Coinbase Global Inc., which pledged Thursday to “exhaust all avenues” in countering the SEC, is staffing up legally with an ex-Trump Cabinet member and two former federal enforcers.
Coinbase’s outside legal team includes former US Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who is a Gibson Dunn partner, and two former enforcement directors—Steven Peikin of the Securities and Exchange Commission and James McDonald of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Both are Sullivan & Cromwell partners.
The crypto exchange “is coming out of the gates swinging—it’s really because it has the depth of the resources that it can afford,” said Carol Goforth, a University of Arkansas law professor. “If Coinbase did not feel comfortable, it would not have been so public in its response.”
Source: Coinbase Taps Scalia, Top Former Federal Enforcers in SEC Fight
