In a filing on September 11, Coinbase asked for expedited discovery, sanctions, and the immediate production of all responsive communications from the SEC.
A federal court motion has been filed by Coinbase. It demands accountability from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the deletion of nearly a year’s worth of text messages from former Chair Gary Gensler, which occurred during the agency’s crypto enforcement campaign.
The filing from September 11 requests expedited discovery, sanctions, and the immediate production of all responsive communications.
An SEC Office of Inspector General report, which was released on September 3, revealed that Gensler’s texts from October 2022 to September 2023 had been deleted by the agency. This time frame aligns with the FTX collapse and several crypto enforcement actions, including the ones against Coinbase.
The deletion took place after FOIA requests were submitted by Coinbase. These requests sought “all communications” related to crypto regulatory decisions.
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal stated via social media:
“The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General.”
Alleged Court Order Violations
The court filing claimed that several judicial orders were violated by the SEC. These orders required the production of communications between Gensler and other officials concerning Ethereum’s regulatory status.
Even though court directives included “all documents and communications,” the agency’s productions contained no text messages and did not suggest that a search for texts had been conducted.
Belated text message searches were conducted by the SEC only in April and June 2025, months after the agency had claimed to be in compliance with court orders.
In addition, the filing asserted that no responsive texts had been found by the agency. However, it was acknowledged that the searches were incomplete because of technical limitations that affected the devices of dozens of senior officials.
“Mission-Related Communications” Uncovered
The Inspector General’s findings revealed that 38% of Gensler’s recovered texts involved “mission-related communications,” including discussions regarding crypto enforcement. This contradicts the claims that his texts were used exclusively for administrative purposes.
A conversation in May 2023 involved Gensler, his staff, and the Enforcement Division Director. It was about the timing of actions against crypto trading platforms.
Grewal stated that the information creates a double standard issue for the SEC. The agency had previously imposed over $1 billion in fines on financial firms for record-keeping violations while Gensler was chairman.
Grewal said the information creates a double standard for the SEC, which previously imposed more than $1 billion in fines on financial firms for record-keeping violations while Gensler served as chairman.
History Associates, representing Coinbase, contends that an additional 40 senior SEC officials are at risk of losing text messages due to failures in the backup system. The filing requests emergency action to prevent the further destruction of these documents.
