Anti-Corruption Watchdog Claims that Securities and Exchange Commission was Biased Towards Ripple

The yearlong SEC and Ripple Labs lawsuit has been the center of speculation and controversy for the members of the cryptocurrency community. Recently, the Anti-corruption agency has decided to intervene in the matter on account of the emergence of new evidence. The emails shared by an NGO show proof that a former Commissioner at SEC had a conflict of interest in the SEC case.

Empower Oversight is a non-profit organization that recently submitted hundreds of pages of email correspondence between former SEC director William Hinman with his current employer. During a press release, EO made the 200 pages of email records public that showed Hinman talking and engaging in risky behavior despite the warnings of the SEC ethics committee.

Willam Hinman, Former SEC Administrator and Simpson Thacher Worked Together to Promote Ethereum

Simpson Thacher is a New York-based firm that worked on promoting the Ethereum network in its infancy. ST set up Enterprise Ethereum Alliance that worked in favor of gathering more investors for the Ethereum network. Furthermore, Hinman was able to land a job at the firm after wrapping up his services at SEC as the director of the Corporate Finance Division.

While Hinman was still serving at SEC, he kept in contact with the ST. At the same time, the Ethics Officer of the SEC issued a warning to Hinman about his direct conflict of interest and asked him to refrain from engaging in any suspicious correspondence that can compromise the integrity of the financial regulator. Despite, the warnings Hinman remained in contact with ST partner Josh Bonnie.

SEC chairperson Gary Gensler recently claimed at a private gathering that most cryptocurrencies are digital securities. He also testified in front of congress claiming that the SEC plans to bring many more similar lawsuits from the cryptocurrency sector to demand a budget increase. However, the recent development in the case has landed SEC in troubled waters.

The Ripple Labs case was unable to make any sizeable difference in the price position of the XRP token that managed to retain its top 10 ranks throughout the year. Empower Oversight has already filed a lawsuit against SEC last year to address the matter of conflict of interest. The lawsuit also indicted the former SEC Enforcement Division leader Marc Berger who was also engaged with Simpson Thacher and joined the ST after leaving the regulatory watchdog.