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According to lawyer and Ripple XRP supporter John Deaton, former SEC employee William Hinman may have violated the CFR.
According to lawyer and Ripple XRP advocate John Deaton, former SEC employee William Hinman may have violated CFR in his 2018 speech. This is the speech where he stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities.
Deaton cited CFR § 2635.702 [CFR]which covers “the use of public office for personal gain”, noting:
I think Bill Hinman could have taken legal advice before signing the SEC affidavit. If his speech reflected ONLY his personal opinion and was not related to the SEC, he is violating Section 5.
The aforementioned part of the CFR clarifies that government employees cannot abuse their position to receive benefits in their private lives. Besides the section Deaton quoted, another rule read:
Except as provided in this part, an employee shall not use or authorize the use of his office or rank in government or any authority associated with his public office in a manner that can reasonably be construed to imply that his agency or government authorizes or approves of his own activities or the activities of another person.
So what does this discovery mean for SEC vs Ripple? The main question during the trial was whether it was possible to cover up the discussions about the content of Hinman’s speech by the defense in the framework of the deliberative process [DPP]… Another factor was whether Hinman’s speech could be used to analyze XRP. Now Deaton wonders if Hinman had the right to give the speech that Ethereum is not a security at all.
It was previously known that Jay Clayton’s article drew sharp criticism from Ripple XRP investors.
#Hinman #violated #CFR
