XRP Community Attorney Explains What Is Stopping Ripple From Releasing Hinman’s Documents

Attorney Deaton has explained what’s stopping Ripple from releasing the drafts of Hinman’s 2018 controversial speech.

With Ripple announcing in October that the SEC has handed over the drafts of William Hinman’s 2018 controversial speech, XRP community members have patiently waited for the blockchain company to release the documents. 

However, Ripple has not yet released the document despite owning the drafts of Hinman’s 2018 speech for nearly two months. 

XRP Community Questions Ripple’s Delay in Releasing Hinman’s Documents

The delay has stirred up reactions from XRP enthusiasts, eager to know what prevents Ripple from releasing Hinman’s documents. 

Prominent Ripple and XRP enthusiast Digital Asset Investor called on XRP community attorney John E. Deaton to update enthusiasts on why the blockchain company is stalling the release of Hinman’s document.  

“Hey John Deaton, can we get an update on this? So ripple has the documents. What is preventing them from being released “at the SEC’s insistence”? Why are they in a position to insist on anything? To me this is everything,” Digital Asset Investor tweeted. 

Deaton’s Response

Responding to the question, attorney Deaton stated that the parties have a protective order in place regarding the documents. The founder of Crypto Law added that once a party in a lawsuit marks any document as “confidential”, the other party cannot share it. He added that the blockchain company would violate the protective order if it decides to share the document. 

There’s a protective order in place between the parties. When one side marks something “confidential” the other side cannot disclose or release them. If you do, you are in violation of the Court’s protective order. We see them if the SEC agrees or the Court orders them unsealed.

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 20, 2022

Battle Over Hinman’s Document

As reported in October, Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty revealed that the SEC surrendered the drafts of Hinman’s 2018 speech to the blockchain company. The SEC finally succumbed to Ripple’s demand after a whopping 18 months of a legal battle between the parties and six court orders mandating the agency to hand over the documents.

Despite surrendering the documents, the SEC requested redactions to two drafts of Hinman’s 2018 speech. A few days later, Magistrate Sarah Netburn granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request.

Meanwhile, the protective order has prevented Ripple from sharing the documents with the public.