The latest developments in the lawsuit between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) are starting to turn positive. In it, the parties are no longer at an impasse when it comes to Ripple internal recordings.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP The SEC filed a one page further response regarding the now moot Motion to Compel regarding the recordings of Ripple meeting. pic.twitter.com/3HBv28Ti1z
— James K. Filan ???? (@FilanLaw) September 10, 2021
Ripple and SEC reach belated agreement regarding recordings of company’s meetings
As such, Ripple belatedly agreed to the SEC’s request to make its internal recordings available. The scope of the production process will include various categories of the all-hands meetings starting from the fourth quarter of 2014, SBI town halls, fireside chats, etc.
Furthermore, the SEC will also have access to audio recordings of specific town halls, during which Ripple employees discussed the investigation (Dec. 22, 2020), the company’s outlook in the light of an XRP price drop (Feb. 26, 2018), and the centralization of cryptocurrencies (March 30, 2020).
Previously, as AZCoin News reported, Ripple filed a motion to compel the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose its internal cryptocurrency trading policies as part of the ongoing legal battle with the securities regulator. Recently, although the SEC has not yet responded to that, it filed a motion to compel Ripple to produce video and audio recordings of theirs staff meetings.
“Given that Ripple has not produced a single recording to date, Ripple should not be permitted to condition its compliance with its discovery obligations on the SEC’s forbearance of the right to seek documents that the SEC does not yet know of through no fault of its own,” the agency argued that the defendants never informed it about the fact that such materials exist.
In its opposition letter, Ripple’s lawyers claimed that the SEC’s request for the recordings was belated, asserting that the plaintiff was on notice about their existence even before the litigation started and that it waited until early August to demand them specifically.
Meanwhile, Ripple also said that the requirement for all recordings of company meetings over eight years was unduly burdensome. The SEC’s proposal was rejected for argument because it was no longer relevant after the parties agreed without court involvement.
The SEC’s motion was denied moot since it’s no longer relevant after the parties agreed without the court’s involvement. The plaintiff says that it won’t point out various inaccuracies in the company’s response. Although, it doubled down on the claim that it “expressly sought” the recordings as early as January.
The parties will meet and discuss the scope of production. There is an ongoing controversy regarding audio recordings as to whether Ripple should seek recordings that feature certain employees as relevant speakers. In early September, the regulatory watchdog gained access to Ripple’s internal Slack messages. The SEC asserts that communications of company employees on popular business communication platforms are likely to contain critical and unique evidence relevant to the case.
Read more:
- The SEC Filed An Objection To Motion To Seal Documents With Recording Of Various Ripple Meetings
- Over 204 Million XRP Have Been Transferred By Ripple And Some Large Exchanges As Price Lost Almost 12%