President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice will be led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Branch after firing Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Branch is representing Trump in criminal cases in New York ahead of his re-election as President of the United States in 2024. Trump appointed him deputy attorney general upon his re-inauguration.
As deputy attorney general, Branch ordered the disbandment of the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Group, established in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, and signed a four-page memorandum ordering prosecutors not to pursue cases of regulatory violations in the crypto industry.
The Southern District of New York cited the document in its case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, which ultimately led the office to drop charges against Storm (Storm was later convicted on a separate charge and faces retrial on two additional charges later this year).
According to Branch’s latest government ethics disclosure on July 10, 2025, Branch transferred his crypto asset holdings to his children and grandchildren, including Bitcoin Solana (SOL), and Ethereum (ETH). His disclosure form also states that he holds Polygon (MATIC), and Quant (QNT), as well as Coinbase (COIN) stock.
According to ProPublica, when he signed the execution memorandum, he still held the cryptocurrencies, worth a total of between $159,000 and $485,000, violating ethics rules and his promise to divest the assets before handling crypto-related matters.
