SEC Ends Discovery Phase in Ripple Lawsuit While Contending Mandate to Release Critical Emails
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs over the alleged sale of its native token XRP as an unregistered security has taken a new turn.
The SEC has decided to end its discovery process, the time in a court case where both involved parties exchange information not readily available.
Jeremy Hogan, a crypto legal expert that has been following the case closely from the start, shared on Twitter how surprised he is by the SEC’s move.
Almost NOTHING would have surprised me more than this.
And yes, this is a very good thing. The only remaining areas of delay are the appeal re the Hinman emails and in general just scheduling.
SEC discovery is complete and that’s a big step forward. https://t.co/Dh63kmG5uO
— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) April 15, 2022
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The Hinman e-mails are a crucial part of the case and involve documents related to former SEC Director William Hinman, who in a 2018 speech stated that Ethereum is not a security.
Last week, Judge Magistrate Sarah Netburn overruled the regulator’s request to leave out Hinmnan’s speech as evidence. In response, the SEC requested additional time to file its objection against the decision, thereby showing its true colors according to Hogan, who commented:
“The SEC is 100% in the ‘Hurt Locker’ now, and the only relief is to delay, delay, delay.
Which it sure is trying, with absolutely no shame.”
Hogan added:
“If the SEC can’t even get it straight whether the speech was his personal opinion or perhaps the entire division’s guidance and they can’t even get it straight in a legal pleading with lots of forethought put into it, how the heck was Ripple supposed to know?”
Days ago, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse spoke with CNBC commenting on his firm’s legal battle expressing his optimism. He said:
“The lawsuit has gone exceedingly well, and much better than I could have hoped when it began about 15 months ago.
But the wheels of justice move slowly.”
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Source: igaming
