The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed its opening remedies brief in the ongoing legal tussle against Ripple.
Prominent XRP lawyer James K. Filan made this known in an X post today, emphasizing that the SEC’s opening remedies-related brief and supporting documents were filed under seal.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP The @SECGov has filed, under seal, its opening remedies-related brief and supporting documents. These documents are not public yet. Public, redacted versions will be filed no later than Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) March 22, 2024
Public Release Date
Since these documents were filed under seal, they will be available to the public once the necessary redactions are implemented.
Specifically, the SEC and Ripple Labs will meet and confer on March 25 to deliberate on the necessary redactions.
After implementing these redactions, the SEC will file a redacted version of its remedies brief in the public docket by March 26.
Sealing Proposal for Remedies Stage
It is worth mentioning that the move is in line with the sealing requests made by the parties earlier this week.
The parties will also go through a similar process when Ripple files its opposition next month. On April 22, Ripple will file its opposition to the SEC’s opening remedies brief under seal.
Both parties will meet and confer to identify necessary redactions by April 23, and a redacted version of the opposition will be filed publicly by April 24.
Additionally, the SEC will also file its reply to Ripple’s opposition using the same format. According to the joint sealing proposal, after the reply is filed under seal on May 6, the parties will meet and confer to make redactions by May 7 before filing the edited version by May 8.
Rationale Behind Sealing Proposal
The sealing proposals are necessary as they would help protect the sensitive information of the parties involved in the lawsuit and third parties. For instance, Ripple needs to protect certain information contained in its financial records and contracts used to sell XRP to institutional customers after the lawsuit was filed in December 2020.
Recall that Ripple was ordered to submit its financial statements from 2022 to 2023 and post-complaint contracts governing institutional sales; the SEC requested the documents to support its argument in the remedies phase of the lawsuit.
Some experts speculated that the SEC needed the documents to argue that Ripple’s ODL-related XRP sales also constitute investment contracts so that the court could impose a larger fine against the company.
While the court held that Ripple violated the law by selling $770 million worth of XRP to institutional clients, top crypto expert Zach Rector speculated that the company could pay up to $3 billion in penalties if the court finds ODL sales to be securities.
However, top lawyer John Deaton predicted that Ripple would not pay a fine exceeding the amount it has spent as legal fees, which was around $200 million at the time of his remark.
