SEC v. Ripple: New Key Dates Revealed

Sarah Netburn, a US Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has entered a scheduling order regarding Ripple’s motion to strike new expert materials that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted in support of its motion for remedies and entry of final judgment.

The SEC is granted until Apr. 29 to file its response to the motion in question. Ripple will then have three business days to file its reply.

As reported by U.Today, Ripple recently filed its opposition to the SEC’s motion for remedies. The San Francisco-based company has asked the court to deny the agency’s request for disgorgement and prejudgment interest. Moreover, Ripple argues that the SEC’s civil penalty should not exceed $10 million. At the same time, the regulator wants roughly $2 billion worth of fines and penalties.

The defendant has also moved to strike the SEC’s new expert materials that consist of a declaration and two supporting exhibits prepared by Andrea Fox, an Assistant Chief Accountant in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Ripple argued that it had no opportunity to take Fox’s deposition, and reopening remedies discovery in order to take that deposition would cause “expense and delay.”

Ripple claims that the SEC was supposed to disclose Fox’s expert as an expert witness before the end of discovery, and this obligation cannot be avoided by simply describing her as a summary witness. Hence, Ripple argues that the court should strike her declaration due to the SEC’s untimely disclosure.

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