SEC targets Ripple’s foreign partners after failing to access financial records from execs

Amid Ripple’s recent victory in its lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial watchdog is trying another route to nail Ripple Inc. and its execs.

A letter motion submitted to Magistrate Jude Sarah Netburn yesterday by lawyers representing Ripple’s execs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, claimed that the SEC was trying to obtain documents from its partners overseas. According to the letter, the Commission had made a least 11 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) requests to other foreign regulators requesting documents from Ripple’s foreign partners.

Ripple asserts that the SEC is now trying to bully its partners into cutting ties with them. They commented:

As the SEC undoubtedly is aware (and perhaps this is the SEC’s objective), involving local regulators and attempting to invoke those regulators’ compulsory process is not only improper but also amounts to an intimidation tactic that has the effect of deterring those entities from continuing to do business with Ripple.

Moving forward, Ripple is asking the court to stop the Commission from conducting any discovery outside of its jurisdiction. The blockchain project is also accusing the SEC of violating federal rules by refusing to fully disclose its communications with other foreign regulators.