Ripple executives dispute SEC investigation into personal finances

By: Henry Felix

Ripple executives dispute SEC investigation into personal finances

March 13, 2021 12:16 PM

Both Brad Garlinghouse and Christain Larsen have rejected demands by the U.S Security and Exchange Commission to hand out information on their personal financial information as the investigation intensifies over a likely security violation. 

 

The legal team of both Ripple executives argues that
“How much they spend at the grocery store” isn't related to the SEC's ongoing XRP securities lawsuit.

 

The legal advisors who represent the Ripple Labs co-founders on March 11, requested a protective order regarding their personal financial information asking the court to subdue warrants issued to the defendant's banks.

 

The Six banking institutions named include Citibank, Silvergate bank, Silver Lake Bank, SVB Financial Group, First Republic Bank, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

 

The Executive's legal team argued that the SEC had breached its capacity in the investigation when it insisted that the defendants had combined personal finance with Ripple Labs. According to a Thursday filing:

 

“The Security and Exchange Commission multi-front attempt to dig through the Defendant’s personal financial information in a non-fraud action, where the Defendants have accepted to submit the relevant information regarding the challenged transactions, is an entirely inappropriate overreach."

 

The transaction in question is related to the unregistered securities sale of 14.6 billion XRP which commenced in 2013, worth $1.38 billion at the time of the complaint.

 

Nonetheless, legal representatives for Garlinghouse and Larsen made it clear of their client's willingness to cooperate in disclosing financial records relating to the sale of XRP, which includes trading records, and the amount of compensation that both have received from Ripple.

 

According to the filing which stated:

 

“The Individual Defendants specifically consented to produce (a) trading records relating to the sales of XRP that the SEC is currently challenging in this case, and (b) financial records about the compensation that they have received from Ripple."

 

Other financial records concerning unrelated business activities, and day-to-day spending accounts, according to the legal advisers, are not relevant to the case at hand.