Ripple claims that the SEC switched gears with the recent discovery request.
Over the past month, the ongoing SEC versus Ripple lawsuit has been moving at a fast pace. Although a series of motions have been filed and Judge Netburn was abrupt with a lot of her decisions. But there are no signs of the litigation ending anytime soon. The battle between Ripple vs SEC ensues!
A week back, the SEC filed a motion that requests the court to permit it to depose custodians. The regulatory body went on to allege that without the same, it won’t be able to complete its discovery. Furthermore, the SEC then demanded that the defendants produce records of Ripple’s efforts and documents highlighting post-complaint XRP-related transactions.
In the latest response to the discovery motion, Ripple now stated that the documents and records stated by the SEC are not relevant to the case. Just four months back, Ripple’s counsel claimed that both parties agreed to complete all the discovery by the 2nd of July. At that time, the SEC agreed to “expeditiously” resolve the case. The counsel for the defendants said;
“Now, just weeks away from the close of the discovery, the SEC has changed its tune. The SEC’s requests for additional discovery, including a more than 50% increase in depositions, should be denied.”
SEC’s Investigation
The SEC conducted a two-and-a-half-year investigation and gathered over 50,000 documents from Ripple and from other third parties. In the discovery about this case, the defendants’ counsel claimed that the SEC received an additional 67,000 from it.
The firm also alleges that the SEC has not tried to acquire information from other “convenient, less burdensome or less expensive” sources in its two-year investigation.
Furthermore, the defendant says that the SEC didn’t reveal how each of their proposed attestants have “unique” and “non-duplicative” information. Thus, calling the SEC’s additional discovery request “unjustifiable,” the blockchain firm’s counsel requested the court to not extend the discovery.
“The SEC chose to re-depose five persons from whom it had already obtained sworn testimony during its investigation, instead of naming new deponents. It must now live with that choice.”
One of the five people in question is Ripple’s Former CFO, Ron Will.
“The SEC’s poor choice of a deponent does not allow it a do-over.”
Ripple Claps Back
It should be highlighted that Ripple already released documents from 30 custodians. Also they are recently obliging to produce the documents from one more custodian as a response to the SEC’s request. Ripple stated that the SEC has claimed that 31 custodians are “insufficient” as of now.
With respect to the production of documents post-dating the complaint, the defendants argued that the same would be “overly burdensome” and “would not yield relevant information.” Interestingly, until recently, the SEC had agreed that Ripple needed to produce only those documents pre-dating the complaint.
“Indeed, the only purpose of such a request could be the kind of discovery aimed at annoyance, embarrassment, oppression or undue burden or expense that the courts routinely forbid.”
What will be the next move from both parties? When will Ripple vs SEC battle end?
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