According to a letter from Judge Sarah Netburn, SEC and Ripple Lab legal teams are to attend in person. The conference is scheduled to take place on June 7 to discuss the SEC’s renewed assertion of the attorney-client privilege as to internal documents related to Hinman’s June 14, 2018 speech.
SEC previously submitted a new motion to keep the Hinman emails under wraps by citing attorney-client privilege in late April.
The regulatory agency argues that the privilege applies because these documents reflect confidential communications between Hinman and SEC attorneys about his infamous 2018 speech, in which the former declared that the Ether token was not a security.
The agency asserts that Hinman was a client of SEC attorneys who gave him legal advice regarding the legal status of digital assets to ensure that his speech was consistent with federal securities laws. Since the primary purpose of sharing the drafts of the speech was to obtain legal advice, they have to remain confidential, per the regulatory agency.
In January, the judge ruled that the SEC has to hand over Hinman's emails. In April, the judge denied the regulator's motion for reconsideration of the deliberate process privilege (DPP) ruling. The judge claimed that the personal views of the agency's staff members were not protected by the DPP.