The parties’ request to redact portions of documents associated with Amici’s motion to participate in the lawsuit has been granted. 

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres has approved requests made by Ripple and the SEC to execute narrowly tailored redactions to the documents filed in connection to Amici’s motion to participate in an upcoming challenge of one of SEC’s experts. 

According to the order, Judge Torres noted that she finds the SEC and Ripple’s requests to be “narrowly tailored” to preserve the higher values cited in their respective letters last week. 

#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP Court approves parties' sealing requests regarding amici motion to participate in challenge to SEC expert. Unsealed versions must be filed by tomorrow, July 19th. Amici must reply to SEC objection to their participation by Monday, July 25th. pic.twitter.com/fCjNQ3MrPZ

— James K. Filan ???? 106k (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) July 18, 2022

Court’s Order

Following the court’s approval of the parties’ request, both the SEC and Ripple are expected to publicly file unsealed versions of their objections and responses today. 

While the SEC will file the unsealed version of its opposition to Amici’s request publicly to participate in the expert challenge, Ripple will publicly file its response to the SEC’s objection. 

The parties are also expected to submit supporting exhibits during the public filing of their respective motions.  

After unsealed versions of the SEC’s opposition have been publicly filed, Amici must file its response to the objection on or before July 25, 2022. 

Brawl Over Amici’s Motion 

Amici’s request to participate in the challenge of one of SEC’s experts has recently been a major bone of contention. 

It is publicly known that the SEC objects to this request. However, the contents of the SEC’s objection are still unknown to the public because the Securities and Exchange Commission requested that it seal its opposition in its entirety to protect experts from harassment and threats. 

Ripple objected to the SEC’s request to seal its objection, saying the agency should provide narrowly tailored redaction. Along the line, Ripple also requested the sealing of the contents of one of the exhibits submitted by the SEC, which it claims is vital to its business. 

Parties’ Motion Granted and Denied in Part

In a ruling made last week, Judge Torres granted in part and denied in part the parties’ request. She stated that sealing vital judicial documents away from the public would have negative consequences on the United States’ justice system. 

According to Judge Torres, people may lose confidence in the country’s justice system when they are denied access to essential court documents. 

Following her ruling, the parties had to make their respective narrowly tailored requests. The SEC requested that the name of its expert be excluded from its objection to Amici’s motion to participate in the expert challenge. 

However, Ripple requested that the email addresses of two of its employees cited in one of the exhibits be excluded from the document. 

Judge Torres believes their requests are narrowly tailored enough, prompting her to approve them. 

The Ripple community lets out a sigh of relief as Jed McCaleb finally sells off all his XRP holdings after eight years.

In a tweet on Monday, Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse confirmed the conclusion of Jed McCaleb’s XRP sell-off with a witty Tacos joke.

“Tacos anyone? JK the stand is closed,” Garlinghouse tweeted, responding to the announcement even as Ripple published a blog post titled “The Stand is Finally Out of Tacos.”

Tacos anyone? JK the stand is closed ? https://t.co/rshrX6hGOQ

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) July 18, 2022

It is worth noting that on Monday, The Crypto Basic reported that only 46.7 XRP remained in the famous TacoStand wallet. Notably, Jed McCaleb had no issues dispatching 5.32 million XRP in a couple of days after speculations that the former Ripple executive had planned to pause his asset sell-off.

McCaleb, one of the founders of Ripple, a blockchain payments giant, had served as the firm’s Chief Technology Officer for a couple of months in 2013. Notably, as a founder, he received a cache of 9 billion XRP, which he committed to selling following his exit from the company. It is worth noting that McCaleb made over $3 billion from the sale in the last eight years.

Notably, McCaleb’s position has contributed greatly to the selling pressure on the asset. It has been a major cause for concern, especially as the token’s price has already taken a major hit following the SEC suit in December 2020.

Following the announcement, several users have expressed excitement and new bullish sentiment for the token price. 

Meanwhile, the complete sale of McCaleb’s XRP holdings is the latest in a line of positive news for the XRP network. Last week, The Crypto Basic reported that Ripple scored a major win in its legal battle with the SEC, fueling positive sentiment for the network.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at the $0.3588 price point, 1.48% down in the last 24 hours but up 13.47% in the last seven days.

John Deaton Says Why SEC does not see Jed McCaleb “earning $2.56B from sales of XRP SINCE THE DATE THE LAWSUIT WAS FILED!”

Attorney Deaton noted that if the SEC is convinced that Ripple breached its laws via its 2013 ICO, then the agency should have added McCaleb because he made more money than the $1.3 billion disgorgement fee.

Attorney John Deaton said if the SEC claims that Ripple and two of its executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, raised $1.3 billion at the expense of investors, then the company’s co-founder Jed McCaleb should also be roped into the lawsuit for earning more.

According to Deaton, who requested to represent over 68,000 XRP investors in the upcoming Daubert challenge of one of SEC’s experts, McCaleb made more money than the $1.3 billion disgorgement fee the agency seeks.

The SEC claims #XRP itself is a security and anyone who sells it is violating Section 5 of the Securities Act. The SEC claims @Ripple @bgarlinghouse & @chrislarsensf “enriched” themselves at the expense of investors and it is seeking $1.3B in disgorgement from these defendants. https://t.co/9nJ1iNroth

— John E Deaton (206K Followers Beware Imposters) (@JohnEDeaton1) July 18, 2022

McCaleb Sold His XRP After SEC Filed Charges Against Ripple

Recall that the Ripple co-founder and former CTO was gifted 9 billion units of XRP for his contributions to the project.

After McCaleb left Ripple, the company and two of its executives were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for selling unregistered securities in the U.S. The SEC capitalized on the fact that Ripple raised $1.3 billion at the expense of investors.

While the SEC faced charges in the U.S. for allegedly violating the country’s securities law, McCaleb had consistently sold XRP to investors.

In the aftermath of the lawsuit, McCaleb earned $2.56 billion from selling his XRP.

“Yet, the co-founder, Jed McCaleb, earned $2.56B from sales of #XRP SINCE THE DATE THE LAWSUIT WAS FILED!

That is nearly DOUBLE the amount the SEC seeks from the Defendants that were sued. It should be noted that Ripple has also sold XRP since the lawsuit was filed as well,” attorney Deaton said.

Attorney Deaton Ripple’s Co-Founder Should Be Sued

While attorney Deaton noted that he does not have anything against McCaleb’s sales of his XRP gift, he believes the Ripple co-founder should also be added to the list of Defendants like Garlinghouse and Larsen.

“But, if you accept the SEC’s allegations as true, he has been violating the law and enriching himself,” he said.

Attorney Deaton added that he did not mean to draw the SEC’s attention to the former Ripple executive. However, his main focus is on the fact that the SEC’s claims have been inconsistent and illegitimate.

The lawyer who was granted Amici status in the lawsuit added that if the agency is convinced that Ripple violated U.S. securities laws, it would have stopped the company and McCaleb from selling more XRP.

“If it’s clearly illegal, you don’t allow the Defendants to keep breaking the law so they can pay their attorneys to make sure that they can continue breaking the law,” attorney Deaton said.

If it’s clearly illegal you don’t allow the Defendant to keep breaking the law so they can pay their attorneys to make sure that they can continue breaking the law.

2) The 2nd thing they would’ve done is used a cease and desist letter to the co-founder to stop his sales. Why?

— John E Deaton (206K Followers Beware Imposters) (@JohnEDeaton1) July 18, 2022

Ripple Continued Selling XRP Despite Lawsuit

Despite the ongoing lawsuit, Ripple has not ceased to sell at least 200 million units of XRP after unlocking the usual 1 billion XRP monthly. The idea behind selling the token is mostly to cater to the company’s day-to-day expenses.

With the SEC lawsuit being the major issue Ripple is currently facing, it is safe to assume that a majority of the revenue generated in monthly sales is channeled to paying attorneys’ fees.

Last week, Garlinghouse said Ripple would have spent over $100 million by the end of the lawsuit.