Ripple Lawsuit Architect Takes Over as US Director of National Intelligence

Jay Clayton becomes America’s top intelligence official on Monday. He is the same man who, as SEC chairman, sued Ripple for $1.3 billion.

Bill Pulte announced the handover on Saturday. He has held the DNI job on an acting basis since June.

What Jay Clayton’s DNI Move Means for Ripple

Clayton ran the SEC until December 2020. On his final full day, the agency sued Ripple.

The complaint named two executives as well. It said Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen sold about $600 million of XRP themselves.

Judge Analisa Torres gave each side part of what it wanted. Only Ripple’s sales to large institutions broke the law.

Solid response by Cuban on @matt_levine’s article. First and foremost, Matt is wrong when he says sometimes XRPis a security and sometimes it isn’t and claims that that is confusing and seems inconsistent on its face. What Levine said is exactly the OPPOSITE of what Judge Torres… https://t.co/HSwFKGzvsw

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) July 15, 2023

She fined the company $125,035,150. She also ordered it not to repeat those sales.

Both sides gave up their appeals on August 7, 2025. That ended the four-year case, and the fine stood.

Now Clayton leaves finance behind for good. His new job has no power over the SEC, crypto rules, or XRP.

That answers the question BeInCrypto asked at his June DNI nomination. XRP barely moved. It traded near $1.08 on Sunday, up 1.9% on the day.

The token is still down 64% over the past year.

Pulte Returns Full Time to Housing Finance

Pulte held two big jobs at once for about seven weeks. He ran the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He also stayed in charge of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

However, Pulte spent much of that time cutting staff.

Hours before the Senate confirmed Clayton 51-47, Pulte announced a fifth round of firings on X (Twitter). He called it an “approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago.”

He did not say how many people lost their jobs, Nextgov reported.

In his farewell message, Pulte treated the shrinking as the point of his stint.

“I am eternally grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to serve as Director of National Intelligence, while he completed historic declassifications and we right sized the ODNI,” said Pulte, acting Director of National Intelligence.

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The cuts began before him. Tulsi Gabbard planned to shrink ODNI staff by 40% and its budget by $700 million before she resigned in June.

Congressional aides told the Washington Post that roughly 200 staff left or moved after June 1.

Clayton may not carry on. He told senators he wants a “fairly lean” office, but agreed to look again at some cuts.

“There needs to be a place of oversight, a place to resolve conflict. I look at it as a ‘board of directors’ role,” Clayton said in the hearing.

For crypto readers, Pulte is the name that matters more. He told Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to count crypto in mortgage assessments in June 2025.

In March he went further and let crypto reserves back mortgages. From Monday, housing is his only job again.

I am excited to spend even more time on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the companies continue the historic ascension under President Trump. https://t.co/IaDLSlNvxK