Ripple lodges small wins in legal fight as SEC agrees to partial redactions

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Ripple Labs has recorded two small victories in the ongoing U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit.

In its first, the San Francisco company has been allowed to keep some of the email correspondence between its executives and other parties private. On March 31, Judge Sarah Netburn directed the SEC and Ripple to meet and confer on the latter’s motion to seal on an interim basis. 

#SEC v. #RIPPLE #xrpcommmunity 1/3 Judge Netburn grants Ripple’s Motion to Seal on an Interim Basis — ORDER granting 83 Letter Motion to Seal. The Defendants' motion to seal is GRANTED solely on an interim basis. Furthermore, the parties are directed to meet and confer to discuss

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) March 31, 2021

After the two parties met, they agreed on the redactions to two email exchanges but couldn’t find common ground on the other two. The first is an exchange between CEO Brad Garlinghouse and an anonymous party on Rippleworks, Ripple’s non-profit venture capital arm. The second is an exchange between anonymous parties on XRP’s public perception. 

“I think this risk factor is related to why Ripple is likely to be viewed as having more control over XRP as other Bitcoin holders due to the fact that Ripple creates XRP and holds most of this. Just want to know how cryptographic lockup will play a role in this risk factor,” part of the second email reads.

The SEC and Ripple have yet to reach a mutual agreement on the other two documents. For its part, the securities regulator has been very adamant that it will not agree to redactions on emails containing Chris Larsen’s personal financial information. It also insists that emails sharing Ripple’s strategy with private investors must be part of the lawsuit.

However, Ripple’s legal team disagrees. In a letter to the judge, the lawyers claimed the email contains an exchange between former CEO Chris Larsen and a party that had a relationship with Ripple. As such, it was never meant to be public. It also contains sensitive information regarding the initial distribution of XRP.

#SEC v. #RIPPLE #XRPcommunity Ripple’s Letter regarding Motion to Seal with Proposed Redacted Exhibits 1 and 2 filed this evening, 4.2.2021 pic.twitter.com/dMMdNVUQw2

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) April 3, 2021

Meanwhile, Judge Netburn granted Ripple access to SEC’s documents showing its interpretations and views on the XRP digital currency. Ripple will be able to access the SEC’s memos and minutes concerning digital currencies.

Matthew Solomon, one of the lawyers representing Garlinghouse, believes that this is a landmark moment for Ripple and that it may be game over for the SEC if he finds any evidence that the regulator deemed XRP as similar to ETH or BTC.

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