SEC v. Ripple: SEC’s new filing to redact notes by its own officials draws public ire

Delay, frustration, and a fear that things will never end. . .no, this isn’t a traffic jam we’re talking about, but SEC vs. Ripple case. Ripple officials and XRP holders may be eagerly waiting for the proceedings to end but until then, hurdles and delays seem to be the theme of the year.

I’ll make security out of you

On 23 March, the SEC submitted a filing where it asked the court for permission to redact some handwritten notes taken by SEC staff members at meetings. The SEC claimed these were protected by deliberative process privilege, saying

“The handwritten portions in question expressly reflect either (1) the authors’ thoughts regarding subject matters discussed during meetings and/or (2) deliberations among SEC staff during meetings…”

The notes by Valerie Szczepanik, Michael Seaman, and Jonathan Ingram from meetings in 2014 and 2018 allegedly contained “internal communications” or “deliberations among SEC staff during the meeting.” For that reason, the SEC requested permission to redact “portions” of these notes.

Don’t leave me out!

Adding to that, things are only about to get more complicated. Attorney Jeremy Hogan noted that the Chamber of Digital Commerce was submitting a brief in the case.

The organization’s founder “Perianne” had previously claimed that XRP was not a security. It remains to be seen how this will line up with the actions of crypto lawyer John Deaton, who is representing well over 50,000 XRP holders in the case.

However, XRP holders had to swallow their disappointment as Ripple execs Christian Larsen and Bradley Garlinghouse filed a motion, requesting time until 8 April 2022 to respond to the SEC’s first amended complaint.

So what does the adjusted timeline look like now? Filan shared,

“So it appears that the Individual Defendants’ Answer is due April 8, 2022. The SEC’s position on additional discovery is due on April 15, 2022, and the Joint Proposed Scheduling Order is due April 22, 2022.”

See XRP run

At press time, the controversial crypto was trading at $0.8393, having risen by 2% in the past 24 hours and increasing by 6.28% in the past week.

Though not without dips, XRP has been on its way up since late February, and investor sentiment recently shot to a euphoric high of 4.546. As XRP’s weighted sentiment and price don’t always match up, this spike could perhaps be attributed to a sense of optimism surrounding the lawsuit.

Will the change in date affect this? As with many things related to XRP, one can only wait and see.

Source: Santiment