SEC scared to disclose Hinman docs, Ripple on the winning track

• SEC has disclosed in a filing that it is still not ready to release Hinman’s documents to the public.
• As captured in the filing, SEC claims that it did not waive the privilege against the public as it handed the email to Ripple as ordered.

The US federal court recently ordered the US Securities and Exchange Commission to give Ripple Labs access to key documents relating to a speech made by a former official. SEC made a deliberate attempt to block the release of the documents, however, the court explained that the material meets the test for relevancy under the “extremely broad” concept of relevance used to resolve discovery motions. Both SEC and Ripple were due to file the redactions of all documents relating to the summary judgment a couple of days ago. It is reported that both parties met the deadline, however, SEC has disclosed in a filing that it is still not ready to release Hinman’s documents to the public. 

The SEC respectfully maintains that the Hinman Speech Documents are protected by privilege.

But if these documents were to become part of the public record, the SEC would be foreclosed from making any such argument in the future (on appeal in this litigation or in other litigation), which would be highly prejudicial to the SEC.

Ripple community attorneys explain SEC’s position

Ripple community lawyer, Bill Morgan explained the meaning of that statement. According to him, SEC does not think district judge Analisa Torres has the authority to release the document to the public, as they threaten to appeal the summary judgment decision. 

As captured in the filing, SEC claims that it did not waive the privilege against the public as it handed the email to Ripple as ordered. Morgan also mentioned that he is not sure how the SEC can come up with this argument since the court has already determined that they are not privileged. Morgan further argues that no privilege can or cannot be waived under the court’s finding. However, he admits that the SEC can still appeal. Regardless, this does not settle the confidentiality issue. 

It is not a question of the value of the decision in this case as a precedent but a question of res judicata.

Another Ripple community attorney Jeremy Hogan also explained the position of SEC.

The SEC is STILL arguing that the Hinman emails are privileged despite losing that issue about 100 times already. Blows my mind. AND makes me recurious (is that a word?) about what is in them.

In June 2018, William Hinman, who was the SEC Corporation Finance Division Director made a speech at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, stating emphatically that Ethereum (ETH) is not a security. Ripple considers this as very important evidence concerning the”ambiguous legal regime for crypto in the US.” Ripple argues that the ecosystem is very difficult to navigate by even SEC employees.