Through CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple filed a response to the SEC’s refusal to make the “Estabrook Notes” public on the XRP lawsuit. The said notes are from 2018, and they contain the details of a meeting between Ripple’s chief executive Brad Garlinghouse and former SEC Commissioner Elad Roisman.
The defendant, Brad Garlinghouse, seeks the disclosure of the notes to prove that the company’s executives made an effort to comply with the securities laws in the US. And a few days ago, attorneys John Deaton and Jeremy Hogan agreed that the SEC would likely win the battle over the “Estabrook Notes”. However, they also think that the SEC’s case is already “dead in the water” regardless of the decision.
The defendant’s letter to the court says that the SEC ignores the central reason it seeks to disclose the Estabrook notes. The letter alludes that the notes will likely support Garlinghouse’s account of his discussion with the former commissioner.
Since the only participants in this meeting are Brad Garlinghouse and representatives from the SEC, the only evidence that this happened is the notes in question. The two lawyers pointed out the SEC’s silence regarding the matter as an intentional move to undermine Garlinghouse’s credibility regarding his recollection of the matter.
The two lawyers then discussed the possibility that these notes are not helpful for the SEC’s case, hence their refusal to release it. Jeremy Hogan then commented on the filing and concluded that regardless of the decision on this motion, it will be disadvantageous for the SEC.
He then said that there were no indications that Roisman or Estabrook were disputing Garlinghouse’s statement regarding the meeting. But if they did and testified against Garlinghouse, it would be great for Ripple.
To conclude the lawyer’s statement, he mentioned the fact that Garlinghouse left the meeting feeling that he and his company weren’t doing anything wrong. He points out that this is why the SEC’s case on the XRP lawsuit is dead. However, he also notes that this is only a small part of the battle.
