In another win for the cryptocurrency sector, Ripple has managed to prevent the SEC from being able to access the legal advice that is provided to the accused. Sarah Netburn, the Magistrate Judge of the District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the motion of the SEC to force the crypto company to put forward its memos which would discuss the sales of XRP with its lawyers.
Ripple Scores A Win Over The SEC
As stated by the SEC, Ripple must have had an inkling that XRP could be seen as a security from the legal advisors it would recruit- all the way back in 2013- when it produced its first token sale. This resulted in the SEC filing for a motion that would force the crypto company to highlight all forms of communication that discussed any advice that the company sought with its efforts to push XRP as a security before the federal securities laws.
Nonetheless, the present ruling of Judge Netburn saw the Court ruling for the attorney-client privilege which was initially upheld to encourage frank communication between both parties. The motive- it would help uphold the statutes of law and administration of justice. Further, the Judge also noted that Ripple hadn’t yet done away with its attorney-client privilege unlike several other defendants waiving it off under certain circumstances.
The ruling also highlighted the notion of fair notice- which implied that the courts had to construct ambiguous criminal statutes in order to favor the defendant. As a rebuttal, the defendant pleaded that the SEC hadn’t put forward any claims or notices that the regulators in the markets considered XRP to be any sort of security.
Netburn finally wrote in its support. The note further cited the eight-year delay of SEC in pursuing any form of enforcement action against Ripple for its violations of securities. This was in conjecture with XRP being listed on over 200 different cryptocurrency exchanges with several billions of dollars of transactions made.
