By Roslyn Layton. July 17, 2022. (Forbes)
On July 12, the U.S. District Court rejected the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) request to withhold documents on the so-called Hinman speech of 2018. In a highly anticipated ruling in the ongoing SEC v. Ripple case, Magistrate Sarah Netburn denied the SEC’s motion citing attorney-client and deliberate process privileges. The judge slammed the agency for hiding documents which could answer questions in front of the court. She called the behavior so egregious that it impugns the agency’s “faithful allegiance to the law.”
Congress should heed her forceful, deliberate words. The House Financial Services Committee holds an oversight hearing on the SEC Enforcement Division next Tuesday. Chairwoman Maxine Waters can ask them directly where their allegiance lies– with the public and the law—-or their own personal interest.