Attorney John Deaton claims that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren violated her testimony as a member of the Senate Banking Committee. Deaton claims that Warren, who oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "conspired" with close friend and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to provide him with pre-arranged questions and suggested answers for Senate hearings.

Elizabeth Warren violated her testimony

John Deaton, a well-known lawyer in the cryptocurrency community, lashed out at U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on the social media platform on Saturday, accusing her of violating her testimony as a senator who oversees the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Deaton's post was in response to a video clip shared by Fox News that provided evidence that Senator Warren coached SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in preparation for a 2021 Senate hearing. Emails obtained from Warren's office by the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project show that her economic advisers sent Gensler a list of questions the senator planned to ask the SEC chairman, along with suggested answers for him. "Let me know if you are satisfied with the questions as written so far," the advisers asked Gensler. In a subsequent letter, Warren's advisers further asked, "Let me know if the chairman has any questions about the questioning... Definitely don't want to put him in a difficult position." During the hearing, Warren asked almost verbatim from the email.

“As a senator, sitting on the Banking Committee, Elizabeth Warren violated her testimony,” Deaton claimed, elaborating:

Her job was to provide and participate in actual oversight at the SEC. Instead, she conspired with her close friend, Gary Gensler, by providing him not only the exact questions she was going to ask before the hearing, but also the suggested answers to those questions.

“This was not oversight but fraudulent, coached testimony before Congress. She literally said she didn’t want to put Gensler in a difficult position. Are you kidding me?” the attorney exclaimed. “Her job is to put the SEC Chairman in a difficult position and ask tough or ‘tough’ questions.”

Deaton noted that Warren is “the biggest critic of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Congress,” stressing that the Massachusetts senator is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the SEC, but “she has not questioned the SEC or Gensler about Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) multiple meetings with Gensler and the SEC. She has not questioned why or how Gensler missed SBF’s fraud, given Gensler’s close meetings with SBF.”

The lawyer also questioned Gensler’s multiple meetings with SBF, contrasting them with the lack of engagement from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, “despite Coinbase, the largest exchange in the U.S. and a publicly traded U.S. company, pleading for a meeting.” Deaton argued:

Warren rails against crypto every chance she gets, but didn’t ask why Gensler missed out on FTX, Celsius Network, Luna/UST, etc.? Why not? She took the time to help wipe out several banks that were working with crypto companies. Why not focus on the root of the problem: actual fraud?

He added, "Isn't she asking certain questions because of her relationship with SBF's parents? SBF's father, Joe Bankman, wrote Warren's tax plan in 2016. We know without a doubt that he helped SBF create all these shell companies to avoid taxes. SBF's mother runs a PAC (political action committee) to help Democrats like Warren get elected."

Do you agree with attorney John Deaton’s view that Senator Elizabeth Warren violated her deposition and conspired with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler? Let us know in the comments section below. #Warren  #SEC