A U.S. federal judge has rejected a joint request by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to vacate a January 2025 consent order that imposed a $5 million civil penalty and a permanent injunction on the exchange. Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on October 15, 2026 that the parties' arguments did not justify reopening the judgment.
The original CFTC lawsuit, filed in June 2022, alleged that Gemini made false or misleading statements of material fact to agency staff during its 2017 review of a proposed bitcoin futures contract. The regulator questioned Gemini's representations concerning trading volume, customer funding arrangements, and safeguards against manipulation. After nearly three years of litigation, Gemini agreed to settle in January 2025, about three weeks before trial, paying the $5 million penalty and accepting a permanent injunction barring false or misleading statements to the CFTC.
In May 2026, the CFTC joined Gemini in seeking to vacate the order. The regulator said it should not have filed the complaint under its renewed enforcement priorities, questioned the reliability of a whistleblower, and alleged that enforcement staff had withheld relevant information from a commissioner before the vote authorizing the lawsuit. Gemini separately argued that it settled under coercive regulatory pressure and pointed to a fraud scheme involving its former chief operating officer.
Judge Hellerstein rejected both positions. He wrote that "newly acquired knowledge of facts that existed at the time the Consent Order was entered does not constitute a significant change in factual circumstances" and that "the CFTC's present assessment that this action should not have been brought does not require vacatur or other relief." The judge noted that Gemini litigated the case for roughly three years and made "the calculated decision to settle the case shortly before trial."
The ruling leaves the $5 million penalty—already paid—and the permanent injunction in place. The decision comes amid broader changes in U.S. crypto enforcement following the Trump administration's January 2025 executive order on digital financial technology, and it preserves the consent order as a continuing restriction on Gemini's communications with the federal regulator.
