The United States SEC and Ripple Labs are reportedly requesting a deadline for sealing information in the case in their ongoing legal battle. Both parties in the case have until December 22nd, 2022, to file their respective sealing motions. As per a request by the attorneys posted online by crypto legal expert James K. Filan, they are asking U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to set a deadline of January 4th, 2023 for non-parties to file sealing arguments prior to a summary judgment. The SEC first filed a lawsuit against Ripple in late 2020, alleging that the payments company sold the crypto asset XRP as an unregistered security. Filan previously stated that he anticipates the judge making a decision on what is sealed in the case at the same time she issues her summary judgment. Moreover, documents related to a speech by former Director of Corporate Finance, William Hinman, have received the most attention in the case but remain under seal, including drafts and internal emails. Ripple had previously won a legal battle when a judge ruled that the SEC had to turn them over. Hinman stated in his 2018 speech that the SEC is just trying to make an example out of Ripple as part of a wider attack on crypto in general, to which end he pointed out that Ethereum was not viewed as a security by the agency. Additionally, several prominent voices in the crypto industry, including Coinbase, have filed amicus briefs in support of Ripple and believe that the SEC has overstepped its boundaries.
