Ripple v. SEC: Court Orders Plaintiff to Submit Redactions

Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn has ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to submit all of its suggested redactions for in-camera review. The SEC is supposed to file them before April 8.

In her Jan. 13 ruling, the judge determined that the deliberative process privilege (DPP) does not apply to certain sets of notes since gathering facts from third parties is not necessarily a privileged activity. None of the notes contains attorney-client communications, which is why they are not shielded from production.

 However, the judge also allowed the SEC to redact portions of notes that reflect the staff's own "deliberations or communications."

In late March, the plaintiff filed a motion, specifically asking the judge to allow redacting some of the notes that were taken during some meetings with third parties. One of the meetings focused on Bitcoin's regulatory status with Stanford Law School Professor Joseph Grundfest. The former Ronald Reagan-appointed SEC commissioner cautioned the regulator against taking enforcement action against Ripple, warning that it could hurt XRP holders.

One of the meetings in question also focused on the legal status of initial coin offerings, which saw immense popularity in 2017 before imploding en masse the following year.

As reported by U.Today, Ripple said that it was not challenging any of the proposed redactions, but it reserved the right to the notes.

The handwritten notes will be reviewed privately by the judge, meaning that defendants or other parties will not be able to view the unredacted documents.