SEC requests extension of deadline for Ripple case after two years of investigation

• Six months after the lawsuit began and after two and a half years of investigation, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has requested an extension for the case against Ripple.
• The agency has asked the court to extend the deadlines by two months.
• Attorneys familiar with the case indicate that the regulator took enforcement action before completing its initial investigation.

Six months after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed the lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the agency has requested that the court extend the time limits by 60 days.

SEC requires another two months for investigation

On June 2, the US SEC asked Judge Analisa Torres to extend the deadlines for discovery of facts and experts by 60 days. The securities regulator argued that the extension is unlikely to delay any trial, since two of the three defendants have moved to dismiss the motions that will not be reported until June 4.

The deadline for fact discovery was initially set for July 2, while expert discovery is scheduled to close on August 16.

The agency explained that certain documents requested by the SEC were not delivered by Ripple Labs and that the blockchain company has had “difficulty producing response documents from its current and former employees.”

As described in the presentation, the defendants, Ripple and its executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, disagreed with the extension at first, stating that the securities regulator has had sufficient time to investigate the matter before filing the $ 1.3 billion lawsuit against the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency.

Although it is common for parties to request extensions, attorney James Filan noted:

Here, however, is a government agency requesting the extension after a formal government investigation of 2.5 years. That’s a two-and-a-half-year lead in the case using all the tools and resources that the United States government has at its disposal.

According to Filan, he believes that the enforcement action was filed before the investigation was completed. He further said that Judge Sarah Netburn would not be impressed.

Ripple and the SEC hope to avoid overburdening the Court

In another dispute, the SEC’s earlier motion, filed under seal, has been rejected as moot. on the basis of statements made by the parties in letters that were also not accessible to the public.

While the two parties were resolving this dispute, another discussion has emerged in which Ripple’s motion to seal certain exhibits was denied without prejudice. The Court told the SEC and Ripple Labs to meet and resolve the dispute, to which attorney Filan commented:

Justice Netburn is losing patience in the fight.

The defendant and the plaintiff filed a joint motion to extend the term to June 9 for the redacted portions of the SEC letter and fifteen exhibits that the agency filed under seal in support. Ripple stated that the two parties continue to meet to discuss possible redactions in hopes of “avoiding burdening the Court with unnecessary disputes.”