Facing crisis, crypto turns to old guard

Veterans of past nancial crises cash in on collapse of digital currencies

BY AARON ELSTEIN

Elliot Lutzker is a walking encyclopedia of white-collar woe. During his 50 years as a securities lawyer, his clients have been accused of some of the most colorful infractions imaginable.

at makes Lutzker a person of particular interest to leaders of stricken cryptocurrency out ts seeking an experienced hand to help guide them through hard times. Bitcoin evangelists half his age are regularly phoning him or trekking to his classic Midtown law o ce, which features soundproofed conference rooms, tasteful photos of Manhattan landmarks and unobstructed downtown views.

“Yeah, I’ve been through a lot of different crises,” Lutzker said, a little irritated. “You got any more-pleasant questions?”

When Jamie Dimon’s daughter once asked what a nancial crisis is, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase explained, “ is type of thing happens every ve to seven years.” His math checks out. e collapse of crypto joins a 30-year-long parade, from the failure of savings and loans, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the popping of the dot-com bubble to the implosion of the housing market—which brought the global banking system to its knees and revealed the epic Bernie Mado Ponzi scheme. e sheer frequency of nancial

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