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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States is unable to confirm or deny if a video purporting to contain Bill Hinman truly does.

Bill Hinman, also known as William Hinman, is a former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance who has played a crucial role in the long-running legal battle between the SEC and Ripple Labs over alleged unregistered securities sales via XRP currencies.

While at the SEC, Hinman declared that the sale of Ether (ETH) did not constitute "securities transactions" during the 2018 Fintech Week Conference.

However, it appears that the SEC is delaying recognizing the obvious in order to stall down the case.

The SEC has "failed to reply in compliance with the applicable regulations as to 53 RFAs on significant matters where there is no meaningful dispute," according to a May 18 request to compel filed by Ripple Labs' legal team Debevoise & Plimpton.

Ripple is asking the court to either acknowledge the RFAs or require the SEC to file updated replies. The SEC has not been able to authenticate a variety of incidents that appear to be indisputable in respect to RFAs centered on Hilman.

Despite the fact that Hinman was clearly visible and heard during a recorded interview at a public event, the SEC has declined to acknowledge or deny whether the recording is genuine or if the claims made by Hinman were made by him.

Notably, the interviewer, Chris Brummer, a Georgetown law professor, appears to have published the YouTube video cited by Ripple's legal team. His name, profile photo, and connections to all of his professionally related websites appear on the account, which goes back to 2016.

Despite this, the SEC professes to be baffled as to who the mysterious man is.

"Subject to all of the preceding concerns, and after a reasonable investigation, the material known and currently available to the Commission is insufficient to allow it to admit or refuse this request."

The SEC has also dismissed a plea to question the video's authenticity, and appears adamant about withholding any information on the case.

It also filed a letter motion asserting attorney-client privilege pertaining to internal facts concerning Hinman's 2018 address late last month, after having a request to conceal papers connected to Hinman refused.

Many observers have speculated that Hinman's remarks might be one of the determining factors in the SEC's decision to classify the XRP coin as a security. Hinman may have had a conflict of interest while working at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which might impact the case's conclusion.

Empower Oversight, a corruption monitor, stated on May 11 that it received records obtained through a Freedom Of Information request that proved Hinman had an unreported "direct financial interest" in the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which is a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).

"If Hinman didn't submit the speech to conflicts screening, it's game, set, and match," said John Deaton, creator of legal news source Crypto Law, to his 198,000 Twitter followers.

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