SEC Files Form C In Ripple Lawsuit: Here’s What They Appeal

Share This Post

Late Thursday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed Form C in its case against Ripple Labs, specifying the grounds of its appeal against Judge Analisa Torres’s final ruling from August 7. This filing, which was due by October 16, comes after the SEC’s initial Notice of Appeal on October 2 lacked detailed arguments.

Ripple Vs. SEC: Appeal Details

The SEC’s appeal targets specific aspects of the summary judgment that were favorable to Ripple. Attorney James “MetaLawMan” Murphy commented on the filing, stating that the SEC is appealing the rulings on “Ripple’s XRP sales through exchanges; Ripple’s distribution of XRP to employees and others; and Garlinghouse and Larsen’s sales of XRP on exchanges.”

Notably, the SEC does not seem to appeal the remedies and disgorgement ruling as well as the decision by Judge Torres that XRP itself is not a security. Murphy remarked via X, “This is what we expected. Mildly surprising that they did not appeal the $0 ruling on disgorgement.”

Fred Rispoli, a pro-XRP lawyer and founder of HODL Law, weighed in on the implications for Ripple’s executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. “Just when they thought they were out, the SEC pulled Brad and Chris back in,” he remarked. Rispoli pointed out that the SEC never stipulated to a dismissal of all claims against the two executives, only those related to institutional sales. “The SEC implies they are still coming after Garlinghouse and Larsen on programmatic sales,” he noted, expressing surprise that Ripple’s legal team did not secure a more comprehensive dismissal in the initial agreement.

Rispoli emphasized the gravity of the case now that it has reached the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. “The Second Circuit is the big leagues, and the SEC cannot afford to clown around like it has been at the district court level,” he said. He suggested that the SEC recognized that pursuing disgorgement—a financial penalty requiring the return of ill-gotten gains—was unlikely to succeed on appeal, despite having argued for it before Judge Torres. “It wisely recognized disgorgement was a loser argument and has not raised it as an appellate issue,” Rispoli commented.

There is some procedural ambiguity regarding the timing of the SEC’s filing. Murphy observed that while the SEC’s Form C is dated October 16, the court’s file stamp indicates it was filed on October 17. According to procedural rules, the SEC was required to submit Form C within 14 days of filing the Notice of Appeal, making the deadline October 16 at 11:59 pm EST. “We should find out soon whether the Second Circuit concludes that the SEC has missed the deadline,” Murphy stated.

Missing this deadline could have serious consequences for the SEC’s appeal, as Bitcoinist reported yesterday. Rispoli pointed out that the Local Rules of the Second Circuit (Rule 12.1(d)) state that failure to comply “may result in dismissal of the appeal.” However, he tempered this by noting that appellate courts often grant leeway to federal agencies. “Even a lame excuse from the government is likely enough to allow the court to let it slide,” he remarked.

However, Rispoli also has a few words of warning at the end that the SEC could still provide some nasty surprises. “SEC has announced it could appeal any aspect of that. So there is the obvious (Programmatic Sales, Other Distributions) and the less obvious (whether XRP is inherently an investment contract). We won’t know until the briefing comes out but no question the issues are at minimum what were raised in the request for an interlocutory appeal.”

At press time, XRP traded at $0.5474.

XRP price

Read Entire Article
spot_img
- Advertisement -spot_img

Related Posts

Bitwise Files for ETF Tracking Corporate Bitcoin Giants

The post Bitwise Files for ETF Tracking Corporate Bitcoin Giants appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News Bitwise has filed for an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) that focuses on companies holding massive

Bitcoin Erases Christmas Gains: Social Media Sentiment May Have Foreshadowed This

Bitcoin has crashed today, erasing the gains from the Christmas rally Here’s how this may have been foreshadowed by social media sentiment Social Media Users Got Too Hyped During Latest Bitcoin

Ethereum Price Falls Again: Is the Decline Gaining Momentum?

Ethereum price started a fresh decline from the $3,550 resistance ETH is now showing bearish signs and might slide below the $3,300 level Ethereum started a fresh decline from the $3,550 zone The

Bitcoin Price Takes Another Hit: Bears Tighten Their Grip

Bitcoin price failed to surpass $100,000 and corrected gains BTC is back below $96,500 and might revisit the $93,200 support zone Bitcoin started a fresh decline from the $99,400 zone The price is

Can India Lead Crypto Regulation in 2025? Binance Thinks So

Binance expects India to lead global crypto regulation in 2025, driven by progressive frameworks aimed at boosting trust, fostering innovation, and expanding blockchain utility Will 2025 Be the Year

New Solana Memecoin Leader? PENGU Flips BONK Amid Whale Accumulation

The newly launched PENGU token has stolen the spotlight after becoming the largest Solana-based memecoin by market capitalization The token’s rally has gathered massive interest from large-scale