Ripple, the San Francisco-based blockchain firm, has scored yet another win in its continuing high-stakes legal struggle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the court has denied the SEC access to Ripple’s lobbying efforts.
A Progress In The Case Against Ripple
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on June 15; it is that proof of Ripple’s XRP lobbying efforts is irrelevant.
Judge Netburn affirmed that,
“In the same vein, Ripple’s lobbying efforts regarding the status of XRP are not relevant; and any relevancy argument is outweighed by the burden of production.”
The most critical point in the Ripple lawsuit was all about whether XRP is a security or currency. Since December 2020, the SEC has asserted that Ripple accumulated approximately $1.3 billion. This is through an unrecorded securities sale of its XRP digital currency since 2013. Ripple and its executives have fought back versus these accusations with factual disputes.
On May 25, the SEC asked Judge Netburn to compel Ripple to submit documents that it argued would help show the payments firm engaged in lobbying efforts to confuse the public regarding XRP’s regulatory status.
The SEC’s attorneys also perceived that Ripple “relies on statements that it paid that official to make to support its litigation position.” The executive in question is former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo, who, after joining Ripple, declared that XRP does not qualify as a security under U.S. law.

Courtroom Showdown
In her ruling, Judge Netburn also rejected SEC’s request for documents post-dating the filing of its official complaint. The judge dismissed the appeal without prejudice — meaning the SEC can refile it later.
Concurrently, the magistrate judge has in part allowed SEC’s motion to conduct more depositions. As such, the plaintiff will be entitled to depose more Ripple staff. This would include former chief financial officer Ron Will.
Although most SEC’s motions were rejected in what is potentially an unstable case against the fintech firm; Netburn granted the agency’s petition to lengthen the discovery schedule of the lawsuit by two months.
The SEC disputed that it was getting ready to expose tons information. This includes emails and internal communications about cryptocurrency but they required more time.
Attorney Jeremy Hogan, an XRP supporter, noted that the 60-day extension pushed the summary judgment to December this year or January 2021. If a settlement has not been reached, the SEC vs. Ripple case will likely drag on to early 2022.
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