The U.S.-based lawyer, founder of Crypto Law, and popular XRP activist states why the longstanding crypto lawsuit involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple could end with a court ruling from Judge Analisa Torres, the presiding judge instead of settlement.
Whereas the majority of the Ripple/XRP community members predicted a settlement for the two-year-long litigation regarding the classification of the XRPL native token, John Deaton, who once-forecasted a settlement, showed a contrary opinion in a recent Twitter thread, citing that it is more possible for the XRP lawsuit to be concluded via a court ruling.
He wrote, “2023 SEC vs Ripple: Will the case settle? After 18K votes, the poll shows 59% of people believe a settlement will happen. To be honest, 59% is higher than I would’ve guessed.” In a follow-up, he added that he is in the 39% of voters who answered the poll believing that the XRP lawsuit will be concluded with a verdict by Judge Torres.
Thus, I am in the 39% who answered the poll believing that we will get a decision by Judge Torres.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) January 1, 2023
Related: XRP Lawsuit: John Deaton States Why SEC Motion for Summary Judgment Would Be Denied
John Deaton States His Reasons
Deaton’s new stance on the Ripple-SEC case stems from the fact that the released Hinman Speech Documents may not be as critical and game-changing for the San Francisco-based crypto solutions company as he earlier perceived.
The attorney representing over 75k XRP holders in the lawsuit as an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) stated that the SEC would not have released the 2018 Hinman Speech Document to Ripple if they wanted a settlement.
He further implied that the 2018 Hinman emails, comments, and drafts may not be as extremely damaging to the SEC and highly beneficial to Ripple in the XRP lawsuit as initially imagined.
John Deaton wrote, “A year ago, I believed a settlement was likely b/c the SEC wouldn’t want the Hinman emails made public. It was my opinion that if the emails were extremely valuable to Ripple and extremely damaging to the SEC, the SEC would settle before turning over the emails, drafts, and comments. That didn’t happen. Instead, Ripple has now cited the Hinman emails in its opposition Briefs.”
“Although the emails and comments will likely show some underhandedness by the SEC, I don’t believe they are as damaging as people (including me) once believed. If they were, I believe the case would’ve settled by now and the emails wouldn’t have been turned over to Ripple, he remarked.
The importance of the Hinman-related documents is further questioned as Judge Torres ruled that the Hinman emails, drafts, and comments are relevant only for purposes of cross-examination/ impeachment, and not relevant as to whether XRP was offered and/or sold as a security, as revealed by John Deaton.
However, both Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Ripple General Counsel Stuart Alderoty indicated that the obtained SEC documents are advantageous to them. The SEC even insisted that the documents be kept away from the public, raising community members’ curiosity to read the documents. As recently reported by TimesTabloid, the SEC further pleaded with the Court to seal and redact portions of the 2018 Hinman Speech Documents.
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