Court orders SEC to disclose internal documents in Ripple case

Judge Analisa Torres ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose internal documents in the Ripple case, according to attorney James Filan.

#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP BREAKING: JUDGE TORRES OVERRULES THE SEC’S OBJECTIONS AND ORDERS THE SEC TO TURN OVER HINMAN DOCUMENTS. https://t.co/FzcdgNX59Z

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 115k (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) September 29, 2022

The 2018 speech by William Hinman, the former director of the regulator’s Division of Corporate Finance, is at issue. In it he said that for various reasons Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities.

The SEC argued that the speech reflected the former official’s personal views. filed a motion with the court, according to which Hinman expressed the position of the corporate-finance department. Thus the agency sought to extend the scope of the DPP to the draft remarks.

On July 12, 2022, Judge Sara Netburn called the regulator’s position hypocritical and rejected the motion to compel disclosure of internal documents.

On August 16, the Commission accused Ripple’s lawyers of using a “fundamentally inconsistent argument.” In an objection to the court’s decision the SEC said that Hinman’s speech did not relate to the case, citing the attorney-client privilege.

According to Filan, the regulator still has options to delay compliance with Torres’s order. Among possible steps are a motion for reconsideration, a rehearing, or an appeal.

2/4 First, they can ask Judge Torres to reconsider her order overruling the SEC objection. Second, they could skip the motion for reconsideration and just ask her to certify an appeal of the decision she issued today.

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 115k (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) September 30, 2022

The attorney noted that these “maneuvers” have little chance of success. However, with their help the SEC could delay turning over the internal documents by another two to three months, Filan added.

Earlier Fox Business published a comprehensive investigation into the SEC’s case against Ripple. Journalists concluded that the officials behind the filing could have been affiliated with Ethereum.

a potential conflict of interest in the actions of former high-ranking SEC officials was pointed out by Empower Oversight, a non-profit organization.

In May, SEC representatives could not confirm or deny the authenticity of a video of Hinman’s Fintech Week 2018 remarks.

Earlier, in September, the parties filed motions for a ruling under the expedited procedure in the securities-law case. Both sides said the court had enough information to decide.

On September 23, Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse ruled out sending the case to a jury. XRP token prices reacted to the news with a sharp rise.

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