Ripple’s legal team has contested the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request for additional financial documents, asserting that the demand is untimely and irrelevant to the upcoming trial set for April. In a recent court filing on January 19, Ripple argued that the SEC changed its stance on collecting more information during the discovery phase, highlighting that the deadline for such requests had already passed.
The SEC recently requested Ripple to produce audited financial statements for the years 2022 and 2023, disclose all contracts related to the sale or transfer of XRP to external entities after the initial filing, and provide additional details on institutional sale proceeds from XRP.
Ripple’s legal team emphasized that the SEC had ample opportunity to request the information during the fact discovery phase, which concluded in August 2021. They argued that the SEC had “ample opportunity” to demand any necessary material, and the deadline for such requests had already passed.
Ripple’s lawyers also emphasized that the court should not be influenced by the portrayal the SEC is presenting against the blockchain technology company. They urged the court not to go down the “slippery slope” paved by the SEC.
Additionally, Ripple’s legal team contended that the SEC had exhausted all its interrogatories, which are written questions posed by the SEC to Ripple for answering before the trial.
The trial between Ripple and the SEC is scheduled to commence in April. The SEC initially filed charges against Ripple in December 2020, accusing the company of raising funds through the sale of unregistered securities via XRP. However, Ripple secured a partial victory in July 2023, with the judge ruling that XRP is not a security when programmatic sales occur on crypto exchanges. Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, recently referred to the SEC as an “out of control regulator” due to its stance on crypto.
