U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairwoman Caroline Pham, the Republican commissioner who just took over the agency when President Donald Trump returned to the White House, fired many of the top officials of the agency under the predecessor of Rostin Behnam, the Democrat who had been appointed by Joe Biden.
The personnel changes – with each departure replaced by interim officials appointed by Pham – will have implications on cryptocurrency oversight for the US derivatives regulator, which is poised to play a larger role in the field.
Notably, Harry Jung, who joined the CFTC in 2023 as Pham’s senior policy advisor, will lead the agency’s engagement with the crypto industry. He has been tapped for an elevated role as the CFTC’s new acting chief of staff.
Pham announced the departure of a long list of senior officials, including the agency’s general counsel and the heads of its enforcement, public affairs, compensation and risk, market oversight and market participants divisions. Also leaving is the head of the office of international affairs and the department that oversees legislative affairs, a key area for the agency as Congress will work on a cryptocurrency bill that could put the CFTC in a leading role.
“I am pleased to announce the changes in CFTC leadership with the start of the new administration,” Pham said in a statement. “I am grateful for their many combined decades of faithful service to the CFTC, and I appreciate our talented CFTC staff who will assume these roles on an interim basis.”
The new acting general counsel, the agency’s top legal officer, and Pham’s chief of staff and public affairs director were selected from the ranks of his commissioner’s office staff: Meghan Tente, Taylor Foy and Jung, respectively. Heading the legislative office will be Nicholas Elliot, who previously advised her on policy.
The deputy law enforcement director will be Briang Young, a former Justice Department veteran who took over as CFTC whistleblower officer last year.
