Ripple Case Is Getting Hotter, SEC Is Desperately Preventing Documents Containing William Hinman's Speech From Being Submitted To Court

The Ripple vs SEC case is heating up. (photo: doc. Blokt)

JAKARTA – Ripple's feud with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the court is heating up. After the court urged the SEC to open the documents of one of their officials, regulators bought time and expressed their refusal.

According to defense attorney James K. Filan in the Ripple lawsuit, the SEC will do its utmost to prevent documents containing William Hinman's 2018 speech from being submitted to court.

"The SEC has filed a full package of objections to Judge Netburn's Judgment forcing the SEC to submit documents of Hinman's speech, including the Ladan Stewart Declaration and Exhibition," Filan said in a Twitter post on July 27, 2022.

The SEC insisted that Hinman's documents contained internal personal correspondence irrelevant to the lawsuit. The US regulator further added that “even where relevant, draft speeches contain confidential deliberations and legal advice protected by deliberative process privileges (DPP) and attorney-client privileges. This privilege serves an important public interest.”

Previously, the SEC's motion for reconsideration was partially rejected, and the motion for clarification was granted. Later, Judge Judge Netburn ruled that Hinman's documents were not protected by the DPP but later allowed the SEC to identify any documents that the SEC thought were protected by attorney-client privileges.

The SEC then filed a motion in court alleging that most of the documents were protected by privilege. However, the request was rejected by Judge Sarah Netburn.

Furthermore, according to Filan, the Ripple defendants were given a deadline of August 9 to submit their response to the SEC's objections. In addition, Judge Torres has also allowed the SEC to provide a short answer with a deadline of August 16 at the latest.

Later, Judge Torres will decide the continuation of the Ripple vs SEC case. Previously, the SEC was judged to have been hypocritical for covering up documents containing Hinman's speech stating that XRP was a security. Meanwhile, another Ripple adviser, Stuart Alderoty, believes the SEC has taken advantage of regulatory ambiguity regarding the crypto industry.

“The SEC has manipulated the lack of clarity on blockchain technology regulations to justify defrauding its authorities,” another Ripple adviser, Stuart Alderoty, tweeted July 26.