Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the U.S. District Court has set the stage for a legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Coinbase on whether SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s private communications on cryptocurrency matters should be disclosed in the ongoing legal dispute.
During a hearing on July 11, Judge Faila instructed both parties to submit arguments by July 15 about whether Gensler’s personal conversations are relevant to the case.
According to an Inner City Press report, Coinbase’s legal team is seeking access to data from Gensler’s personal devices, arguing that the SEC has not provided enough guarantees in terms of his chats with market makers.
“We’re unable to get information from the SEC. The time period before, we included because we tried to engage with Mr. Gensler and the SEC, but they’ve refused to say he didn’t use his personal device to communicate about crypto.” Coinbase Lawyers stated.
On the other hand, the SEC’s attorneys are trying to block the subpoena for Gensler’s conversations. They argue that Gensler is neither a fact witness nor an expert witness in the Coinbase case, implying his private chats aren’t relevant.
However, Judge Failla expressed doubts about Coinbase’s arguments but agreed to consider them. She noted, “I do not find that argument persuasive. Just keep that in mind.” Despite her reservations, she instructed both sides to submit letters outlining their positions.
This dispute is part of the wider discovery process in relation to the SEC’s enforcement action against Coinbase filed in June 2023 when the SEC claimed Coinbase allegedly acted as an unregistered securities broker since 2019., which violates U.S. securities law.
Earlier this month, Coinbase initially asked for access to Gensler’s communications from his personal devices, alleging that he expressed views and communicated with market makers personally. The discovery request seeks email conversations and documents related to Gensler’s crypto opinions dating back to 2017.
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