Key takeaways:
- Judge Torres rejected the SEC’s request to seal any papers related to Hinman in its case against Ripple.
- The Hinman Speech documents had been fought against by the SEC as evidence in its lawsuit against Ripple, but they are now about to be made public.
Ripple achieves victory as the judge denies SEC‘s motion to seal “Hinman Speech documents.” The judge, Analisa Torres, ruled that these documents are not protected by the deliberative process privilege as they do not pertain to an agency position, decision, or policy.
The SEC contended that the documents should be sealed due to their alleged irrelevance to the summary judgement motions and the potential prejudice their disclosure could cause to the financial regulator.
Former SEC director Bill Hinman provided an explanation of why he did not view Bitcoin or Ethereum as securities in his address.
In Hinman’s opinion, the Ethereum network and its decentralised structure, as well as the fundraising that preceded the creation of Ether, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.
The filing argued that the “Hinman Speech Documents,” whether deemed admissible or relied upon by the court in ruling on the summary judgement motions, are judicial documents that should have a strong presumption of public access.
It stated that these documents are relevant to the judicial function and contribute to the effectiveness of the judicial process. Additionally, the filing countered the notion that sealing the documents would serve the purpose of maintaining openness and candour within the agency.
After the judge overseeing Ripple’s dispute with the SEC rejected the regulator’s move to seal crucial papers, the price of XRP increased by 5% over the course of the last 24 hours.
At almost $0.446896, XRP is up 4% over the past week but down 13% over the past 30 days. Today’s increase is helping to some extent to reverse altcoin’s recent losses.
The expectation is now that the business is in a very good position to win a favourable summary judgement or settlement given that Ripple and the court will now have access to documents linked to the well-known William Hinman speech in 2018.
In the case, the SEC had requested the redaction of three types of information: the names and identifying details of its expert witnesses and XRP investor declarants, personal and financial information, and the Hinman documents.
The court has allowed public access to the documents, while certain redactions of names and identifying information related to SEC witnesses will remain sealed to safeguard their well-being.
Judge Torres has approved the request to keep the names and information of XRP employees as well as the financial details of family members of Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larson concealed.
However, the judge has rejected some of Ripple’s motions to seal certain information, such as references connecting Ripple’s revenues to XRP sales and the compensation offered to trading platforms.
