Ripple Labs' legal representatives have challenged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent request to examine additional financial documents, asserting that the deadline has lapsed and the requested material is irrelevant to the imminent April trial. The legal team, in a filing on January 19, contended that the SEC has altered its stance on gathering additional information during the discovery phase, a process mandating the sharing of pertinent documents between involved parties.
Merely a week ago, the SEC sought Ripple's audited financial statements for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023, along with details on XRP sales and transfers and additional information on institutional sales of XRP. Ripple contends that the deadline for requesting materials during the fact discovery phase concluded in August 2021, emphasizing that the SEC had ample time to request any necessary documents. They argued that post-complaint discovery, which the SEC now deems relevant, was not a position argued by the SEC during the previous discovery dispute.
Ripple's legal team stressed that the court should remain impartial and not be swayed by the SEC's characterization of the blockchain company. They cautioned against the potential bias suggested by the SEC's portrayal. Additionally, Ripple's attorneys asserted that the SEC has exhausted its allotment of interrogatories, the written list of questions posed to Ripple before the trial.
The trial between Ripple and the SEC is slated to commence in April, with the SEC initially filing charges against Ripple in December 2020, alleging the illegal fundraising through the sale of XRP, deemed unregistered securities. However, Ripple achieved a partial victory in July 2023 when a judge ruled that XRP tokens were not securities in the context of programmatic sales on cryptocurrency exchanges.
