SEC v. Ripple Labs: Court pushes discovery deadline to January 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s request to extend the deadline to complete Discovery in the lawsuit against Ripple Labs and its execs has been granted.

According to documents shared by @CryptoLawUS, the deadline has now been pushed to 14 January 2022. The aforementioned text-only order revealed,

“The parties acknowledge that there are likely at least 14 expert witnesses that will be deposed. The Defendants believe these depositions can reasonably be conducted within 18 business days given the resources available to the SEC.”

When the SEC first requested to push deadlines, the defendants had conceded to the postponement of the expert rebuttal report deadline. Not the discovery deadline, however. At the time, Ripple claimed that the extension of the latter beyond 10 December would likely impact the briefing schedule for summary judgment motion[s].

“They further argue that any further delay in resolving this case will cause serious harm to the interests of the Defendants and #XRP holders.”

However, the court has not yielded to Ripple Labs’ requests. The aforementioned order added,

“While the Court recognizes that both parties have dedicated substantial resources to prosecute this case, given the pending motions to dismiss and strike, and the previous adjournment of any deadline to file a motion for summary judgment, the additional time sought by the SEC will not affect the schedule to resolve this case.”

It was the view of the court that this additional time would allow both parties to complete outstanding fact discovery and “properly prepare for expert depositions.”

As Ripple and SEC get more time, the state of the crypto spot market has been thrilling. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, recently registered a new all-time high at $67,276. Meanwhile, altcoins like XRP maintained their position above $1, with the crypto trading at $1.13, at press time.