As a part of its legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple filed a motion on June 2nd to obtain documents from 14 international exchanges that the company believes could serve its case.
If the motion was to be approved it would result in a formal request for Finex, Bitforex, Bithumb, Bitlish, BitMart, AscendEX (formerly Bitmax), Bitrue Singapore, Bitstamp, Coinbene, HitBTC, Huobi Global, Korbit, OKEx, Upbit Singapore, and ZB Network Technology to provide documentation that could prove ripple didn’t violate Section 5 of the Securities Act.
The motion would also require authorities in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Seychelles, and Malta to help enforce the request.
Ripple’s defense team insists that all XRP sales made by the company took place on foreign exchanges instead of domestic ones, which means the Securities Act was not violated as the transactions took place outside the SEC’s jurisdiction:
“In the case of transactions conducted on such foreign trading platforms, both the offers of XRP and the sales of XRP occurred on the books and records of the respective platforms, and therefore geographically outside the United States. The SEC’s failure to allege domestic offers and sales should be fatal to its claims.”
The motion’s approval would also require assistance from authorities in the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Seychelles, and Malta to help enforce the request.
SEC is Unable To Obtain Legal Docs From Ripple
The motion-filled by Ripple on Tuesday is just the latest chapter in a saga that has been developing since December of 2020 when the SEC filed a lawsuit against the company for violating the securities act after the regulator deemed XRP to be a security.
The previous chapter in the legal battle was the SEC’s defeat when it requested access to privileged legal documents currently in the hands of Ripple’s legal team, claiming that Ripple had waived attorney-client privileges back in March.
Manhattan’s U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled in favor of Ripple on Sunday 30th of May, concluding:
“The SEC’s motion is DENIED. If at some later date, Ripple raises its good faith beliefs or relies upon its privileged communications in support of its fair notice defense, the Plaintiff may renew its application to the Court.”
The magistrate also clarified that her ruling was limited to the claim that Ripple had waived its privileges by asserting a fair notice defense as a result of the lack of notice by the SEC regarding the legal status of XRP.
The SEC’s Case Seems to be Crumbling
The motion filed by Ripple is sure to add weight to its “fair notice” defend, which could have a favorable impact on other lawsuits filed by the SEC against cryptocurrency projects as it also failed to provide warnings in such cases.
#XRPCommunity #SEC_NEWS v. #Ripple #XRP After a 2 1/2 year investigation, and almost 6 months after filing the complaint, the SEC has just requested that the Court extend the deadlines for both fact and expert discovery by sixty (60) days.https://t.co/CVOAXqOWBm
— James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) June 2, 2021
A recent Tweet by James K. Filan revealed on June 2nd that the SEC had requested an extension of the deadlines for fact and expert discovery by 60 days, which has been seen as an indication of a lack of clarity in its legal team’s approach.
Jeremy Hogan, a partner at Hogan & Hogan, referred to this news by stating in a tweet:
“The SEC has apparently bitten off more than it can chew and is asking the Court for more time at the dinner table. I don’t know if the Court will grant the extension but I do know that the SEC is way behind the eight ball!”
The lawsuit’s resolution will directly impact the future requirement for the SEC to give fair notice and in the legitimacy of SEC’s claims over jurisdiction over transactions that took place on international exchanges.
The post Ripple Seeks to Get Documents From 14 International Crypto Exchanges appeared first on Blockonomi.
