SEC vs Ripple Lawsuit Has Become ‘Cold’ — Analyst Suggests It Could Henceforth Continue Behind Closed Doors

The legal battle between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto payment firm Ripple is taking a bit longer than expected. And if you’ve been paying attention, you will realize that no news has been shared with the XRP community in recent weeks.

In a tweet on July 6, analyst Martin Valk proposed that the case has become “a bit cold”. He tagged some lawyers in the XRP community, James Filan and Jeremy Hogan, and also the founder and host of CryptoLaw John E. Deaton. Specifically, Valk pondered when the XRP community is likely to hear from the judge or does the silence basically means the lawsuit will continue behind closed doors from now on.

Hogan responded, noting that the case has been a lull for the community but depositions are taking place and documents being moved around in recent weeks — Ripple enthusiasts are just not aware of what is going on behind the scenes. In fact, he believes CEO Brad Garlinghouse has already been deposed.

Meanwhile, another observer pointed to James Filan’s Twitter page and his pinned tweet. The tweet in question captions a table of the scheduled events in the Ripple suit. It shows that the fact discovery deadline is slated for August 31, 2021, while the expert discovery deadline is set for October 15.

When Will The Lawsuit End?

The bombshell lawsuit, which the U.S. regulator filed against Ripple in late December, alleged that the blockchain firm, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen raised over $1.3 billion in seven years by selling the XRP cryptocurrency in an unregistered securities offering. Ripple and its top executives have ferociously denied these allegations and want the case wrapped up as soon as possible. 

But as ZyCrypto reported previously, without a settlement, the case will likely be resolved in early 2022. That being said, Ripple still has plans to run an IPO despite the inconvenience of the lawsuit. Speaking during Consensus 2021, Garlinghouse indicated that the company plans to go public after the lawsuit comes to an end.

In the meantime, Ripple has welcomed two more lawyers to the legal team, Sarah J. Prostko, and Nicole Tatz, to defend Larsen and Garlinghouse respectively.