Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse didn’t hold back when he hit out at the former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton following the latter’s recent interview where he spoke on the current regulatory landscape and alluded to the SEC’s abuse of power.
Why Ripple CEO Lashed Out At Clayton
In response to an interview of Clayton which resurfaced on social media, Garlinghouse posted on his X (formerly Twitter), calling out the former SEC Chair for his hypocrisy while labeling it as “shocking.” The reason for Garlinghouse’s anger isn’t farfetched as he seemed surprised that someone like Clayton could sit and have an interview where he talked about abuse of power.
Just like the Ripple CEO highlighted, Jay Clayton was the SEC chair when the SEC’s case against Ripple and its executives Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen was instituted. Considering how the case has panned out so far, one could argue that Clayton also abused his power as the case against Ripple’s executives seemed frivolous and the claims “baseless”, just like Larsen stated.
The ETH Gate saga also suggests that the SEC, under Clayton’s leadership, had other motives for instituting an action against Ripple and its executives. In fact, pro-XRP legal expert Fred Rispoli had once hinted at Clayton’s abuse of power when he stated that the SEC’s credibility might be questioned if the former SEC Chair was called to the stand in the Commission’s case against Ripple.
John Deaton Doesn’t Hold Back Against SEC
In a post on his X platform, pro-XRP legal expert John Deaton also called out Jay Clayton, labeling him a “total fraud.” Deaton was reacting to a clip from the DACOM Summit in 2021 where Clayton seemed to suggest that he wasn’t responsible for the SEC’s enforcement actions as the decision on whether or not to institute a lawsuit was made by his staff.
Deaton noted that Clayton “controlled the money and the agenda” as the SEC Chair and could have decided not to file the case against Ripple on his “very last day” in office if he didn’t want to. He alluded to how Clayton was compromised as he went on to advise One River to place its $1 billion bet on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The lawyer also mentioned that Clayton could have also done the right thing (but he chose not to) when he noticed that there was a conflict of interest in the exercise of his power since his law firm was representing Consensys, a company owned by Ethereum’s co-founder Joseph Lubin.
Deaton believes the right thing Clayton should have done was choose not to vote for enforcement action against his law firm’s biggest competitor and possibly “rescue himself” in the process.