Cryptocurrency firm Ripple Labs filed a letter of response on Monday to oppose the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s request to seal portions of legal filings that contain information identifying the SEC’s proposed expert witnesses, as the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs drags on.
See related article: SEC seeks to seal information exposing expert witness identities in XRP lawsuit
Fast facts
- Ripple wrote in the Monday response that the SEC “has not made the necessary particularized demonstration of fact” to establish that the sealing is appropriate.
- The SEC filed a motion on Friday, seeking to seal part of the information from Aug. 30 reply briefs in support of the SEC’s and Ripple’s previous motions to exclude SEC expert testimony. The agency previously said such sealing could protect witnesses from potential harassment.
- In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple alleging that its sale of XRP — the native token of XRP Ledger which powers Ripple’s payment network — was an unregistered securities offering worth over US$1.38 billion. The SEC also named Ripple’s executive chairman Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse as co-defendants for allegedly aiding and abetting Ripple’s violations.
- Also on Monday, District Judge Analisa Torres approved the SEC’s and Ripple’s joint letter that specified schedules for redactions concerning sealing issues, a move that’s widely seen as an attempt from both parties to speed up the resolution of the lawsuit, a tweet by defense lawyer James K. Filan showed.
- XRP traded up 0.32% in the past 24 hours at US$0.354 at 10:40 a.m. Hong Kong time, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
See related article: SEC, Ripple take XRP lawsuit battle to media as well