John Deaton is Confident Hinman Documents Would Become Public

John Deaton, the attorney representing thousands of XRP holders in the ongoing Ripple-SEC case has expressed his certainty over the public disclosure of the Hinman Speech Document.

According to him, whether or not the judge gives a ruling that they are judicial documents, he is 75% confident that the Hinman speech drafts and emails would be made public. 

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has requested that the drafts and emails regarding the controversial speech made in 2018 by William Hinman, a former Director of Corporation Finance at the SEC should be kept concealed from the public. 

Recall that it took Ripple over 18 months and six court orders to get the SEC to reveal these Hinman Speech Documents to them and the court. 

Whereas Ripple and its two executives, the defendants in the longstanding XRP lawsuit, have consented to keep these documents away from the eyes of the public, the pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton believes that the documents will be made public later in the future. 

He wrote, “Regarding the Hinman emails and speech drafts: the SEC has requested for them to remain sealed, even after Judge Torres’ ruling on summary judgment. I believe the emails and speech drafts will be made public at some point, regardless of Judge Torres’ decision on whether to seal.”

In addition, he presented a possible scenario that would lead to the Hinman Speech Documents being unsealed though with limited redactions. He further pointed out what would make the presiding judge label the 2018 Hinman drafts and emails as judicial documents.  

He wrote, “If Judge Torres cites to or relies on the emails/drafts in making her decision, I am 75% sure that she will declare them “judicial documents” and order that they be unsealed (but with limited redactions). But even if she doesn’t, the emails and drafts are going to be made public.”

In stating why he is so confident, John Deaton predicted that the SEC would launch more enforcement actions against United States-based crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Binance US, and Kraken as well as other projects soon. 

This would result in more efforts being made to access the controversial speech documents where Hinman claimed Ethereum is not a security. “If you’re an exchange being sued you will 100% request these emails,” he tweeted, concluding thus, “The bottom line is with all this future litigation, these emails will make it to the public.”

As previously reported, a motion has been filed on behalf of Dr. Layton to have these emails and drafts made public.

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