During a recent hearing, a judge criticized Coinbase for seeking to read the emails of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla said Coinbase’s attempts to access Gary Gensler’s emails were irrelevant to the case and urged the crypto exchange to modify or withdraw its request.
Judge Slams Coinbase
Judge Failla, who is hearing the Coinbase case in New York District Court, expressed doubt at the latest hearing about the validity of the crypto exchange’s request for Gensler’s personal correspondence.
In June, Coinbase demanded that the SEC provide documents related to the legal status of digital assets. At the same time, the crypto platform requested access to Gensler’s emails. According to the statement, the requested correspondence includes his time as SEC chairman and the four years before that.
The exchange’s lawyers emphasized that they wanted to make sure in this way what views the head of the regulator actually holds regarding cryptocurrencies.
The SEC immediately objected to the request, describing it as an “unlawful intrusion” into Gensler’s privacy. Any such documents should be requested from the agency itself, not individual employees, the commission’s lawyers argue.
SEC attorney Jorge Tenreiro said Gensler’s communications before he was appointed chairman are irrelevant to the case. He also stressed that the SEC chief is neither a factual nor an expert witness in the case. Granting such a request could set a troubling precedent for future cases, he said.
https://x.com/innercitypress/status/1811470104636342735
Coinbase attorney Kevin Schwartz, for his part, insisted that Gensler’s communications — including those prior to his chairmanship — were especially important. He argued that the SEC chief’s public statements were often presented as his personal views, making the emails vital to understanding the regulatory context.
The judge was unimpressed by Coinbase’s arguments, which she called speculative and unconvincing. However, Failla acknowledged that the SEC had pressured the trading platform and made its operations significantly more difficult. She suggested that the parties work together to develop a timeline for the case.
Additionally, the judge also advised Coinbase to file a motion for compelled habeas corpus rather than continue with the current subpoena approach.
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Source: Cryptocurrency
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