Empower Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog, has supported a motion filed by Roslyn Layton Layton, a senior vice president of telecom research firm Strand Consult asking the Judge in the SEC v Ripple case to unseal documents related to the 2018 controversial speech on cryptocurrencies by former SEC executive William Hinman.<\/p>\n
The motion, dated Feb 21, asked Judge Analisa Torres to deny a Dec 22 motion by the U.S. SEC to seal some of the Hinman Speech Documents that Ripple offered in support of its summary judgment motion, arguing that the case for the public release of those documents \u201cis particularly strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth the First Amendment and federal common law endow the press and the public with a \u201cpotent and fundamental presumptive right\u201d to access \u201cjudicial documents, \u2014a right fundamentally rooted in the need for courts to have a measure of accountability and for the public to have confidence in the administration of justice,\u201d<\/em> the motion read.<\/p>\n Last September, Judge Torres ordered the SEC to turn over Hinman Speech documents to Ripple labs after months of disputes. Ripple then introduced them as evidence in support of its summary judgement motion before the SEC filed a motion to redact content from the speech-related documents under attorney-client privilege.<\/p>\n According to Mrs Layton, the fact that these documents were presented as judicial documents by Ripple attested to their importance in determining the parties\u2019 substantive rights. She further urged the judge to consider the case\u2019s implications arguing that the stakes are extraordinarily high, not only for the Ripple ecosystem but also for the broader crypto sector. <\/p>\n \u201cThis case is also poised to determine the future of cryptocurrencies in this country, serving as a legal referendum on the SEC\u2019s entire system of \u201cregulation by enforcement\u201d for the industry,\u201d <\/em>it wrote.<\/p>\n Commenting on the motion, Jason Foster, Founder and President of Empower Oversight, described SEC\u2019s approach in the Ripple case as \u201cstonewalled\u201d for attempting to suppress organisational transparency.<\/p>\n