The Court has banned the distributed ledger tech provider, Ripple from searching the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) employees’ emails for information regarding lawsuits.
SEC Not Required to Provide Employees’ Email
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn maintained her earlier ruling, stating that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is not required to produce personal letters from its employees such as emails:
The SEC need not produce informal intra-agency communications, such as emails, and such communications need not be searched or logged.
According to a report, the SEC is filing an order prohibiting Ripple from searching employees’ personal devices.
In a letter dated April 21, the regulator alleged that the company requested incidental and unrelated communications beyond the April 6 court order and charged it with harassment. Ripple specifically asked Jay Clayton, former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission to provide an email:
“There is no basis to believe that SEC employees used personal email accounts or devices to express agency interpretations or views on Bitcoin, ether, or XRP to the market.”
The Court Ordered SEC to Submit an Internal Memorandum
At the same time, the judge ruled that the SEC must submit a formal position paper and internal memorandum involving Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, which caused legal setbacks for the regulator.
The agency must also hand over the external communication with foreign partners and market participants.
Netburn has not yet decided whether the SEC can send a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foreign regulators.
Ripple’s XRP Sales Grew 97 Percent in Q1
Ripple increased its XRP sales by 97 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to its recently published quarterly report. It sold a total of $150.34 million worth of XRP in Q1. It attributes the increase to “deeper engagement” with customers who use its XRP-powered On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product for cross-border payments:
“Ripple continued to engage in sales to support ODL and key infrastructure partners as part of providing increased XRP liquidity to improve the ODL experience of certain customers, eliminating the need for pre-funding and enabling instant global payments.”
In December, the U.S. Securities and Exchange charged Ripple with conducting allegedly illegal XRP sales to the tune of $1.3 billion, kicking off a long-lasting legal battle.
