Ripple Counters SEC’s Financial Disclosure Request

Ripple Labs’ legal representatives have contended that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is making an invalid request to scrutinize additional financial documents. They argue that the deadline has lapsed, and the requested material is irrelevant to the forthcoming trial scheduled for April.

Ripple Counters SEC’s Financial Disclosure Request

According to a court filing on January 19, Ripple’s legal team asserts that the SEC altered its position regarding the collection of additional information during the discovery phase. This phase obliges each party to share pertinent documents as part of the legal proceedings.

On January 11, the SEC insisted that Ripple furnish audited financial statements for the fiscal years 2022 and 2023, disclose all contracts pertaining to the sale or transfer of XRP to external entities post the initial filing, and provide additional insights into institutional sale proceeds from XRP.

Nevertheless, the deadline for requesting material during the fact discovery phase concluded in August 2021. Ripple contends that the SEC had “ample opportunity” to request any necessary material during that period.

SEC’s Call for Financials Faces Resistance from Ripple

Meanwhile, Ripple’s legal team is emphasizing that the court should not be influenced by the U.S. regulator’s depiction of the blockchain payments technology company.

“The Court should avoid descending the slippery slope the SEC is paving,” the lawyers asserted.

Moreover, Ripple’s legal representatives argued that the SEC has exhausted all of its interrogatories. Interrogatories are a set of written questions that the SEC could present to Ripple for answers before the trial.

“Regarding the SEC’s interrogatory, the SEC has utilized all available interrogatories in the case and cannot unilaterally grant itself additional ones,” the filing states. The trial between Ripple and the SEC is scheduled to begin in April. The regulator initially levied charges against Ripple in December 2020, alleging that the company raised funds through the sale of unregistered securities using XRP.

However, Ripple achieved a partial victory against the SEC in July 2023, as the judge ruled that the XRP token is not considered a security in the context of programmatic sales on cryptocurrency exchanges.