The US Department of Justice will be led by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, after removing Attorney General Pam Bondi from the position.
Blanche represented Trump in his criminal case in New York ahead of his re-election as US president in 2024. Trump appointed him deputy attorney general after resuming office.
As deputy attorney general, Blanche ordered the dissolution of the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which was formed in 2022 under former President Joe Biden, and signed a four-page memo directing prosecutors not to pursue regulatory violation cases in the cryptocurrency industry.
The document was referenced in the Southern District of New York’s office’s case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, ultimately leading that office to drop a charge against Storm (Storm was later convicted on another charge and faces a retrial on two more later this year).
According to Blanche’s most recent government ethics disclosure, dated July 10, 2025, Blanche transferred her holdings of crypto assets to her children and a grandson, including Bitcoin. Solana (SOL), and Ethereum (ETH). His disclosure form also noted that he had had Polygon (MATIC), and Quant (QNT), as well as Coinbase stock (COIN).
According to ProPublica, he still had these cryptocurrencies (between $159,000 and $485,000 in total) when he signed the enforcement memorandum, which violated ethics rules and his promise to divest before working on cryptocurrency-related matters.
