In the latest development of its ongoing lawsuit, Ripple has object to the SEC’s request for post-complaint discovery.
James K. Filan, a former federal prosecutor who regularly posts updates on Ripple’s action before the SEC, made it known in a new tweet that Ripple has filed its response opposing the SEC’s motion to compel.
In the latest development of its ongoing lawsuit, Ripple has object to the SEC’s request for post-complaint discovery.
James K. Filan, a former federal prosecutor who regularly posts updates on Ripple’s action before the SEC, made it known in a new tweet that Ripple has filed its response opposing the SEC’s motion to compel.
According to the filing, the SEC seeks to force Ripple to submit audited financial statements for the years 2022 and 2023; produce all post-complaint contracts for the sale or transfer of XRP to “non-employee counterparties”; and respond to an interrogatory regarding the amount of “institutional XRP sales proceeds” received after the complaint was filed for certain contracts.
Ripple opposes these requests, first saying that they are untimely. Ripple noted that the SEC had sufficient opportunities to pursue most of the requested discovery while fact discovery was open, but decided not to do so and now lacks good cause to do so.
Additionally, SEC discovery requests seek information that is irrelevant to the solutions, Ripple said.
Ripple stated that the parties had already litigated whether post-complaint discovery was appropriate and that during that discovery dispute, the SEC never argued that post-complaint discovery was relevant to remedies, instead asserting that post-complaint conduct the complaint was completely irrelevant to the case. The motion was resolved after Ripple agreed. As a result, the SEC should not be allowed to reverse its case.
Ripple pointed out the SEC’s “unreasonable” demands, stating that on November 14, the SEC delivered nine interrogatories and three RFPs (requests for productions) to Ripple.
In December, Ripple objected to these requests on several grounds, including the fact that discovery was closed except for the limited discovery granted by the Court on November 13. In addition to this, the SEC had exceeded the 25 interrogatories permitted under Rule 33, and some of the requests related to post-complaint conduct were irrelevant.
Ripple also argues that adjudicating the legality of Ripple’s post-complaint sales could involve the Court and the parties in lengthy ancillary litigation.
Ripple’s response to the SEC’s requests has attracted comments and praise from the XRP community. Meanwhile, the XRP community is keeping its fingers crossed, hoping for positivity in hopes that the Ripple SEC lawsuit will come to a definitive conclusion this year, 2024.