- Ripple filed a motion in New York urging the court to seal certain documents relating to the remedies battle with the SEC, arguing that doing so could expose its trade secrets to its rivals.
- CFO Jonathan Bilich filed a declaration in which he argued that publicising some of the documents could lead to a loss of confidence in Ripple, significant losses, and disrupted operations.
If some of the documents in the court battle for remedies between Ripple and the SEC become public, they could cause significant damages to the blockchain company, a new motion by Ripple argues.
The California firm filed the motion on Monday in the Southern District of New York, requesting the court to seal unnamed documents in the remedies legal fight filed between March 22 and May 6. In addition to sealing some documents, the company also sought redactions in others.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP @Ripple has filed a Motion to Seal Certain Documents filed in connection with the @SECGov‘s Motion for Judgment and Remedies.
https://t.co/BCeLaHOnw0— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) May 14, 2024
The motion is expected to sail through as the SEC has previously revealed that it has no objections to such requests. Additionally, Ripple’s legal team reportedly consulted the agency before filing the motion and it “indicated that it consents to certain of Ripple’s requests.”
The company wants the documents sealed because they contain “highly sensitive and confidential material, including copies of Ripple’s audited financial statements and documents containing information about Ripple’s ongoing business relationships.”
It also wants sealed documents that contain copies of its audited financial statements, arguing they would cause harm to its competitive standing and financial interests.
Over the years, Ripple has signed several deals with third parties, from exchanges to financial and payment firms. This has allowed the company to expand its presence to several verticals and sectors, including healthcare, as Crypto News Flash reported.
It wants the court to redact documents containing “specific financial and pricing terms” that it has negotiated with these partners. Disclosure of such terms would be detrimental to the firm’s business relationships and is not pertinent to the SEC’s arguments.
Ripple also wants the court to redact or seal the identities of some of the company’s business partners, employees and partners. It argues that their privacy interests “should weigh heavily in a court’s balancing equation.”
Ripple vs. SEC Lawsuit Draws Close to the End
Jonathan Bilich, the Ripple CFO, filed an accompanying motion at the New York court in support of the company’s arguments. Bilich has held the role since January this year.
He argued that the documents Ripple wants to be sealed contain “confidential balance sheet, revenue and expense figures, pricing, costs, revenue, and profit information about Ripple’s prior and existing business lines, investments in third-party entities, unrelated litigation expenses and settlements, and other non-public financial and business information.”
He argued that the SEC already has access to the information and has used it to pursue the blockchain payments company. Redacting this information from the public won’t impact the weight of the SEC’s argument.
Meanwhile, XRP trades at $0.5056, consolidating in the past day amid a 6% dip in the past week. While it has broken past the $0.5 resistance, it faces an uphill task staying above this level, with indicators such as Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) signaling bearish times ahead.
