Forbes journalist Roslyn Layton has filed a motion to intervene in the ongoing litigation between Ripple Labs and the US SEC to gain access to documents from Hinman’s speech.
Layton is represented by attorney J. Carl Cecere against a motion to seal certain documents from Hinman’s speech filed by the SEC on December 22.
According to the motion, Layton has no financial interest in Ripple or XRP, nor in the case itself. However, he has published numerous articles in Forbes about Hinman’s speech papers, discussing his central role in the crypto industry and justifying the request.
Layton’s arguments for the publication of the document
Layton and his attorney argue that the First Amendment and federal common law provide the press with a fundamental right of access to these court documents. One argument for disclosing the documents is that the SEC has recognized their importance.
According to Layton, the entire crypto industry is at stake, not just for Ripple, its executives, and the thousands of XRP holders.
William Hinman, former head of the SEC’s corporate finance division, stated that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities. The contentious subject of Hinman’s speech was his association with Simpson Thacher, a group that promotes Enterprise Ethereum. Hinman returned to Simpson Thacher after leaving the SEC.
Layton’s motion has sparked mixed reactions among members of the cryptocurrency community. Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton took to Twitter to applaud Cecere and Layton for asking the court for public access to the Hinman documents.
The Hinman documents consist of emails and other internal SEC communications associated with the draft of Hinman’s controversial 2018 speech. Although the SEC provided the documents to Ripple in October, they have yet to be accessed by the public.
Impact of the sentence
This latest motion gives Judge Torres another document related to Hinman’s speech to consider and another reason for the SEC to consider settling. It remains to be seen when Judge Torres rules on the motion.
The case is also likely to determine the future of cryptocurrencies in the US, serving as a legal referendum on the SEC’s “rule by enforcement” system for the industry.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared his views on the documents related to the speech in January, saying:
“When they come out, I think you’ll see more things like, how could the SEC possibly decide to bring a case against Ripple given what they were saying inside their own walls?”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse
XRP was trading at $0.4008 at the time of writing, up 4.6% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCapreflecting the bullish sentiment in the crypto market.
