John Deaton Reveals that Hinman Received Over $9 Million from an Ethereum-Related Firm

Attorney John Deaton, the founder of Deaton Law Firm and CryptoLaw, has disclosed the amount received by William Hinman, a former official of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), from Simpson Thacher, a partner of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) in 2017 and 2018.

According to John Deaton in a Friday tweet, William Hinman was involved in profit sharing with a crypto firm while still in office as the head of SEC’s Corporate Finance. As a matter of concern, this was during the period he made a controversial statement regarding Ethereum (ETH). 

Per the update, William Hinman got $7.8 million in profit sharing in 2017. He also received $1.8 million from Simpson Thatcher, a partner of the Ethereum-related firm, in 2018.

Being an officer of the SEC by then, this profit-sharing involvement was a huge conflict of interest. Back then, the securities watchdog ordered Hinman to avoid Thatcher but disobeyed.

“This is why there was a complete criminal bar against him having any contact with Simpson Thacher. Yet, he disobeyed the SEC Ethics Office again and again,” John Deaton wrote. 

John Deaton is the attorney representing over 70,000 XRP holders in the ongoing lawsuit between Ripple and the SEC. He has been an active supporter of Ripple in the legal battle as he believes that the SEC is just all out to assault the crypto industry.

Read Also: Attorney John Deaton to SEC: Go After Ripple If You Have a Case, but Don’t Hurt XRP Investors

SEC Conceals Hinman’s Statement

The Ex-SEC official, William Hinman is a very crucial element in the ongoing XRP lawsuit filed against Ripple, the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, by the SEC. 

In 2020, the SEC filed a case against the San Francisco-based crypto company alleging that Ripple sold unregistered securities. Almost two years down the line, the court battle is yet to end. The Ripple-SEC case is now regarded as the crypto legal tussle of the century. 

In 2018, Hinman made a very critical speech and the SEC employed many tactics to withhold the documents associated with the speech. However, Ripple has not relented from demanding the release of the documents. 

Read More: SEC Files Reply Brief to Defend Its Refusal to Release Hinman’s Speech Drafts

During the speech, Hinman asserted that Ethereum (ETH) isn’t a security. The SEC believes that divulging these documents and drafts would place Ripple Labs in a better position to win the case.

Meanwhile, another former SEC official, John Berry, has claimed that Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple digital token XRP are similar. He meant that XRP should be treated like the two largest cryptocurrencies.

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