SEC Asks Judge to Deny Ripple’s Request to Stop Contacting Foreign Regulators
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested the court deny a recent motion from Ripple Labs. A motion made in an attempt to stop the SEC from contacting foreign regulators for discovery purposes.
This is the latest development in the ongoing SEC v. Ripple Labs lawsuit. Lawyer for the defendants James K. Filan Tweeted a PDF copy of the written request, addressed to U.S. Magistrate Hon. Sarah Netburn.
Filan, a former federal prosecutor, has remained vocal about the case on Twitter, actively Tweeting updates about the lawsuit as it goes on. He summarized that the motion had been made to deny Ripple’s request for an order requiring the plaintiffs to “stop using foreign requests for assistance for discovery purposes and […] turn over all material already collected”.
This refers to a request made earlier in the month. On April 16, Ripple’s lawyers filed a letter to Judge Netburn. One that not only called the SEC out on their actions, but also referred to them as intimidation tactics. Tactics that could harm their relationship with their foreign regulators. Given that, according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, around 95% of Ripple users are based outside the U.S., these relationships are of paramount importance to Ripple Labs.
However, the SEC argue in their response letter to Judge Netburn that the defendants’ request is “devoid of any legal authority on point”.
Most Recent Developments
These developments follow the scheduling of a new discovery conference, set for April 30th. Filan also invited his followers to listen in on the telephone conference, which will accommodate up to 4,000 attendees. In Tweeting about the issue, the defense attorney stated that the SEC was seeking discovery “outside the Rules of Federal Procedure and the Hague Convention”.
Filan went on to state that he believed the court would support Ripple Labs in this conference.
Ripple Labs has already been victorious over the SEC this year amid this lawsuit. Earlier in April, they won a dispute with British investment management group Tetragon. A suit in which Tetragon attempted to force Ripple Labs to buy back $175 million in shares.
The entire lawsuit was sparked from the SEC’s allegations that Ripple Labs had raised over $1 billion via the sale of XRP. In doing so, violating the United States Securities Act of 1933.
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