| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With help from Daniel Lippman BINANCE’S U.S. PLATFORM LOSES LAST LOBBYISTS: Binance.US, the U.S. affiliate of the global crypto exchange, has parted ways with its last contracted lobbyists as the exchange tries to fend off an onslaught from U.S. regulators and grapples with operational issues. — Financial services lobbying firm FS Vector stopped working for Binance.US at the end of September, according to a newly disclosed filing. Binance.US had hired the firm only a year ago as part of a burst of hiring that came just before the dramatic collapse of rival exchange FTX. Fierce Government Relations, the other firm added during the mini hiring spree, also stopped lobbying for Binance.US at the end of September, according to a termination filed last month. — Binance.US hired its first outside lobbyists in 2021, bringing on Hogan Lovells and Ice Miller Strategies just as the crypto industry was scrambling to make changes to a new crypto tax reporting provision included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Binance.US split with those firms at the end of last year. In all, Binance.US dropped more than $1.5 million on lobbying from 2021 to 2023. — The terminations leave the exchange with a void of registered lobbyists in Washington at a pivotal moment, with Binance.US and the global exchange Binance facing charges from both the SEC and CFTC and potentially the Justice Department as well. The regulatory pressure has taken a toll on both Binance and Binance.US, with the latter undergoing multiple rounds of layoffs and an exodus of executives including its CEO. — The exchange, which is still a member of the crypto trade group Digital Chamber of Commerce, also lacks its own lobbyists with House Republicans on the precipice of passing landmark legislation that would create the first regulatory framework for digital assets, a move the crypto lobby has pleaded for for years. — Even Binance, which maintains it operates independently of Binance.US despite sharing leadership — an assertion U.S. regulators cast doubt on — is down to just one remaining outside lobbying firm in D.C. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which is representing Binance in its case before the CFTC, is the last lobbying firm standing after Binance split up with Ice Miller and Hogan Lovells earlier this year. TGIF and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | A message from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center: The Hopkins Bloomberg Center is Washington’s newest source for research-driven insights that inform policy and shape the future of our world. Here, top policymakers and global leaders convene with experts from Johns Hopkins University to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues, from international relations to artificial intelligence and beyond. Learn more about where Washington comes to think. | | | ENGSTROM JOINS AMFREE CHAMBER: Republican strategist Rob Engstrom is joining the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce as its president, the organization announced today. — Engstrom is a fixture of the downtown community, having served as the chief political adviser to Washington’s top trade associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Bankers Association in addition to working for the RNC and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He most recently ran his own firm, Wolfe Street Partners, and was a senior adviser at Bullpen Strategy Group. — The AmFree Chamber launched last year in part to serve as a foil to the U.S. Chamber amid deepening fissures between the Republican Party and Big Business, tapping prominent Republicans like former Attorney General Bill Barr to helm a new legal arm, former ambassador to China and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to serve as chair and former RNC political director Gentry Collins to serve as CEO. — The group, which is based in Iowa, said it was aimed at giving smaller businesses more say in advocating for free market policies and limited government and a skepticism of doing business with China, an implicit dig at the U.S. Chamber, whose membership includes some of the world’s largest companies in addition to smaller businesses and has defended the globalizing economy. — The AmFree Chamber has also courted key GOP allies on the Hill like former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both of whom have openly criticized the U.S. Chamber. — Notably, the AmFree Chamber’s rollout of Engstrom’s hire, which included praise from more than a dozen Republican members of Congress, New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer and trade association leaders, also featured kind words from Engstrom’s former colleague, Suzanne Clark, who now leads the U.S. Chamber. — “Rob is an old friend of the Chamber’s and we look forward to working with him in this new role,” Clark said in a statement provided by the group. FOSSIL FUEL MAGNATES COME HOME TO TRUMP: “Earlier this summer, oil billionaire Harold Hamm called for Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race. He made contributions to the presidential campaigns of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and questioned publicly whether Trump could beat President Biden in the 2024 election,” The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow write. — “Then late last month, Hamm showed up at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., brought a $200,000 check for a pro-Trump super PAC, and attended a private meeting with Trump and an intimate fundraiser with the former president, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe donations and private meetings.” — “The reversal came as Trump and his team aggressively court donations from the oil and gas industry, one of the main beneficiaries of his time in the White House. Over the course of four years, the Trump administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies, many of them designed to limit planet-warming emissions from fossil fuels.” — “Biden, by contrast, has reversed many of Trump’s policies and enacted dozens of measures aimed at moving the nation away from oil, gas and coal. … In recent weeks, Trump and his team have targeted donors from the oil and gas industry by holding two large events in Texas and calling some of the country’s richest executives. The campaign’s pitch has been straightforward: Trump is going to be the GOP nominee, so these donors should get on board now.”
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ANNALS OF SCAM PACS: “Since the beginning of the Small Business Administration’s loan program during the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been stories about fraud, abuse, and notable individuals taking advantage of the program. Now, it turns out, a super PAC might have helped itself to the government funds as well,” The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger reports.
— “On Wednesday, the Federal Election Commission sent two notices to a Republican super PAC called ‘America Great PAC’ inquiring about the circumstances surrounding repayments it made for a $16,500 SBA loan it received in June 2020 as part of the COVID relief program.” — “One major problem, among others that The Daily Beast uncovered about the group, is that PACs aren’t allowed to take SBA loans. In 2021, the Justice Department sentenced a Nevada man to 46 months in prison for ‘fundraising for fake political action committees (PACs) that he created, and the other involving COVID-19 relief funds he sought and received through fraudulent applications.’ This latest instance seems to be just as problematic.” — “The super PAC — with a name heavily suggestive of Trump’s trademark campaign slogan — appears to be a vehicle for a wide-ranging scam PAC network. The group’s website has a donation form with sample text listing an address and phone number tied directly to several identical scam PAC websites, all with different names, but operating under America Great super PAC.” — “Many of the sites use the names and images of Republican presidential candidates to raise money on their behalf … with multiple sites for each candidate. The network also runs a political merch operation called ‘US Party Supply,’ and the PAC’s operator—D.C. area resident Jason Pallante—is also tied to groups with names like ‘Republican National Committee Donor Support’ and ‘Republican National Hispanic Assembly.’”
| | | | PLAYBOOK IS GOING GLOBAL! We’re excited to introduce Global Playbook, POLITICO’s premier newsletter that brings you inside the most important conversations at the most influential events in the world. From the buzzy echoes emanating from the snowy peaks at the WEF in Davos to the discussions and personalities at Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to the heart of diplomacy at UNGA in New York City – author Suzanne Lynch brings it all to your fingertips. Experience the elite. Witness the influential. And never miss a global beat. BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | | — Sarah Cottrell Propst is departing her role as New Mexico’s secretary of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources and will join American Clean Power as vice president of state affairs. — Sabrina Fang is also joining ACP in the newly created role of vice president of campaign communications. An alum of the American Petroleum Institute, Fang most recently was vice president of communications at Patomak Global Partners.
| | | | A message from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center:   | | | | | KARI LAKE VICTORY FUND (Kari Lake for Senate, Keep America Red Indefinitely PAC)
| | Draft Romney Manchin Committee (PAC) KEEP AMERICA RED INDEFINITELY PAC (Leadership PAC: Kari Lake) New. Digital. Now. (Hybrid PAC) Royal Watch Party of Iran (PAC)
| | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | Boundary Stone Partners: Nth Cycle Holland & Knight LLP: University Of Arizona Health Sciences Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): County Of Kane, Illinois
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Fs Vector LLC: Bam Trading Services, Inc./Binance.US Fs Vector LLC: Block Inc Formerly Reported As Square Inc The Fiorentino Group: Flagler Health Tradewins, LLC: Sunpower Corporation
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