Heath Tarbert

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Heath Tarbert Occupation President Employer Circle Internet Financial Location Washington D.C. Twitter @circle Personal Twitter @ChairmanHeath LinkedIn Profile Website www.circle.com Heath Price Tarbert (born July 15, 1976) is an American lawyer, former government official, and current president of Circle Internet Financial who previously served as the 14th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2019 to 2021. Background Early Career in Law Tarbert began his legal career as an associate at the international law firm Sullivan & Cromwell from 2003 to 2005, where he performed corporate due diligence for major transactions and filed periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following his time at Sullivan & Cromwell, Tarbert served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2005 to 2006, where he assisted with the disposition of over 30 cases and dozens of petitions for panel and en banc rehearing. He then worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2007, drafting legal opinions on behalf of the U.S. Attorney General and reviewing over 100 pieces of pending legislation for constitutional issues. Supreme Court Clerkship and White House Service Tarbert's most prestigious early appointment was serving as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2007 to 2008, where he reviewed and wrote memoranda on hundreds of petitions for certiorari and assisted with merits work and other business of the Supreme Court. From 2008 to 2009, Tarbert served as associate counsel to President George W. Bush, providing legal advice to the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers during the final months of the Bush administration. In this capacity, he advised senior White House and Cabinet officials on issues related to the U.S. government's response to the financial crisis, gaining firsthand experience with the regulatory challenges posed by systemic financial instability. Private Practice at Major Law Firms After his government service, Tarbert returned to private practice, joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges as senior counsel in April 2010 and becoming a partner in January 2012. During his tenure at Weil Gotshal, he worked on high-profile matters, including advising American International Group Corporation during the global financial crisis. In January 2014, Tarbert moved to Allen & Overy as a partner, where he chaired the U.S. bank regulatory group and served as a member of the UK-EU financial services regulatory practice. At Allen & Overy, he counseled more than 130 banks, securities firms, clearinghouses, and other institutions on compliance with U.S. financial laws. Senate Banking Committee Role Between his private practice roles, Tarbert served as special counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where he participated in negotiations that eventually led to passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This experience provided him with deep knowledge of derivatives regulation and the legislative framework that would later govern much of his work as a financial regulator. Treasury Department Leadership In October 2017, Tarbert was sworn in as assistant secretary of the Treasury for international markets, where he advanced U.S. interests in multilateral organizations on financial stability and regulatory issues while promoting growth and negotiating trade agreements. He served as a member of the Financial Stability Board and on all three of its Standing Committees, while also co-chairing the U.S.-EU Financial Regulatory Forum and U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group. During his Treasury tenure, Tarbert led U.S. delegations at the G-20 Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Deputies track and served as acting undersecretary for international affairs and acting U.S. executive director of the World Bank Group. His role involved overseeing consideration of development loans across sectors, including agriculture, education, health, and infrastructure, while serving as policy chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFTC Chairmanship and Enforcement Record Tarbert was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed as the 14th chairman of the CFTC in July 2019, where he led the agency's mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of U.S. derivatives markets through sound regulation. Tarbert succeeded Chris Giancarlo as CFTC chairman. While at the CFTC, Tarbert continued the legacy of "crypto-dad" Giancarlo in his friendliness to cryptocurrency. He confirmed in 2019 that the CFTC considered bitcoin a commodity rather than a security, and he additionally declared his view that ether is a commodity as well. Under his leadership, the CFTC set numerous records for enforcement activity, filing 113 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2020, the most in the agency's 45-year history. During his tenure, the CFTC ordered over $1.3 billion in monetary relief and brought a record 56 retail fraud actions in fiscal year 2020. Tarbert emphasized transparency and consensus-building, holding 20 open meetings during his tenure, more than the previous seven years combined, with 90 percent of the agency's 41 final rules and 21 proposals adopted on a bipartisan basis. He stepped down from the CFTC with three years remaining in his term on March 5, 2021. Kraft Food and Mondelez Global legal flap Just weeks after taking the chairman's spot at the CFTC, Tarbert was called to testify about statements made following a CFTC settlement with Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez Global LLC. The two companies agreed to pay $16 million to settle wheat market manipulation charges on August 15, 2019. Tarbert, along with Commissioners Dan Berkovitz and Rostin Behnam, were ordered by the U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey in August 2019 to testify about statements made following the settlement. It was an unusual step in the case, as it is unprecedented for a CFTC chairman to be called into court. Kraft and Mondelez argued that Tarbert, Berkovitz and Behnam violated the agreement with the CFTC with follow-up statements issued after the settlement. The settlement included an unconventional provision that prohibited parties in the case from making public comments about it beyond information in public records. Tarbert, Berkovitz and Behnam each issued press releases following the settlement, which Kraft and Mondelez said violated the agreement. The court hearing was set for September 12, 2019. Ether Ahead of any official statements or relevant actions by the CFTC, on October 10, 2019, Tarbert told the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit, "It is my view as chairman of the CFTC that Ether is a commodity.” He said that the CFTC was working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on bitcoin and they both agreed that neither are securities. He also told the audience that the CFTC was ready to approve Ether futures. Later that month, Tarbert said at DC Fintech Week that a security can turn into a commodity, and vice versa. Despite his earlier statements about Ether being a commodity, Tarbert told CoinDesk’s November 2020 Invest: NYC conference the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were both “thinking carefully” about the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade which will replace the coin’s current proof-of-work (PoW) model. Post-Government Private Sector Roles After stepping down from the CFTC chairmanship in January 2021, Tarbert was appointed chief legal officer of Citadel Securities in April 2021, where he was responsible for the firm's global legal, compliance, surveillance, and regulatory affairs functions. In June 2023, he joined Circle Internet Financial as chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs, becoming president in 2025. Education Tarbert graduated summa cum laude from Mount St. Mary's University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, international business and economics, serving as class valedictorian. He received a full academic scholarship and was president of Delta Mu Delta, the National Honor Society for Business Administration, while also serving as an honors intern at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1997. At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Tarbert earned his Juris Doctor magna cum laude in 2001 and Doctor of Juridical Science in 2002. He served as a senior editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was elected class president, receiving the Oscar Bregman Prize for excellence in business law and the Mendes Hershman Student Writing Award from the American Bar Association. Tarbert completed his advanced education at Oxford University as a Thouron Scholar, earning his Master of Studies with distinction in 2002 and Doctor of Philosophy in comparative law in 2005. His doctoral dissertation examined "Deal Protection Devices in Stock-for-Stock Mergers: An Anglo-American Analysis," while his S.J.D. dissertation at Penn focused on "Rethinking International Capital Adequacy Rules." Risk Management Controversies Kraft Foods Settlement Dispute One of the most significant controversies during Tarbert's CFTC tenure involved the agency's $16 million settlement with Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez Global in August 2019 over allegations of wheat market manipulation. The settlement included an unusual confidentiality provision that barred all parties from making public statements about the case beyond referring to the settlement terms or public documents. The controversy erupted when Kraft and Mondelez accused the CFTC of violating the confidentiality agreement after Tarbert and two other commissioners issued public statements following the settlement. Tarbert had stated that "America is the breadbasket of the world; wheat markets are its heart. Market manipulation inflicts real pain on farmers by denying them the fair value of their hard work and crops." In an unprecedented move, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey ordered Tarbert and the two other commissioners to testify in court about their post-settlement statements, marking the first time a CFTC chairman had been called to testify in such circumstances. In October 2019, Judge Blakey ultimately vacated the entire $16 million settlement, ruling that the confidentiality provisions were "ineffectual" and represented a material aspect of the parties' decision to settle, thereby reopening the closely watched market manipulation case. Cryptocurrency Regulatory Statements Tarbert's public pronouncements on cryptocurrency regulation generated controversy within the digital asset community and raised questions about regulatory coordination between federal agencies. In October 2019, at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, Tarbert declared that Ether was a commodity under CFTC jurisdiction, stating "It is my view as chairman of the CFTC that ether is a commodity." This declaration came without formal rulemaking or extensive public consultation, leading to criticism that the agency was making significant regulatory determinations through informal public statements rather than established regulatory processes. Industry observers noted the potential for regulatory uncertainty when agencies issue guidance through chairman speeches rather than formal regulatory actions, particularly given the complex and evolving nature of digital asset markets. Transparency and Confidentiality Tensions Throughout his tenure, Tarbert faced criticism over balancing his stated commitment to transparency with the agency's traditional enforcement practices. In December 2019, he announced a new policy stating that "Beginning January 1, 2020, I will not present to the Commission any enforcement settlement or consent order that restricts the Commission or our staff from discussing the case publicly," in response to criticism over the Kraft settlement's confidentiality provisions. Critics argued that this policy change, while addressing legitimate transparency concerns, came only after the agency had already faced significant legal and public relations challenges over its enforcement practices, suggesting reactive rather than proactive leadership on transparency issues. The controversy highlighted ongoing tensions between enforcement effectiveness and regulatory transparency in modern financial oversight. CFTC vs. Jitesh Thakkar The CFTC's decision to continue to pursue civil charges against Jitesh Thakkar, the software developer accused of aiding flash crash trader Navinder Sarao, became a focal point of significant industry controversy after the Department of Justice dropped its criminal case following a hung jury that voted 10-2 for acquittal. In response to what many viewed as regulatory overreach, John Lothian of John Lothian News launched a petition on Change.org titled "Justice for Jitesh Thakkar; CFTC Should Drop Civil Charges and Apologize," which garnered over 2,500 signatures from traders, programmers, and market participants who believed the agency was persecuting an innocent software developer. The petition argued that Thakkar's firm received only $24,000 in development fees for creating software that was later misused by Sarao, who made millions from his spoofing activities, and challenged the CFTC's assertion that such a modest payment would motivate someone to "sell his soul" for criminal activity. The sustained public pressure from Lothian's campaign, combined with the weak factual foundation of the case that had already been rejected by a criminal jury, ultimately contributed to the CFTC's decision to settle the matter in August 2020. While the agency dropped all personal charges against Thakkar himself, it secured a consent order against his firm Edge Financial Technologies for $72,600—comprising $24,200 in disgorgement and a $48,400 civil penalty—along with a two-year prohibition on providing computer programming services for trading in CFTC-regulated markets. The settlement represented a significant victory for industry advocates who had argued that pursuing software developers for the criminal misuse of their legitimate products would create a chilling effect on financial technology innovation, with Lothian's petition serving as a rare example of grassroots pressure successfully influencing federal enforcement priorities in derivatives markets regulation. References

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