Fox Business' Eleanor Terrett Alleges Ex-SEC Director William Hinman Manipulated Agency To Sue Ripple

More allegations against the former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are slowly crawling out of the woodwork. This time, the accusation is from Fox Business journalist and producer Eleanor Terrett, who alleged William Hinman's involvement in pushing the agency to sue the blockchain-based digital payment network and protocol Ripple (XRP).

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, more popularly known as BitBoy Crypto, alleged over the weekend that former SEC director Hinman "certainly accepted bribes," presumably for declaring Ethereum as a non-security. Interestingly, before Armstrong made that allegation, Fox Business' Terrett had already thrown a shocking accusation at the former SEC director and his supposed involvement in the Ripple lawsuit.

Terrett mentioned in an interview with BitBoy Crypto last month that former SEC chairman Jay Clayton wanted a settlement between Ripple and the agency at the time when the blockchain company was first alleged to have infringed the U.S. securities law via its 2013 Initial Coin Offering (ICO). However, Hinman, who was the director of Corporate Finance at the time, did not want a settlement and allegedly pushed the agency to file the case.

"I heard that when the Ripple case was brought in December 2020, Jay Clayton had been in favor of settling [with Ripple] pretty much right off the bat, but Bill Hinman had been driving home saying no we have to continue with this case. I heard Clayton was in favor of settling, Hinman was not," Terret said in the interview.

Hinman left the agency on December 4, 2020, but was plagued with intrigues in the days leading to his departure. He was accused of having an interest in Ethereum while he was at the SEC since he had been a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, an international law firm based in New York and a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).

Hinman, while still working as a director at the agency, violated SEC laws when he met with a staff of Simpson Thacher. Many speculated that these meetings resulted in his controversial speech in 2018 where he declared Ethereum as a non-security.

Ripple attempted to get a hold of this speech but the SEC withheld it until recently when U.S. District Judge Analise Torres ordered the commission to release the speech to the blockchain company.