San Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple has inched closer to victory in its ongoing battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Oct. 21, Ripple general counsel Stuart Alderoty confirmed on Twitter that they finally have the elusive documents after “18 months and 6 court orders,” though noted they remain confidential at the SEC’s insistence.
“It was well worth the fight to get them,” he exclaimed, adding:
“I’ve always felt good about our legal arguments, and I feel even better now. I always felt bad about the SEC’s tactics, and I feel even worse about them now.”
The fought-over documents relate to a 2018 speech by former SEC division director William Hinman regarding the status of Ether (ETH), with the financial regulator seemingly pulling out all the stops to keep the documents under wraps.
In late September, U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres overruled the SEC’s second attempt to withhold the documents.
At the time, he stated that ETH was not a security and Ripple considers this a key argument in its case against the regulator, which has accused it of conducting an unregistered securities sale of its native token XRP (XRP).
Over 18 months and 6 court orders later, we finally have the Hinman docs (internal SEC emails and drafts of his infamous 2018 speech). While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence), I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) October 20, 2022
Partner at Hogan & Hogan Jeremy Hogan commented that these are the briefs “where we’ll really see how strong each position is,” while posturing how the SEC will respond. He added that the briefs will be made public on Oct. 24.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse vented on Twitter, claiming that the SEC’s behavior was shameful and shocking:
“The SEC wants you to think that it cares about disclosure, transparency and clarity. Don’t believe them. When the truth eventually comes out, the shamefulness of their behavior here will shock you.”
Related: Ripple boss tips when SEC case will end as Hoskinson hits back at XRP army
XRP prices don’t appear to have reacted to the latest development. Over the past 24 hours, the token has lost 3.2% in a fall to $0.446 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.
However, Ripple’s momentum has been strong over the past month or so as the case inches toward closure, but XRP is still down 87% from its January 2018 all-time high of $3.40.