XRP v. SEC Saga Could Soon End In Settlement As Ripple Nets A ‘Very Big Win’

A federal judge has refused the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) plea for reconsideration of the deliberative process privilege (DPP). The court’s decision has been hailed as a major victory for Ripple in its long-running battle with the regulator.

Former top SEC official William Hinman told a Yahoo Finance crypto summit audience in June 2018 that ethereum was not a security since it was sufficiently decentralized.

The SEC claims that Ripple and two top executives knew the XRP digital currency was a security that should have been listed with the securities agency but offered it to investors nevertheless, based on that historical speech.

The SEC was ordered to turn over emails including the draft of the Ethereum speech, as well as other documents, by the judge. However, the agency maintained that the DPP had protected these papers and that they should not be made public.

The court recently ruled that the agency’s argument that Hinman gave the speech to share the agency’s Division of Corporation Finance’s digital asset regulation stance contradicts their previous claim that the speech represented his personal views.

The court rule:

“The SEC seeks to have it both ways, but the Speech was either intended to reflect agency policy or it was not. Having insisted that it reflected Hinman’s personal views, the SEC cannot now reject its own position. The Speech was not an agency communication, and the deliberations as to its content are not protected by the privilege.”

According to the judge, the SEC is attempting to “minimize” the fact that it has publicly distanced itself from the speech in question.

James is a former federal prosecutor. This judgement is a “very big win” for Ripple, according to K. Filan, who also noted that the SEC now has 14 days to file an objection to the order with District Judge Analisa Torres.

In the current legal hearings, the SEC was not left high and dry. The agency’s redaction motions were granted by the court. In brief, the judge agreed to the SEC’s suggested redactions of handwritten notes from SEC staff discussions with third parties.

The key question is why the SEC appears to be attempting to prolong the process. To the agency’s dismay, legal experts predict the XRP case will be settled sooner rather than later.

They claim that the SEC is now in a bind, and that the batch of documents it has been forced to turn up is so crucial to the agency that they would rather make an agreement than let Ripple have them.

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Patrick

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