Roslyn Layton, Sr. Contributor, Forbes, has filed a motion in the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit asking to release Hinman’s documents. The motion, filed on February 15, on behalf of Layton by attorney Carl Cecere, requests to petition the court to gain access to William Hinman’s 2018 controversial speech drafts.
Announcing the motion filing, attorney Cecere tweeted:
We just filed this motion for leave to intervene in the SEC v. Ripple Case, which seeks billions in penalties from Ripple based on its cryptocurrency XRP, which the SEC claims is an unregistered security.
— Carl Cecere (@CecereCarl) February 15, 2023
here's the brief: https://t.co/9zz62x8f4n
Per Cecere, whether Ripple had fair notice that its cryptocurrency might be subject to the securities laws, since it is a currency, and not a security is a key case aspect.
The Hinman speech documents sought by Layton are crucial to that defense, since they relate to the sole SEC guidance “on whether cryptocurrencies might be considered securities,” adds Cecere. William Hinman is the then-Director of Corporation Finance (SEC), who reportedly gave the said speech in 2018.
The documents, Cecere states, would explain if those within the SEC thought the guidance given in the speech might have varied from settled expectations on the application of the securities laws to cryptocurrencies.
Layton, via counsel Cecere, tends to oppose a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) motion seeking to seal specific Hinman speech documents. Reportedly on December 22, 2022, the SEC filed a motion “to seal certain portions of the parties’ filings in connection with their motions for summary judgment.”
Also requested by the SEC to seal were specific controversial documents of Hinman’s speech used by Ripple in its filed opposition. Layton also opposed SEC’s motion to seal Hinman’s documents in reaction to the said development. Cecere believes the said documents must be accessible to the public to allow everyone to evaluate if the SEC vs. Ripple case is legitimate.
Noting that she has no financial interest in XRP or Ripple, but she has authored multiple op-ed articles for the said documents and their vitality in the lawsuit. Layton, a prominent columnist and scholar, reportedly terms the Ripple trial as the “cryptocurrency trial of the century.”
Applauding Cecere and Layton’s petition motion filing for public access to Hinman’s documents, pro-XRP lawyer John E. Deaton tweeted:
👏 outstanding job Carl. https://t.co/MiZgRIeCIT
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) February 16, 2023
The content of the said Hinman’s documents includes emails and various SEC internal communications pertaining to the draft of Hinman’s controversial 2018 speech. While in October the SEC reportedly submitted to Ripple the said documents, these are yet to be accessed by the public.
In 2022, attorney Deaton presented the reason the document in question isn’t released to the public. Per Deaton, a protective order exists for the said documents, preventing the parties from uncovering the content.
