Elon Musk Responds to Brad Garlinghouse As SEC Finally Handover Hinman Docs to Ripple

Ripple Legal Team Finally Gets Its Hand On The Hinman Documents, As Elon Musk Appears To Show Support For Brad Garlinghouse’s Anti-SEC Sentiments.

The XRP community is excited as the SEC hands over Hinman documents, and Musk nods to Brad Garlinghouse’s sentiments.

In a tweet on Thursday, Ripple General Attorney Stuart Alderoty disclosed that after 18 long months, the SEC had finally handed over the documents related to the draft of the controversial William Hinman speech.

While Alderoty cannot disclose the details, for now, he asserts that it was worth fighting for, indicating that it will prove tremendous support to Ripple’s case. 

Over 18 months and 6 court orders later, we finally have the Hinman docs (internal SEC emails and drafts of his infamous 2018 speech). While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence), I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) October 20, 2022

In a speech in 2018, the SEC director of Corporate Affairs at the time, William Hinman, asserted that Ethereum was not a security. Notably, Ripple had tried to cite this in their case to show inconsistency in the SEC policies, as Ethereum had a similar background to XRP. However, the SEC had asserted that the views shared by Hinman were his own and did not represent the legal opinion of the SEC.

As such, the Hinman documents, as they are now known, have become a major contention in the case, with the SEC resisting several court rulings to release them with claims of attorney-client privilege till now. Notably, many see it as the possible tipping point in the legal battle.

Elon Musk Responds To Brad Garlinghouse

Notably, in response to the announcement by Alderoty, Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse described the behavior of the SEC as shameful, asserting that they do not practice what they preach or even care about disclosure.

In a remarkable twist, the Ripple chief managed to get a response from Elon Musk. To the surprise of many who did not expect Musk to be following the Ripple case, the billionaire appeared to support Garlinghouse, sarcastically commenting, “No way,” to show that such behavior from the SEC did not surprise him.

No way

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2022

It bears mentioning that the Tesla chief also has a rocky past with the SEC and is in the middle of a legal tussle with the regulatory body. Notably, the billionaire is seeking to overturn a decree that requires the billionaire to seek approval from his attorney before he can make disclosures related to Tesla on Twitter.

The decree resulted from a settlement of a securities fraud charge from the SEC in 2018. The charge came after Musk tweeted about having “funding secured” to make Tesla a private company. 

Notably, Musk and his legal team are now contending against the decree calling it a violation of his right to free speech. 

It is worth noting that Musk’s latest tweets have excited the XRP community, who see it as an act of support for Ripple and XRP. Notably, the billionaire’s support of cryptocurrencies in the past has often sent prices of his favored assets surging.

At press time, XRP is trading at $0.4462, down 2.77% in the last 24 hours.