SEC asking 20 foreign regulators for information on Ripple and XRP but two of them refused to help
As AZCoin News reported, earlier this month, Ripple asked the SEC to stop asking foreign regulators to provide information about Ripple and XRP. But the SEC is currently arguing that Ripple’s claim is not to have any regulatory authority, and they are continuing to ask foreign regulators to provide them with information about Ripple accounts, at least. 20 agencies have been requested.
SEC says info on Ripple and XRP transactions overseas is important to a lawsuit
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said:
“The use of requests to foreign regulators is particularly important in the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit as we have not been able to obtain much information on XRP from Ripple.”
According to a new letter submitted by SEC attorney Jorge Tenreiro to U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, SEC is currently arguing that Ripple’s claim is not to have any regulatory authority and its discovery requirement against foreign regulators is appropriate.
The SEC contends that there is legal precedent for it to use “Requests for Assistance” during civil litigation:
“Because they are requests — not subpoenas enforceable by federal courts — and therefore not prohibited by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
The SEC also agreed to provide the defendants – Ripple Labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and executive chairman Chris Larsen – with documents obtained from third parties and a list of the types of documents the SEC has requested from institutions. foreign agencies.
Tenreiro stated:
“Defendants have access to all of the documents obtained by the SEC and a full opportunity to challenge their admissibility in court. There is no reason to prevent the development of a full factual record. Defendants’ request should be denied.”
The SEC’s new legal filing is a response to Ripple’s request earlier this month asking the judge to stop the SEC from using Memoranda of Understanding (“MOU”) requests to foreign regulators for discovery on information about Ripple and XRP — the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger created by Ripple Labs. Ripple had argued that the SEC’s use of MOU requests for discovery was outside the scope of the Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure and constituted an end-run around this Court.
The SEC was not the only party in the case that sought documents using means other than a Rule 45 subpoena, insisting that Ripple filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the data related to Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP.
Tenreiro wrote:
“Unlike the Requests, FOIA requests require the SEC to produce certain documents and may be pursued in court, even while, as here, the parties are litigating the very same issue before this Court. Thus, Defendants’ contention that the SEC is gathering documents outside of this ‘Court’s authority to oversee’ discovery… is disingenuous.”
So far, the SEC has issued 11 requests to nine foreign regulators, covering approximately 20 entities — including 14 digital asset trading platforms, five companies that Ripple has said use XRP in its On-Demand Liquidity, and one investor who bought XRP directly from Ripple — for this lawsuit, according to the SEC. Two foreign regulators, which the SEC did not identify, refused to provide assistance.
Tenreiro explained such requests were important as they provided the SEC with information that was not obtainable either from Ripple or another third party. The SEC had made requests to digital asset trading platforms as the platforms apparently have sole possession of intraday XRP trade data for Ripple’s XRP sales for certain time periods — data that is critical to establishing whether Ripple’s announcements influenced XRP price moves.
You can see the XRP price here.
Read more:
- XRP Army Wants To Interfere In The Legal Battle Between Ripple And SEC, Claiming Investors’ Interests Are Not Guaranteed
- Ripple Executives Refused To Provide Any Documents Related To Their Accounts On Foreign Exchanges before The SEC’s Request