A million lost Slack conversations have to be produced that took place between Ripple and its employees. This order comes after Ripple, requested by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give it over.
The SEC said that at the start of the discovery process. Ripple agreed to provide this data but subsequently changed its mind. And said that the exercise is a long and expensive trip that would consume time and money.
Ripple claimed that producing these communications would cost up to $1 million. But Judge Sarah Netburn considered the texts important and unique evidence. For the continuing SEC lawsuit against the multi-million dollar business, to sell unregistered securities.
Netburn Judge said:
“Any burden to Ripple is outweighed by its previous agreement to produce the relevant Slack messages, the relative resources of the parties, and the amount in controversy.”
Ripple Vs SEC
This order, issued by the court when the SEC, forced to disclose certain records. The court ordered the regulatory watchdog. Also during the SEC Conference Call on 31 August, to disclose internal papers relating to debates on the nature of XRP and ETH, for which an in-camera review will be done.
Last year, the legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC began with the firm and its previous and current CEOs. Furthermore, the Commission has sued Ripple Labs, co-founder Christian Larsen, and CEO Bradley Garlinghouse. The SEC has charged the accused of selling unregistered securities.
The SEC referred to the inability of Ripple to provide the full messages as “highly prejudicial.” The watchdog thus determined that the missing communications were extremely significant.
Ripple claimed that the production of messages for up to $1 million was unjust and unreasonable over several months. Judge Netburn said that the expense of generating the communications to Ripple was over and beyond their significance in the case.
