As the SEC-Ripple lawsuit goes through its day-to-day hearing, in a new strategic move, Ripple now wants former SEC officials to testify under oath.
Ripple’s deposition request:
A couple of days earlier, James K. Filan; a member of Ripple’s legal team and the former federal prosecutor made Ripple’s request of depositing a former SEC official public.
He further clarified the meaning and the purpose behind the deposition of former SEC official as he stated:
“This means that Ripple wants to question, under oath (deposition), a former SEC official.”
SEC’s response:
In response, the agency wrote a letter to the court asking them not to allow Ripple to disposition its former official. SEC stated that it “intends to file a motion to quash the deposition subpoena served by the defendants”
Jay Clayton as the most probable candidate:
Though the name of the official is not made public yet, former SEC chairman Jay Clayton seems to be the most probable candidate. As soon as the SEC has filed the lawsuit against Ripple, he has been castigated severely, on many occasions, by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Just the day after the SEC formally filed the lawsuit against Ripple, on Dec 21, Garlinghouse gave an interview to the Fortune magazine in which he stated that not only that the lawsuit being filed is grinch-worthy but it is shocking too.
On the same day, he made a series of tweets alleging then-SEC-chairman Jay Clayton of “attacking crypto”, “picking winners“, limiting “US innovation in the crypto industry to BTC and ETH“ and “directly benefitting China“ as he argued that most of the BTCs and ETHs are produced there whereas Ripple is a US-based company.
Moreover, the timing of the lawsuit has also been criticized by the Ripple officials and many independent personalities as terrible. Garlinghouse had said that given the Jay Clayton had his one foot out of the door when he filed the lawsuit it seems misguided.
Other candidates:
Other potential but less probable personals that could be demanded by Ripple to testify are Sagar Teotia, William Hinman, and Stephanie Avakian. They all have left the agency just several months ago.
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