The case between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still ongoing, with major developments stirring a conversation in the cryptocurrency community. James K. Filan, a defence lawyer who has been following this case closely, has issued an update on the latest development.
Filan stated that Ripple had filed a motion to compel the SEC to hand over crucial notes on a meeting between the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and the former SEC commissioner, Elad Roisman.
Ripple’s case with the SEC
On the other hand, the SEC has objected to this motion. The SEC claimed the deliberative process privilege (DPP). Recently, the case has been going in Ripple’s favour, eliciting optimism among community members that the company could finally win against the regulatory body.
Last week, a court ordered the SEC to release some vital records to the case. Ripple has filed a motion on this saying, “exactly one week after the court issued its ruling on the application of the deliberative in this case, following months of negotiation, letters, briefing, and argument, the SEC produced yet another privilege log listing just two documents, and asserting the DPP over both.”
The action taken by the SEC has also sparked debate in the legal and crypto communities. Jeremy Hogan, an attorney and partner at Hogan & Hogan, has criticized the move taken by the SEC. Hogan stated that the regulatory body did not have any tenable basis for claiming the DPP as it stated that the notes are not linked to the Ripple investigation.
“As seen below, the SEC has no tenable basis for raising the DP Privilege here since it conceded to Solomon that the notes cannot be related to the investigation of Ripple. Seems the SEC is throwing this DPP Hail Mary and hoping that Judge Torres bails them out on appeal,” Hogan said.
Ripple says that the SEC has argued that the company would not need these notes because the company’s CEO was involved in the meeting. However, the company notes that the meeting records shared by the SEC show that Garlinghouse had left the meeting, insinuating that the commission had identified a legal “purgatory” created by regulatory ambiguity.
Ripple has been engaging in this case with the SEC since late 2020. In December 2002, the SEC filed a case against Ripple and its executives, saying that it had engaged in an unregulated securities offering. According to the SEC, XRP is a security and not a token. However, Ripple has argued that its native token should be treated the same as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
XRP’s price analysis
The price of XRP has been on a steady uptrend over the past week. This token has rallied by around 35% in just one week, following increased buying pressure from the market. The positive market sentiment on the ongoing case gas created a bullish trend for the altcoin.
One of the major developments on XRP’s price this month is expected on February 17, as the legal advice that Ripple received from its outside counsel is expected to be made public. According to Ripple’s general counsel, Stuart Alderoty, these memos will prove that XRP is not a security.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $0.822 after a 6% dip during the past 24 hours.
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