Renewing its attack against Ripple, SEC is now requesting Judge Torres to bar John E Deaton from further participating in the case. In the heavily redacted letter, the regulator accused the lawyer of issuing threats online and inserting himself in the litigation.
Besides that, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also asked the court to revoke the amici curiae status granted to holders of the XRP tokens.
Back in March 2021, a group of XRP holders led by Deaton had filed a motion to intervene in the case. Although their attempt was denied by the court last October, they did manage to obtain amici status.
Amicus Curiae translated from Latin is “friend of the court,” which means a person or group who is not a party to an action, but has a strong interest in the matter.
Deaton, who is the founder of Crypto-Law and is representing 68,700 XRP holders in the lawsuit, has debunked the regulator’s claims against Ripple, terming them as reckless and dangerous.
Ripple Attorney Argue That Amici Curiae Status Is For benefit Of XRP Holders
In a letter sent to the Members of the House Financial Services Committee on the 19th of July, the lawyer slammed the SEC for allegedly misleading the court despite proof that XRP was not a security.
The lawyer then went on to claim that the amici curiae status was for the benefit of XRP holders and urged the committees to consider the effect of their actions on XRP investors.
“SEC’s overreach threatens the interests of not only XRP holders, but the exchanges and businesses utilizing XRP, and it implicates all other crypto assets. The ability of retail holders and small businesses to transact in XRP [and other cryptos] could be greatly impaired,” Deaton argued.
That said, the financial agency’s effort to prevent Hinman’s speech from going public dealt a heavy blow after U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn didn’t buy SEC’s arguments that Hinman’s 2018 speech should be treated as a “personal matter” and be protected under attorney-client privilege as they were “internal documents.”
According to the ruling, the judge ordered that “the documents must be produced,” a move touted as a big win for Ripple.