Ripple And SEC File Responses; Fight Over Hinman Docs

The legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple saw renewed activity yesterday. Ripple Labs Inc., CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen filed their opposition response to the SEC’s motion to seal certain documents related to the parties’ mutual summary judgment motions.

Also, the SEC has filed its response to the partial opposition to Ripple’s motion to seal certain documents related to the summary judgment.

Ripple And SEC Continue To Fight Over Hinman Docs

In addition to minor battle lines, both parties are primarily fighting over the sealing of the Hinman documents in their briefs. As XRP community attorney Bill Hinman explained, Ripple, as expected, opposes the sealing of the Hinman documents, claiming that the documents are relevant beyond their relevance to the impeachment.

For this, the company argues that the presumption of public access to court documents is currently at its strongest because the case has progressed to the summary judgment stage.

Second, Ripple argues that the Hinman documents are court documents that should not remain sealed absent compelling reasons:

The SEC has nonetheless persisted in seeking to shield from public view the names and identifying information of witnesses whose testimony the SEC intends to rely upon to prove its case, without identifying any compelling interest suggesting that secrecy is necessary.

According to Morgan’s analysis, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is again trying to argue with the deliberative process privilege (DPP). This means that despite losing the motion, the SEC continues to insist that former director Hinman’s documents are irrelevant to the case.

To counter this, Ripple cites last month’s Gannett Media Corp. case, which supports the argument against sealing on this ground. In the case, the Second Circuit rejected the notion that “generalized privacy concerns” or the need to “protect the robust and candid functioning of the Department of Justice’s internal processes” are sufficient to justify a motion to seal by the Justice Department.

Ripple accuses the SEC also of withholding from the public documents on which the court has already ordered disclosure. As Bitcoinist reported, Ripple scored an important partial victory in late September when Judge Torres ruled that the SEC had to turn over the documents.

Since then, the XRP community has been puzzling over what might be in the documents and whether Hinman might not only mention Ethereum in his documents but perhaps XRP; even if only with a side note.

As Jeremy Hogan, another popular community lawyer noted, the decision day on whether the public will get a look at the Hinman documents is coming closer: