Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield on Thursday said he had no role in the Department of Justice hiring two out-of-state law firms with ties to his campaign donors to lead the state’s lawsuit against the nation’s largest cryptocurrency marketplace.
Rayfield’s comments followed a public records suit from Coinbase that sought records related to Oregon retaining D.C-based Cohen Milstein and Seattle-based Keller Rohrback to litigate an April lawsuit against the digital asset exchange. The suit — led by the firms’ lawyers in New York City and Portland — alleges that the crypto giant effectively stiffed Oregonians billions of dollars by failing to adequately register and check risky digital assets with federal and state analysts.
Oregon Department of Justice spokeswoman Jenny Hansson said Thursday both firms had been working with the department to investigate Coinbase before Rayfield took office. She hadn’t responded to questions from the Capital Chronicle about the decision to hire the firms before it reported on Tuesday that Rayfield’s campaign received thousands of dollars from members of both firms.
Rayfield accepting campaign contributions from lawyers drew scrutiny during his campaign — as Oregon Public Broadcasting reported last August, some states prohibit contributions from law firms that could win contracts to the state agencies that decide which lawyers to hire, but Oregon does not.
At the time, Rayfield told OPB that he would ensure transparency in all decisions about which law firms are hired.
“Whenever you have a cloud over that decision-making process, it leads people to question the credibility or the integrity of why those things are being done,” he said.
The managing partner of Keller Rohrback gave $1,000 to Rayfield’s campaign for attorney general, state campaign finance records show. Cohen Milstein gave two $5,000 donations that totaled $10,000 to Rayfield’s campaign.
In a written statement, Hansson said the Oregon Department of Justice signed an agreement with Cohen Milstein “to investigate and potentially pursue litigation against Coinbase” in 2023, a year before Rayfield won his November election to become Oregon’s attorney general. The Justice Department picked Keller Rohrback to assist with litigation in December 2024, though the firm didn’t sign a contract until 2025.
“Attorney General Rayfield moved this case forward when he took office in 2025 to protect Oregon investors amid a lack of federal enforcement,” Hansson said. “The legal theory — that crypto products sold as “investment contracts” are securities — follows the same approach used by federal agencies like the (Federal Trade Commission).”
Rayfield’s explanation clarifies the extent to which the firms were involved in litigating a suit he said filled an “enforcement vacuum” left by the federal government. Court records show that the agency had been investigating the company since 2022, but exactly when the firms were onboarded was previously unclear.
That gave fuel to critics like Coinbase, which filed a public records lawsuit last week seeking documents from Gov. Tina Kotek about the state’s policy surrounding crypto marketplaces and the firms’ involvement in the case. The company argues Oregon’s regulations on securities and crypto investments stand out as exclusionary and outdated, particularly in light of growing federal friendliness to the crypto industry in Congress.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Trump administration dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase, a move that left space for Rayfield and outside lawyers to file what has become a more than 300-page complaint moved to the U.S. District Court of Oregon in Portland in June. Coinbase’s case against Kotek was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.