Alex Dovbnya

Ripple’s Stuart Alderoty Believes Unsealing 2012 Legal Memos Will Exonerate Defendants

In a statement shared with Fox Business, Ripple general counsel Stuart Alderoty said two 2012 documents will show that the XRP cryptocurrency was not seen as an unregistered security.

🚨NEW: Ripple’s General Counsel @s_alderoty statement to FOX Business:
“Once released, these documents will show that Ripple received legal analysis in 2012 that XRP was not an investment contract. The fact that it took the SEC eight years to suggest they disagree

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) February 17, 2022

Alderoty added that it was “baffling” that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was required to object to that legal analysis:

We look forward to having the public access to these documents as we continue to vigorously defend this case.

In 2012, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, who is named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit, sought legal advice about the controversial cryptocurrency during the company’s first year of existence. He received two memos from an undisclosed law firm.

The SEC alleges that Ripple was well aware that XRP is an unregistered security and deliberately chose to break the law.

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres dealt a blow to the defendants by issuing a court order on Feb. 17 to unlock the memos in question. The defendants fought hard to keep the documents in question hidden, arguing that they contained sensitive information.

Both parties can get a huge boost by making the documents public. If it turns out that Ripple is right, it will surely bolster the company’s crucial defenses. If the documents show that Ripple deliberately decided to violate security laws, it would be a huge blow to the already fragile case against the SEC.