In a significant development, Ripple representatives requested an Expedited Briefing as defendants and SEC brawl over expert reports.
Attorney Andrew Ceresney, a former SEC exec who submitted the letter on behalf of Ripple, deemed the plaintiff’s move of keeping expert testimonies out of the public view as ‘Extreme’ and urged the court to order an Expedited Briefing.
It needs to be told that the SEC now seeks not one but four of their expert’s names and the contents of their testimonies or depositions removed from public scrutiny.
The financial watchdog also requested to keep expert 5’s name including his report which has already been made public, hidden.
Calling the former’s attempt to shield the identities and opinions ‘Shocking’, Ripple lawyers stated that the regulator is bent on suppressing public criticisms lobbied to their witnesses.
And by doing so, the defendants argue that the agency is abusing the Protective Order.
Ripple vs SEC Omnibus Ruling Deadline On July 12
After several twists and turn in the never-ending legal battle, the focus now is on the SEC’s plan to file an omnibus action to exclude or limit the testimony of up to 10 analysts of Ripple and/or its defendants, current CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen.
An Omnibus is a pretrial hearing where several legal procedural requests are presented to a court simultaneously, allowing the parties to present or raise concerns in a systematic manner.
Experts believe the plaintiff’s tactic is to build pressure on the firm’s defense team and exclude the initial and/or counter reports on various expert-witnessed topics.
According to the SEC, the defendants have provided their consent to the motion, which will not exceed 120 pages, on the condition that the same limit is applied to the opposing party. The SEC too had no objections.
The deadline for a ruling on the motion is set for July 12.
Discussing the significance of this, Attorney Fred Rispoli stated:
Ripple will also move against the SEC’s experts. Now you understand why Ripple recently hired two additional attorneys.