• Top XRP advocate John Deaton remain curious as to the true intent behind the SEC suing Ripple Labs.
• Expectations of the lawsuit coming to an end is growing across the board.

Pro-XRP attorney and Crypto Law founder John Deaton has expressed concerns and is beginning to raise questions about the true intent of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against fintech firm Ripple Labs. In a recently published tweet, Brian Costello reacted to a recent interview of former SEC Chair, Jay Clayton where he voiced his concern with the new enforcement strategy of United States regulators.

By new enforcement strategy, Clayton was referring to the multiple lawsuits filed against crypto businesses including the most recent ones on Binance and Coinbase. The former SEC Chair confirmed that this trend with the U.S. regulators is a shift from the expectations that Americans have of the government.

Despite his supposed stance for crypto firms, the industry experts believes Jay Clayton also has a case to answer. Costello specifically amplified that it is high time SEC whistleblowers shed more light on Clayton’s concealment of China-related crimes.

Additionally, Deaton pointed out that Americans need to get details about the discussion which transpired between Clayton and the present boss Gary Gensler on December 21, 2020.

Ripple Lawsuit And SEC Officials’ Exit Raise Concerns

On investigation, it was discovered that both Clayton and Gensler met officially twice during the former’s last month in office.

It is worth noting that these meetings were just one week apart. The first one was on Monday, December 14, 2020 while the second official meeting was held on Monday, December 21, 2020. Markedly, this was just one day before the regulator officially sued Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse as well as Chris Larsen for the sales of unregistered securities.

The Ripple vs SEC lawsuits which now have Gensler’s stamp all over it, started with Clayton. Precisely, the lawsuit which was filed in the federal court of Manhattan against Ripple Labs by the SEC’s enforcement division was directed by Jay Clayton on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 before he left office the next day.

Clayton was not the only SEC executive that resigned at the time. The directors of Corporation Finance, Trading and Markets (T&M), and Enforcement Division left around the same time as Clayton.

Deaton believes that it is quite unusual for the regulator to file a lawsuit of such magnitude only a day before Clayton left the commission. Even SEC’s former commissioner Prof. Joseph Grundfest attested to the fact that the departure of these top officials signifies a mass exodus that raised concerns. Also, the action “called into question the use of discretion” at the commission, according to Grundfest. On the matter, Deaton reiterated that this was another way of asking what the real motive behind the lawsuit is.

In Deaton’s opinion, the Ripple enforcement action is the most significant non-fraud enforcement action since 1946. The crypto attorney has been very active in the more than two-year long lawsuit that has seen Ripple spend more than $200 million in legal fees. The verdict is expected soon and may take a few weeks or even months as is being speculated by XRP community members.