Defense lawyer James K Filan has been a vital source in the ongoing SEC-Ripple lawsuit. The lawyer has shared a letter on Twitter addressed to Judge Torres. The letter highlights the “extreme position” taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the names of their experts and the criticisms of their reports.
The letter accuses the SEC,
“Defendants write to seek an expedited briefing schedule on the extreme position taken by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC) that the names of its experts and any substantive criticism of their reports should be kept from public view.”
Per the letter, the SEC requests a seal on three experts. Additionally, the SEC insisted on sealing the names and substance of reports until the motion regarding Expert one was resolved.
On Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the parties, SEC and Ripple, are due to submit their Daubert motions. The point of a Daubert report is to cast doubt on an expert’s report and testimony. However, this means that the entire Daubert reports for Experts 1-4 would have to be filed and kept under seal.
The letter states,
“The SEC’s attempt to shield the identities and opinions of its experts from any public scrutiny is both unprecedented and unsupported by any evidence of need.”
Additional information on the Ripple lawsuit
Moreover, the accusations against the SEC’s position come days after Patrick Doody wrote a report that allegedly stated why people purchased XRP tokens. Doody claimed to know why investors were flocking to the crypto project. Additionally, Jeremy Hogan, a partner at the legal firm Hogan & Hogan, said he looks forward to Ripple’s motion to strike Doody’s report.
Hogan also believes that the ruling on the Hinman speech will be made this week. His belief is strung on the fact that motions to strike expert witnesses are due tomorrow.
The William Hinman speech has taken center stage in the lawsuit. Hinman is the former Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. The speech in question is an address Hinman made at the Yahoo Markets Summit. Hinman said that Ethereum (ETH) had magically turned into security in the address. However, this was a critical comment as there was no definition of digital assets at the time.