Ripple Wins in Court After Judge Denies SEC’s Motion to Seal Documents
- US District Judge Analisa Torres made it clear that the Hinman Speech Documents will be made public in the Ripple vs. SEC case.
- The Hinman Speech Documents are considered a vital part of the court proceedings by Ripple and CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
- The motion from the SEC to seal the documents as it believes that they have “no relevance” in the case has been dismissed.
- Garlinghouse called this event a victory for transparency and stated that the documents will soon be made public.
The battle between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been going on for a number of years, and one of the earlier blockchain projects has full faith that it is going to win the case, according to the firm’s executives. Interestingly, a win was handed over to the company in court after United States District Judge Analisa Torres made it clear on May 16 that the documents that the SEC wants sealed will be made public, but with some conditions.
The documents related to the former Securities and Exchange Commission corporation finance division director, William Hinman, have been allowed to be made public after Judge Torres declined the SEC’s motion, a move that is seen as a win for Ripple and the crypto industry. In a July 2018 speech, the former director stated that Ether (ETH), the world’s second-largest crypto coin and the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is not a security.
In December 2022, the United States regulator filed a motion to seal the internal emails, text messages, and expert reports that followed the speech from Hinman, a move that was seen as an attempt to hide the truth by the crypto community. The agency noted that its mission outweighs the “public’s right” to have access to documents that have “no relevance” to the court’s judgment.
Judge Torres disagrees with the SEC and stated that the Hinman documents might prove to be substantial in the case with Ripple while adding that they are “judicial documents” and subject to a strong presumption of public access. She further stated that the documents “would reasonably have the tendency to influence [the Court’s] ruling on a motion.”
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, expressed his appreciation of the judgment given by Judge Torres, calling it a win for “transparency,” while adding that unredacted Hinman emails will be publicly available soon.
The court document reads that “the vast majority of the SEC’s expert reports and investor declarants’ statements—including all material relevant to the Court’s decision on the motions for summary judgment—will be part of the public record,” while noting:
“The Hinman Speech Documents are not protected by the deliberative process privilege because they do not relate to an agency position, decision, or policy.”
The court did rule that the Hinman Speech Documents would be made public but agreed to the other demands of the SEC, including the redaction of names and identity information of SEC experts and XRP investor declarants and the removal of personal and financial information of the defendants, i.e., Ripple.
On the other hand, the judge also denied certain motions asking for the sealing of certain documents from Ripple, including references linking the company’s revenues with sales of the XRP token and the amount of compensation offered to trading platforms, etc. The blockchain payments company considers the Hinman Speech Documents a crucial part of its battle with the SEC, which claims that the XRP token is a security and that the company violated US securities laws.
As reported earlier by Bitnation, Ripple has gathered support from the crypto community, and officially, 12 developers, companies, investors, and exchanges have come forward as per Garlinghouse.
Several of these individuals and groups have filed amicus briefs, which are legal documents filed in an appeal case to provide a court with extra relevant details. Brad claimed that the briefs, in their own ways, explained “the irreparable harm the SEC will do to every facet of the US crypto economy if it gets its way.”
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
