๐ Plaintiff and defendant join forces to plead their case. Judge: No.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York rejected a joint motion from the โplaintiff + defendantโโthe CFTC and Geminiโto vacate the $5 million settlement order from January 2025.
Put plainly: the regulator says, โI shouldnโt have sued in the first place,โ while Gemini says, โI was pressured into settling back then.โ The two joined hands and went to the judge asking him to reverse the decision.
The judgeโs response: Not a chance. ๐ช
How the case began: In 2022, the CFTC sued Gemini, alleging that it made false or misleading statements to regulators during a review of Bitcoin futures contracts. The case went on for about three years. Three weeks before trial, Gemini voluntarily settledโpaying $5 million and agreeing to a permanent injunction barring it from lying to the CFTC again.
On May 28 this year, the two sides jointly moved to vacate the order. The CFTC said that, given its current enforcement priorities, it shouldnโt have brought the case in the first place. Gemini said it had settled under pressure from regulators.
The judge said none of that was a reason to reopen the judgment. Geminiโs decision at the time was โdeliberate,โ not coerced. Besides, after three years of litigation, it knew the ins and outs of the caseโincluding the fraud involving its former COO.
Hereโs what makes this interesting: even when the regulator and the party it penalized join forces, the court isnโt buying it. The doors of the justice system arenโt so easy to open. Thatโs actually good for the industryโrules canโt be changed on a whim and settlements casually undone, which provides greater certainty.
At the time of publication,
$BTC was trading at $81,340 (-1.31%; live TradingView Bitstamp reading at 00:10 CST).
Source: The Block report dated 10-16 (publication time personally verified: 2026-10-16T01:44:05-04:00); the judgeโs original ruling is publicly available.
#Gemini #CFTC
What do you thinkโis a settlement order something that should be โforgiven and forgotten,โ or is โa deal a dealโ? Share your thoughts in the comments. ๐
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.