SEC Blasted by Judge for ‘Gross Abuse of Power’ in Crypto Case

A federal judge in Utah took the extremely unusual step of sanctioning the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying that the regulator abused its authority in a case against crypto platform Digital Licensing Inc., known as DEBT Box.

The SEC’s conduct “constitutes a gross abuse of the power entrusted to it by Congress and substantially undermined the integrity of these proceedings and the judicial process,” Robert Shelby, a federal district court judge in Salt Lake City, said in an 80-page legal filing on Monday. He also ordered the agency to pay DEBT Box’s attorney’s fees and other costs related ...