In an affirmative speech on a conference call with District Court Judge Sarah Netburn on May 21, Jorge Tenreiro, a senior litigator with the Securities and Exchange Commission, claimed that Ripple’s lawyer had told the company that XRP may be currency and security at the same time:
They were sophisticated players. They hired at least 12 law firms…Ripple’s supposed confusion has to be tested against what it was actually being told.
Ripple Continues to Adhere to its Lawyer’s Advice
As reported by Fxcryptonews earlier, the SEC is trying to force Ripple to provide legal advice on the status of XRP from attorneys.
Tenreiro claimed the challenge of Howey’s ambiguity was invalid but indicated that the defendant brought his state of mind to the case
When asked about other interventions in the lawyer-client relationship, Tenreiro said that if Ripple did not take the lawyer’s advice, it would be a gamble.
“If they received advice and they did not follow, they would lose…What if their lawyer told them, you still have to deal with the SEC? That would be game over for their defense, that they were confused. We don’t know what they have given the exchanges… Ripple tells us, what you were thinking is relevant.”
He also argued that Ripple used legal advice to influence the trading platform with the opinions of lawyers.
Ripple’s Reaction to the Conference Call
Ripple’s attorney Gregory Rapawy claimed that the advice Ripple received was not the subject of his defense:
“It doesn’t matter what we believed and believe that XRP is not an investment contract – it’s strict liability. Our defense is fair notice, not on our state of mind.”
In response, Tenreiro asked Ripple to withdraw his affirmative defense.
In addition, Rapawy stated that Ripple will not refuse to find non-privileged internal documents, adding that both party’s internal documents may be related to defending reasonable dismissal.
Judge Netburn will announce the verdict very soon:
“I’m going to take it under advisement. I will get an order out as quickly as possible.”
