XRP Closing In On Major Boost As Ripple Moves To Compel SEC To Surrender Notes From Critical 2018 Meeting

The legal brawl between Ripple and the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission has seen a new development after Ripple filed a new motion to force the agency to hand over notes of a meeting between its boss Brad Garlinghouse and a former SEC commissioner.

Ripple Wants SEC To Hand Over Key Notes

Ripple filed the motion on Feb. 10, aiming to have the SEC surrender the notes from the meeting on November 9, 2018, between Garlinghouse and former SEC commissioner Elad Roisman. In the motion, Ripple tells Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn that the regulator refused to produce the documents claiming that they are privileged.

“Exactly one week after the Court issued its ruling on the application of the deliberative in this case, following months of negotiation, letters, briefing, and argument, the SEC produced yet another privilege log listing just two documents, and asserting the DPP over both,” the filing says.

Ripple’s legal team argued that the SEC should not claim privilege since the meeting was between the commissioner and a third party thus not an internal matter. Moreover, the SEC itself acknowledged that the meeting was not about a potential enforcement investigation of Ripple.

The motion further highlights that the meeting recordings offered to the SEC indicate that the Ripple chief left the meeting with the idea that the securities watchdog was well aware of the legal “purgatory” caused by the regulatory uncertainty.

“I recall Commissioner Roisman very specifically saying ‘I’m sorry you’ve even had to come here’. I think that the confusion about the status of XRP he viewed as not healthy for the market,” Garlinghouse said in his deposition according to the motion.

SEC v. Ripple Lawsuit Gathers Pace

The lawsuit, in which Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen are accused of conducting a year-long unlicensed offering of $1.3 billion in the XRP cryptocurrency, has been progressing relatively well for Ripple.

Early this month, the court ruled that two sealed memos should be opened and made public by Feb. 17. Larsen, who had attached the documents as sealed exhibits in his motion to dismiss the SEC’s case against him, postulated that the 2012 documents didn’t describe XRP as a security or investment contract.

During the same time, Judge Analisa Torres also allowed Ripple’s fair notice defense, as ZyCrypto reported.

Remarkably, the news had a positive effect on the price of XRP as it skyrocketed by over 20%. Industry pundits believe the recent developments suggest the lawsuit is about to conclude — which could be a huge boost for the XRP price depending on the verdict.