In brief
- The SEC has requested mass amounts of Slack messages from Ripple.
- The regulator claims the absence of this data has been “highly prejudicial” to the SEC.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested Slack messages from crypto firm Ripple amid an ongoing legal battle with the company.
On July 1, 2021, the regulatory authority informed Ripple that a previous supply of Slack communications data was incomplete.
One month later, the SEC claims Ripple admitted to this mistake.
“After repeatedly contending that its Slack production was complete, Ripple admitted that, due to a data processing mistake, Ripple had only collected a small fraction of Slack messages,” the SEC said in a document dated August 9, 2021.
Why does this matter?
According to the SEC, Ripple’s alleged failure to provide complete Slack messages has had a negative impact on the company’s ongoing legal battle with the regulator.
“Ripple’s data error and refusal to produce most documents have already been highly prejudicial to the SEC. Among other things, the SEC has deposed 11 Ripple witnesses using incomplete records of their communications,” the SEC added.
The SEC further claims that the messages Ripple has allegedly failed to provide to date—collectively named the “Missing Documents”—are “necessary for the SEC to build a complete and accurate record for summary judgment and trial.”
Not only would these documents be potentially admissible at said summary judgment and trial, the SEC believes they are “likely” to refresh the memories of Ripple employees at trial.
How much data are we talking about?
The SEC says the Missing Documents amount to over one million messages.
“The Missing Documents consist of well over one million messages, comprising terabytes of data,” the SEC said. This, in turn, represents an array of information the SEC believes “eclipses” Ripple’s email productions.
