New York District Court Magistrate Judge Sara Netburn asks the SEC to submit redacted documents.

In a recent ruling Magistrate Judge Sara Netburn has ordered the plaintiff, US Securities and Exchange Commission, to submit redacted documents.

A Brief Context

During the proceedings Ripple had asked the court to compel the SEC to produce certain documents. Court granted the motion and in March SEC filed a counter motion with the court that asked permission for redaction of certain parts of the documents. Recently, the court granted the motion and now the SEC has a right to redact all those parts of documents that involve SEC officials’ “deliberations or communications.”

Effectively, while the defendant can not access the redacted parts of documents, the court still can. As Ripple still reserves the right to access handwritten notes of the meeting, to which documents are concerned. It is to be noted that Ripple has not filed any motion to stop SEC from redacting the documents.

How Could Documents Affect the Lawsuit?

Documents SEC is compelled to produce are of significant importance. As one of the documents is the notes of the meeting held between SEC official and former SEC chairman Joseph Grundfest, currently a professor at Stanford Law School. In the meeting SEC official Joseph Grundfest mainly discussed the regulatory status of premier cryptocurrency Bitcoin. At some point during the meeting Joseph Grundfest cautioned the SEC against the harms of filing a lawsuit against Ripple as the former chairman was of the view that the lawsuit would prove detrimental to the interests of XRP holders. In another document the SEC officials discussed legality of ICOs (initial coin offerings). The documents mentioned above could prove decisive.

In the meanwhile, Ripple’s native XRP is currently trading at $0.80, down 6% in a week and 2% in a day.