The founder of Crypto Law and a crypto aficionado, John E. Deaton, recently tweeted criticism of the Securities and Exchange Commission and its lawyers. The lawyer claims that the SEC says whatever serves them best in the present, without regard to or consideration of any prior statements.
For an entire year, as Deaton noted, the SEC maintained that the Hinman Speech was nothing more than William Hinman’s own personal view and did not constitute market direction.
Deaton says:
“Yes, that’s right: even though the speech remains on the SEC website, today, and even though Hinman got on TV and repeatedly said ‘we’—meaning we at the SEC—believe ETH is not a security, the SEC said the speech wasn’t meant as market guidance.”
Judge Netburn ruled that certain drafts, emails, and the speech in question must be produced in court because they were deemed to be personal opinions of Hinman. However, the SEC argued that these materials should be considered market guidance from the Division of Corporation Finance, rather than official statements from the SEC.
The SEC’s lawyers informed the judge that she must have misunderstood their stance when she questioned the agency about its apparent inconsistency. According to Deaton, Judge Netburn’s reactions were fascinating to see in court.
Deaton correctly pointed out that the Judge’s comments about the SEC attorneys being disingenuous and only caring about winning the next argument and lacking any faithful allegiance to the law were not limited to the Hinman emails.
“So when someone from the SEC privately says this is why did this or didn’t do that, you know they are full of shit.”
Deaton says he urged them to “come into the daylight – on the record” and make their ridiculous claims there. Of course, they won’t. Because in addition to being hypocrites, they are also cowards.
