Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s consideration of Christy Goldsmith Romero to be nominated by President Trump to be a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):
“Senate Democratic Leader Schumer should not propose Goldsmith Romero to be a Commissioner of the SEC because she is unqualified and untrustworthy. Moreover, this looks like part of an attempted backroom deal by Schumer to deliver for the crypto industry by giving some Democratic Senators cover for voting for a bad crypto bill, which presumably would open the crypto industry’s vast campaign war chest for Schumer’s preferred Democratic candidates. Finally, Democrats need to ask themselves what the point is of putting anyone on any agency like the SEC, given the Supreme Court just killed their independence and politicized them in the Slaughter v. FTC case; those agencies are all now just political arms of the White House pursuing the political agenda and whims of President Trump.
“Goldsmith Romero was the deciding vote at the CFTC to unleash unregulated nationwide gambling via prediction markets by dropping a lawsuit against Kalshi. Worse, she voted to do that in secret, without any notice, and contrary to months of coordinated advocacy. Her secret vote was also a surprise flip-flop from her prior public vote to initiate the litigation against Kalshi because of its desire to offer so-called ‘event contracts’ to gamble on elections. This flip-flop predictably unleashed prediction market platforms nationwide to offer hundreds of gambling contracts on everything from our democracy to sports, violating innumerable state laws, undermining state and tribal governments, flooding users with constant prompts and ads to gamble, and distracting the CFTC from its critical core mission of regulating commodities and derivatives markets while preventing the next financial crisis.
“Goldsmith Romero also delivered her secret vote to Acting Chair Pham for the benefit of Kalshi, knowing that Better Markets had filed a complaint with the CFTC Inspector General ‘due to the extraordinary, if not unprecedented, public disclosure of highly confidential, nonpublic, internal, factual and legal discussions by [then] CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham concerning Kalshi’s [then] pending application.’ (Complaint here and here.) While the CFTC IG never acted on that Complaint, Goldsmith Romero should have insisted on the vote being public and explained what she was doing and why. Instead, she apparently ignored the Complaint, the overwhelming public importance of the CFTC’s lawsuit against Kalshi, the conflicts of interest, and the damage to the public interest and to the CFTC’s reputation and mission.
“All that’s bad enough, but Goldsmith Romero also voluntarily left the agency months before her successor was confirmed, enabling then-Acting Chair Pham to deliver a host of favorable actions to the crypto industry and others while she was riddled with conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest from seeking – and reportedly accepting – employment with the industry at the same time she was Acting Chair and taking these actions. This conduct raises the very serious question whether someone like Goldsmith Romero should be rewarded with and trusted for another important public position if they did not demonstrate a willingness to even serve out the term of their last very important public position?
“As is well-known, the crypto industry is pulling out all the stops to get the Senate to enact its special interest legislation, even though a May 2026 poll showed yet again that only 18% of Americans said they wanted lawmakers to prioritize establishing new laws for crypto and only 27% supported the government taking action to legitimize the crypto industry. A few brave Democratic Senators are withstanding enormous pressure and preventing the bill from being passed because they have very serious legitimate concerns over crypto’s use by the worst criminals and terrorists in the world, Trump and his family’s innumerable crypto businesses and the associated conflicts of interest and corruption, among other things. Schumer suggesting proposing Goldsmith Romero looks like a gesture calculated to make some think that the SEC will actually do something about those concerns and thereby give cover to some Democrats to vote for crypto’s special interest legislation. There is no doubt that the Trump-controlled SEC (and CFTC) will do nothing about those concerns and will continue to give the crypto industry and Trump virtually anything and everything they want.
“That is all the more obvious in light of the Supreme Court decision in Slaughter v. FTC, which eliminated the independence of agencies like the SEC. Handing the President full direct control of the SEC, regardless of any minority commissioner (all of whom can be fired by Trump at will without cause or notice), will thoroughly politicize the SEC and other agencies, which is the whole point of the unitary executive theory now enshrined in constitutional law by the Supreme Court. While using pliant and powerless Democratic commissioners as cover for bad policies and rules may serve Trump’s agenda, why would anyone want to participate in that? There is no doubt that Trump’s SEC, CFTC and other financial regulators will continue their fulsome support and promotion of the crypto industry, but Trump’s dangerous agenda that the SEC and other agencies are implementing is broader and will have far-reaching consequences. Senate Democrats should not pretend that even a qualified Democratic Commissioner at the SEC will change any of that, which in any case would not be Goldsmith Romero.”
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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.
