Judge denies the request of SEC for reconsideration of shielding documents in its case against Ripple.
Ripple Labs has a moment to rejoice as the presiding judge made a ruling in its favour in its case against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC filed suit in 2020 against Ripple and executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for selling unregistered securities.
Judge Sarah Netburn has denied the regulator’s request to reconsider shielding documents under privilege related to a June 2018 speech made by SEC’s then-director William Hinman. In the speech, Hinman said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are not securities.
The order demanded the production of certain SEC documents and concluded that they were not protected by deliberate process privilege.
Judge Netburn said the SEC should not contradict itself in trying to flip-flop on its assertions. In her decision, she wrote:
“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.”
In summing up the critical aspects of Judge Netburn’s rejection to reconsider, a Ripple community defence lawyer with an extensive case file of financial and SEC cases James K. Filan called it a big win.
Another Ripple community lawyer and founder of CryptoLaw also tweeted today to his 191,000 followers that “The SEC is now in a hurt locker” following Judge Netburn’s ruling.
The case is still not over. Crypto industry is quite eager to know the final verdict of the case as it will define the future of an important player.
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