In the latest development in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs, defendant Ripple opposed the SEC seeking audited financial statements, and post-complaint contracts for the sale or transfer of XRP to non-employee counterparties.
Furthermore, Ripple has opposed the request to produce details on the amount of XRP institutional sales proceeds received after the lawsuit filing.
In the recent ruling on Jan. 19, Ripple’s legal team claimed that the SEC has changed its stance on collecting additional info during the discovery phase. This was required for each party to share relevant documents with the other as part of the legal process.
Lawyers Claim The Discovery As Irrelevant In XRP Lawsuit
According to Ripple’s lawyers, the SEC had more than enough chances to have the additional documents before the deadline. Therefore, they have made a stance declaring that the SEC’s request is not valid, given the deadline has already passed and lacks relevance.
Ripple legal team remains strong in their decision, arguing that the court should not be swayed by the portrayal that the SEC is presenting against the blockchain payments company.
“The Court should not go down the slippery slope the SEC is paving,” the lawyers stated.
Attorney Jeremy Hogan said the SEC is seeking a relatively minor discovery dispute that is ‘not all that legally interesting’. He also sees the SEC’s grand press release from 2020 when it filed the lawsuit as notwithstanding, with the regulator losing its grip on the lawsuit, with the trial set to commence in April.
The legal team contends that the SEC has used up all of its interrogatories, which are a list of written questions that the SEC was able to put forth to Ripple to answer before the trial.
Based on the claims by the lawyers, the SEC would require litigating whether post-complaint sales meet the Howey test.
We wait and see how this trial will avail, as many crypto enthusiasts are waiting. The SEC has been regarded by many as an ‘out of control regulator’, which makes the case even more important in the industry.
