Two of Ripple’s top executed have asked the court to block the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s request to access their personal financial records.
In a letter sent on Thursday to the Southern District Court of New York City, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen asked Judge Sarah Netburn to nullify the subpoenas sent to several banks seeking their financial information since 2013.
Notably, the case filed against them is a “non-fraud litigation.” The executives say that the SEC’s move is a “wholly inappropriate overreach” since the case relates to the alleged sales of the XRP as an unregistered security.
Caption: The SEC wants Ripple executive’s eight years worth of financial information
More specifically, Larsen and Garlinghouse argue that their personal financials live are not relevant to the case. However, they have already agreed to provide financial information up to a certain extent. They also say that the SEC’s demands violate the Ripple executive’s privacy interests.
The letter sent by the executives says that the individual defendant’s privacy interest is even more powerful here because the subpoenas submitted by the agency is a very obvious intrusion into the personal financial lives of the two. The two also say that the SEC is yet to offer a coherent explanation why it is entitled to this information.
So far, six banks have been sent subpoenas asking for the financial information of Garlinghouse and Larsen. These are the First Republic Bank, SVB Financial Group, Silver Lake Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Citibank N.A., and Silvergate bank.
In December 2020, the SEC made its lawsuit against Ripple and the co-founders known to the public. The lawsuit alleges that the XRP was sold as an unregistered security to its investors. The total alleged unregistered sale is worth over $1.3 billion.
