Winklevoss Twins Were ‘Politically Targeted,’ CFTC Chief Says—Clashing With Ex-Nominee Trump Yanked

BreakingBusinessWinklevoss Twins Were ‘Politically Targeted,’ CFTC Chief Says—Clashing With Ex-Nominee Trump YankedByAlicia Park,Reporter. I cover markets and tech.Follow AuthorJun 02, 2026, 01:09pm EDTToplineMichael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told CNBC on Tuesday that his agency's case against the Winklevoss twins' crypto exchange Gemini was an act of political "lawfare," going against a competing allegation that the brothers had targeted the agency by lobbying against Brian Quintenz’s bid for the top CFTC job after he refused to promise them the outcome they wanted. Tyler Winklevoss, chief executive officer and co-founder of Gemini Space Station Inc., left, and Cameron Winklevoss, president and co-founder of Gemini Space Station Inc., right, during the company's initial public offering on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg© 2025 Bloomberg Finance LPKey FactsSelig, who was nominated in October and assumed the role in December, said the Biden administration "weaponized the federal agencies against the crypto industry" and "politically targeted people like the Winklevoss twins." Selig was nominated to the position after Trump pulled Quintenz's nomination to lead the CFTC in September 2025, following Quintenz’s accusation that the Winklevoss twins lobbied to block him over his refusal to take their side in the Gemini case. Selig's remarks were the agency's first public comment since it asked a federal judge in New York last week to vacate a $5 million penalty and a permanent injunction that paved the way for harsher penalties for future false statements to regulators. The order was implemented in the final weeks of the Biden administration, and the case originated in 2022 over statements Gemini allegedly made to the CFTC in 2017 while seeking approval for a bitcoin futures product.Selig declined to litigate the merits, saying only that "to the...