Legal Expert Says a Breach of Ethics Could Mark SEC’s End in Lawsuit against Ripple. Here’s why

[solodeji]

Attorney John Deaton, a lawyer representing 65,000 XRP holders in the ongoing lawsuit between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has recently stated that a breach of ethics could spell the regulator’s end in its legal tussle against the San Francisco-based cross-border payment firm.

The lawyer pointed to documents uncovered by Empower Oversight, an anti-corruption watchdog, involving William Hinman, the SEC’s former Director of Corporate Finance, coupled with the controversial 2018 speech, where Ethereum is considered not a security.

As stated by Empower Oversight, the emails uncovered suggest that Hinman knowingly had a conflict of interest before delivering the speech.

According to Deaton, if the allegation can be proven before the judge, it would mark the end of the SEC in the lawsuit filed against Ripple Labs in December 2020.

John Deaton tweeted, “Empower Oversight and Jason Foster retrieved the emails below. If Hinman didn’t submit the speech to conflicts screening it is game set & match. The Ethics Office is going to be pissed and want to throw him under the bus if we force this investigation through letters from Congress.”

As stated in a statement released by the anti-corruption watchdog, Hinman had a connection with a law firm known as Simpson Thacher, which promoted Ethereum (ETH).

According to the group, Hinman had failed to disclose his connection with law firm, adding that the speech subsequently boosted the price of Ethereum (ETH) back then.

https://timestabloid.com/legal-expert-says-a-breach-of-ethics-could-mark-secs-end-in-lawsuit-against-ripple-heres-why/

[mNk]

I'm not a lawyer , but ..... haven't this already been in front of a judge ? 
I can remember at least several articles on this topic that I have read few weeks/month ago on this specific thing. ( except the "Deaton said thing"  )


P.S. 
Is it only me , or others also notice a re-repeat of articles all over the place on this case. 
I really have the feeling some journalists like to collect articles and release them 20-30 times in a span of 1-2 months. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by mNk

[Caracappa]

Not in front of a judge. A 'Twitter Lawyer', Fred Rispoli wanted to sue the SEC. But all he did was show his draft of what he wanted to send in. He probably has to email that 68x before he delivers. I think it was all for Twitter followers, not to really sue the SEC.

This thing is starting to become more official however, so that is nice. I don't know what legal implications could be by US Law but

-Food for settlement, SEC wants this off the table?
-SEC drops the case (would be bad, still no clarity for XRP)?
-Judge Torres drives to GG's house and spanks the Goldman on his Sachs.

[Frisia]

1 hour ago, Caracappa said:

-Food for settlement, SEC wants this off the table?
-SEC drops the case (would be bad, still no clarity for XRP)?
-Judge Torres drives to GG's house and spanks the Goldman on his Sachs.

I'm not sure if the SEC can drop the case just like that in such an advanced stage. Rather, deciding that the case can be dismissed, to be decided by the judge, means that it cannot be reinstated again. If it gets dropped, it's possibile to forward charges once more evidence is obtained (which looks really impossible to me).

[Julian_Williams]

This is getting very bad for the SEC:

• The evidence has accumulated demonstrating that Hinman was specifically warned about his conflict of interest issues, and Hinman chose to ignore them in the most blatant ways. (Why did the ethics people sit on their hands?).
• Hinman's disregard of "ethical" standards led to a speech hugely benefitted his puppet/pay masters who were invested in ETH
• The preparation of Hinman's speech appears to have been done with Clayton's approval by a internal group of SEC staff that were bypassing consulting the 4 commissioners.
• Clayton's SEC, instead of dealing with Hinman's biased speech and conflict of interest, opened a case against ETH's biggest competitor (Ripple) which led to big losses for XRP holders and more big benefits for Hinman's puppet now pay masters
•  Clayton then went on to pick up lucrative jobs from companies that benefitted from their/his (allegedly) corrupt and biased management at the SEC 
• Gensler, SEC's new chairman, has failed to be transparent in his dealing with the history of pro ETH bias and corruption he inherited from the previous administration.  Gensler himself appears to have shady connections with Hinman and the big banks/whales that were controlling Hinman.   

Throwing Hinman under a bus does not solve SEC's problems because Clayton/Gensler's administration has been actively covering up Hinman's criminality, instead of cleaning up the mess.  This deliberate inaction puts Gensler's whole organisation in the frame. 

 

JUST MY OPINION

[Karl]

I experienced the speech in 2018 and it made me want to vomit even then. Even then, you could hear Lubin whispering in Hinman's ear. Abuse of office is still a nice expression for what happened.