“It seems the SEC is throwing this DPP Hail Mary and hoping that Judge Torres bails them out on appeal.”
Hasn’t that been the case lately? Nonetheless, Ripple Labs and its execs are continuing to clamp down on a potential win against the regulatory watchdogs. On 11 February, Ripple Labs filed a Letter Motion to compel the SEC to turn over notes. These notes pertained to 2018 meeting between Brad Garlinghouse and former Commissioner Elad L. Roisman.
As expected, however, the plaintiffs refused. And in doing so, the SEC claimed “they were privileged.”
XRP Ripple BREAKING news today 🚨 Ripple Atty SLAMS SEC Opposition to Notes, SEC says no “FREE PASS!”
Everything has an expiry date
That wasn’t the end of it though.
The SEC called privilege, but the defendants think otherwise as reportedly, under the court’s 13 January 2022 ruling, the Estabrook Notes aren’t privileged and should be disclosed. In fact, the SEC’s Opposition was spent trying to equate the Estabrook Notes with those taken during a 2019 meeting, one that involved a third party.
To many, the SEC seemed to ignore the core reasons cited by the exec. According to the doc in question, Garlinghouse seeks disclosure of the Estabrook notes since,
“(…)they are likely to corroborate his account of a discussion that he had with a Commissioner of the SEC regarding the regulation of digital assets, an issue that goes to the core of the SEC’s “knowledge or recklessness” allegations against him.”
The SEC’s argument is that it has no proof for disclosure of the Estabrook Notes. In fact, it stated that this would invade the Commission’s policy-making process, adding,
“…that a purpose of the notes was to allow Mr. Estabrook to “provide advice to Commissioner Roisman on a potential future proposal by the Commission of a rule regarding the regulation of digital asset offerings.”
The exec believes that the SEC’s attempt to defend its sword-and-shield tactics is unconvincing. Furthermore, Garlinghouse requested the judge to deny the watchdogs from “engaging in such tactics.”
If the judge grants this motion in favor of the defendant, this would hint at a possible win for Ripple. John Deaton, founder of CryptoLaw, shared the same optimism as many.
🚨BREAKING: SEC IS IN A NO WIN SITUATION⚠️MASSIVE RIPPLE XRP UPDATE🚨RIPPLE XRP SETTLEMENT
Curiously, according to John Deaton, Ripple should “thank Jay Clayton for suing them and creating a higher burden of proof on the SEC.”
“By suing them individually, the SEC made these notes much more relevant and quite possibly necessary.”
There’s always an ‘IF’
As has been the case during previous disputes over the SEC’s documents, the plaintiff refused to produce them over claims of deliberative process privilege.
Would this repeat itself? Well, even if this transpired, Garlinghouse might just win.
Ripple XRP Investors Traders 