In an interesting X post from earlier this week, former SEC Chief John Reed Stark (Office of Internet Enforcement) issued a scathing rebuke of the SEC for its treatment of Ripple Labs in a years-long XRP lawsuit.
Prediction: Expect a Big Win for the SEC in the SEC/Terra Litigation and a Gracious (Yet Scathing) Rebuke of the Recent SEC/Ripple Decision
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto developer Terraform Labs have now filed dueling summary judgment motions, each… pic.twitter.com/fmo4LoFrCI
— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) November 6, 2023
Former SEC Chief Blasts XRP Lawsuit
John Reed Stark is now the president of a consulting company for digital compliance. But before that, he spent 15 years at the SEC focusing on cyber-related enforcement.
So, his opinion on the way his former employer has handled the XRP lawsuit against Ripple Labs carries some weight behind it.
According to his recent post on X.com, the Hinman documents related to the XRP lawsuit sickened Mr. Stark:
“Deaton also sheds sunlight on Hinman’s potential misconduct which can create legitimate conflicts of interests. Along these lines, I am sick and tired of attorneys who leave their law firms to work at the SEC for 2-3 years, and then return right back to their original law firms.”
A key part of the XRP lawsuit, the Hinman Documents refer to internal statements made by former SEC director William Hinman regarding cryptocurrencies and securities law.
Stark Praises Ripple Labs Team
Furthermore, Stark lambasted the SEC for regulatory overreach in his X.com post, and praised the legal team working for Ripple Labs and John Deaton – a popular attorney representing thousands of XRP holders:
“As an aside, my hat still goes off to @JohnEDeaton1 and the XRP team for calling out the SEC for their disturbing practice of unilateral law-making from a podium, which the SEC similarly accomplishes via no action letters, interpretive releases and settled/consented administrative orders.”
Stark concludes there has been some “compelling work done” by the Ripple legal team. John Deaton, an amicus brief lawyer whom Stark referenced in his post, recently said the company is looking at a 99.9% legal victory against the SEC in the XRP lawsuit.
XRP’s price was up 30% on the 1-month chart Wednesday. On the 6-month pane, XRP tokens are trading up some 59% for the previous six months.
Crypto traders are extremely bullish on the XRP price in the near future. One popular price analyst predicted a 50% short-term rally sometime soon.
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