Thread by @JohnEDeaton1

WHY DO WE FIGHT?

I’m sure dozens of critics and “legal experts” will comment on our motion to intervene in @SEC_Enforcement v. @Ripple and try to tear it down.

The Writ of Mandamus was always a long shot and could even be legally described as a Hail Mary. That’s not news.

Does that mean we don’t fight and try to win? Do we say to ourselves “the game’s over, I give up?” Or, do we say “I won’t quit until this game is over and throw the Hail Mary”?

Life and people will beat you down if you allow it. Trust me, I’ve been knocked down hard by life.

But there’s only one option: get up and fight back. I’ve always said that if you put me in a ring with @MikeTyson three things will definitely happen: 1) I will step forward; 2) I will get knocked the f** out; and 3) IF I wake up, on wobbly legs, I will try to step forward again.

@SEC_News completely violated its mission to individual investors. The critics can say all they want about @chrislarsensf and @bgarlinghouse. I don’t care.

I live in the U.S. and after 7 years of active duty, I was medically retired from the USMC due to a severe back injury.

The SEC is my government, and it represents me and what it has done and the way it’s leaders have acted are morally, ethically and, IMO, legally negligent.

I believe it’s actions should not go unchallenged and whether the executives at Ripple did or didn’t do anything wrong

changes nothing related to the SEC’s conduct.

So when I filed the Writ, I was very aware that our chances of having a judge order the SEC’s Chairman to amend the Complaint to exclude today’s XRP, owned by holders with no connection to Ripple, were very low.

I’m aware of a little thing called separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive branches. I’m also aware that how to charge a company in an enforcement action is a discretionary act.

As I wrote in our motion to intervene, when I filed the Writ I was hoping the

SEC would see the damage it had done and come out and provide the market with clarity.

@HesterPeirce can go on a YouTube channel and say that the SEC is only claiming that the way Ripple sells #XRP is the issue.

THEN AMEND THE COMPLAINT so it’s not so vague and over broad or

PROVIDE CLARITY so that the exchanges are not worried about being sued by the SEC instead of publishing Risk Alerts that make it even more concerning for the market participants.

I filed the Writ hoping the SEC would have the moral courage and leadership to acknowledge

its misdoing.

The “legal experts” can continue to say that the Writ was easily dismantled by the SEC and that we will lose in the SDNY as well.

The Writ accomplished exactly what it was designed for. Not legally designed for, but strategically utilized for.

It demonstrated the hypocrisy of the government’s claims. It also demonstrated that the SEC is engaging in Regulation by Enforcement and is itself confused as to how
Digital Assets fit into our current regulatory framework.

The “legal experts”

see the Writ as a tree 🌲 being cut down, but fail to realize that that tree isn’t the issue. The issue is the Forrest in which that tree is rooted in.

The experts and critics will claim that I’m wasting my time and I’m simply spinning my wheels going nowhere with the motion to

intervene. They will say the same thing when a class action is filed.
And, in the end, maybe they will be correct and we lose this motion and maybe, later, a class action is also dismissed on technical and legal grounds.

If so, the critics and legal experts will get to tweet

“I told you so.”

Maybe they will go on a podcast and pat each other on the back, self-congratulate and gloat at their legal acumen or at how XRP investors got duped by the guys from Ripple.

But if you read the Memorandum of Law in Support of the Motion to Intervene or the

Writ of Mandamus, you will have to agree that the way the SEC has handled XRP specifically, and Digital Assets, in general, is inexcusable.

If you are objective you will come to that conclusion even if you despise Ripple or its executives or believe XRP is a shit-coin.

And if you come to that conclusion, then I ask you: What do we do about it? Just accept it?

If decisions were made at the SEC by leaders no longer there for personal reasons and not based on legitimate concerns for individual investors, do we do nothing?

Do we simply say “that’s the system we have.”

I didn’t literally give up my back serving my country to just accept a morally bankrupt system.

We may lose.

I may get knocked out, legally speaking, as if I was in that ring with Iron Mike.

If so, I’ll get back up and I’ll ask “when’s the next round?”

In the meantime, what are you doing?