Former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Paul Atkins disclosed combined employment assets of at least $327 million with his wife before a scheduled confirmation hearing with the US Senate Banking Committee.
According to a financial disclosure report made public by the US Office of Government Ethics on March 25, Atkins and his spouse, Sarah Humphreys, held up to a combined $327 million worth of assets, in part through their respective stakes in the prospective SEC chair’s consulting firm Patomak Global Partners and Tamko Building Products.
Sarah and her family members reportedly control a 75% stake in the roofing business founded by her grandfather.
Atkins personally disclosed up to $78.8 million in total employment assets — many of them up to $15,000 each — between $25,000,001 and $50 million in membership interest at Patomak, between $250,001 and $500,000 in call options at the real-world asset tokenization platform Securitize, and between $50,001 and $100,000 at financial technology company Pontoro.
If confirmed as an SEC commissioner, Atkins stated he would resign as CEO of Patomak and divest his membership interest, as well as divest his stock options at Securitize.
The financial disclosure was made public before Atkins was scheduled to answer questions from US lawmakers in the Senate Banking Committee on March 27 for his nomination as an SEC commissioner. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member on the committee, called on Atkins to be prepared to answer questions related to his “deep involvement with FTX and other high-paying crypto clients.”
Related: What to expect at Paul Atkins’ SEC confirmation hearing
Atkins could also have some Republican allies on the committee and face some softball questions during his hearing. The prospective SEC commissioner previously met with Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, who told Cointelegraph she expected he would “work quickly to provide regulatory certainty for the digital asset industry.”
Conflicts of interest regulating digital assets?
In addition to Atkins saying he would divest interests potentially causing conflicts of interest regulating the crypto industry, other government officials in the Trump administration have claimed to take similar steps. David Sacks filed a notice on March 5 suggesting that his venture capital firm sold more than $200 million in crypto and related stocks ahead of assuming his role as the White House AI and crypto czar.
President Donald Trump also faces criticism from lawmakers and figures in the crypto industry due to his family’s involvement with the firm World Liberty Financial and the launch of his memecoin in January.
Atkins’ March 27 hearing will mark the first time US lawmakers will consider his nomination since Trump put his name forward as a potential replacement to former SEC Chair Gary Gensler in December. Commissioner Mark Uyeda became acting chair of the agency following Gensler’s departure on Jan. 20.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
