Ex-UK chancellor faces scrutiny over lobbying allegations

Philip Hammond, a vocal crypto advocate who served as the United Kingdom’s chancellor of the exchequer from 2016 to 2019, may have breached lobbying rules for former ministers.

Philip Hammond, a vocal crypto advocate serving as the United Kingdom’s chancellor of the exchequer from 2016 to 2019, might have breached the lobbying rules for former ministers. 

According to a Feb. 9 report in the Financial Times, in March 2021, Hammond played a role in the communication between unnamed Treasury officials and the then Economic Secretary for the Treasury, John Glen, and the CEO of crypto firm Copper, Dmitry Tokarev. The claim is based on the Treasury documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

According to the report, Glen told officials in an internal email to use Hammond as an intermediary for Tokarev. A week after the Treasury officials met with Tokarev, Hammond spoke to Glen on the phone, letting him know that the Copper CEO was incredibly impressed by the meeting. Hammond also communicated Copper’s concerns about the speed of regulatory changes for crypto companies to the Treasury secretary.

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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ex-uk-chancellor-scrutiny-lobbying-allegations