In a letter sent to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres on July 10, Ripple said that the SEC’s insistence on keeping the witnesses’ identities secret was unusual and unsupported by any proof.
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has come under fire from the blockchain startup Ripple for trying to hide the identities of the agency’s expert witnesses in the continuing legal struggle between the two parties.
Ripple side of the argument
Ripple contends that the judge should reject the SEC’s request because the regulatory body is allegedly seeking to silence public criticism of the opinions of its experts. The said SEC specialists might not have any secret knowledge, Ripple said.
Ripple has thus urged the SEC to identify any secret material for redaction and asked the judge to provide both parties the opportunity to present their cases before making a decision.
In the well-known case where the SEC sued Ripple and its current and past senior executives for allegedly conducting an unregistered $1.3 billion securities offering through the sale of the XRP cryptocurrency, the experts have been named as significant actors.
Ripple has denied the claims since the case was brought up, insisting that the XRP token was exchanged as a coin. This comes after the SEC reported that Patrick Doody, its fourth expert, had received anonymous threatening communications on social media.
Doody was first employed by the SEC to examine token buyers’ expectations as part of the agency’s investigation into Telegram Group. Since the SEC filed a lawsuit, the issue has dragged on. Legal experts have noted that Ripple may prevail after a string of modest victories for the business.
According to Finbold, the court eventually accepted the SEC’s request for a clarification of the DPP finding while rejecting the SEC’s motion for reconsideration of that decision.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/07/14/ripple-calls-out-sec-for-hiding-identities-of-agencys-expert-witnesses/