The controversial Hinman Speech materials have been asked to be sealed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who claim they have no bearing on the court's directed verdict ruling.
On December 22, the SEC submitted a motion to seal the summary judgment document, asking to have several items of data and papers, most importantly the Hinman Speech materials, sealed.
The records referred to as the “Hinman Speech” refer to a statement given by William Hinman, a former director of the SEC Corporation's finance division, in June 2018 at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit. In that speech, he presumably denied that Ether, the native token of the Ethereum platform, is a safety.
In their lawsuit against the American regulator, Ripple views it as a crucial piece of proof. According to the SEC's most recent petition, the “public's right” to see materials that “have no significance” to the Court's summary judgment determination trumps the SEC's purpose.
Additionally, it asked that any mentions of the Hinman Speech Documents be “redacted” from the defendants' filings. The SEC's request has drawn ire from the crypto market, including one user alleging that Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, has a hidden motive:
Additionally, it asked that data relating to the SEC's expert witnesses and XRP be sealed.
Individuals who provided statements, internal SEC records, and SEC official discussions and deliberations.
It happens just a few weeks after Ripple Labs submitted its last response to the SEC on December 2, indicating that the two-year legal dispute may soon come to a close.
After 18 months and six court orders, Ripple finally acknowledged on October 21 that it had possession of the Hinman Speech Documents, however the SEC insisted that the records stay secret.
A U.S. judge earlier rejected the SEC's request to keep the Hinman records secret and criticized the SEC for acting hypocritically in doing so.
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