Top SEC crypto litigator bumped to the agency’s IT department

The Securities and Exchanges Committee’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) received a top litigator as a new addition to its team last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 5.

Sources familiar with the matter told WSJ that SEC Chief Litigation Counsel Jorge Tenreiro had been moved to a role in the OIT last week. Tenreiro had only been in the position since December of last year.

IT Brew reached out to the SEC to confirm the role change, but a spokesperson for the federal watchdog declined to comment on the matter.

According to the SEC’s website, the OIT has management responsibilities for the federal agency’s IT program, which includes user support, infrastructure operations and engineering, and security. The department also maintains the SEC’s website and hosts its public database, which contains corporate filings submitted from public companies to the agency.

Not like the other IT guys. Prior to serving as a chief litigation counsel, Tenreiro was an acting chief for the SEC’s crypto asset and cyber unit, where he played a key role in lawsuits against some of the largest crypto players and exchanges such as Kraken and Ripple Labs.

Before joining the SEC in 2013, Tenreiro served as an associate at an international law firm and as a law clerk and judicial law clerk at the US Courts of Appeals and the US District Courts, respectively, according to Tenreiro’s LinkedIn profile, which shows no indication of previous IT experience.

Ongoing shuffle. Tenreiro’s reassignment—which has been speculated to be tied to his strict crypto stance—joins a slew of changes to high- and low-ranking roles under the Trump administration. On the cybersecurity front, the administration recently stripped the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board of its members.