Digital Currency Initiative at the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section in the United States Department of Justice. Before that, Paul served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the Eastern District of California for 12 years. Paul investigated and prosecuted cases involving ransomware, hacking and intrusion, dark web marketplaces, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, cryptocurrency, and other technology-related federal crimes. For his work on cryptocurrency-related crimes, Paul received Attorney General’s Distinguished Service and the FBI Director’s awards. Paul graduated from UCLA with a political science degree, and he received law and foreign service degrees from Georgetown University.
Sujit Raman is Chief Legal Officer at TRM and leads the company's global legal operations. Prior to joining TRM in 2022, Sujit was a partner at the international law firm Sidley Austin LLP, where he advised clients on a myriad of high-stakes issues including government investigations, cyber/data protection, and multibillion-dollar transactional matters. Sujit previously spent nearly twelve years as a U.S. federal prosecutor, culminating in his service as U.S. Associate Deputy Attorney General. In this role, Sujit personally advised the U.S. Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General in their oversight of the nation’s cyber-related criminal and national security investigations and prosecutions. He also chaired the task force that formulated the U.S. Department of Justice's Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework, which remains federal law enforcement's strategy blueprint for enforcement in the digital assets space. Sujit also led DOJ’s policy formulation in several critical areas, including cybersecurity, cross-border data transfers and protection, and emerging technologies such as facial recognition and encryption. Sujit brings a wealth of expertise in data privacy, national security, cybercrime prevention and cryptocurrency.
Sanjeev Bhasker serves as U.S. Digital Currency Counsel with the US Department of Justice's Digital Currency Initiative, providing legal guidance and support to investigators, prosecutors, and government agencies on cryptocurrency prosecutions, seizures, and forfeitures. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, providing trial and appellate litigation throughout the United States (WDNC, SDTX).
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