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(Kitco News) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs is set to advance to a jury trial in the second quarter of 2024 based on a Wednesday filing by the judge overseeing the case.
Judge Analisa Torres submitted the filing to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which detailed plans to move forward to a jury trial for the remaining charges against Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen.
Previously, Judge Torres issued summary judgments on several aspects of the SEC vs. Ripple Labs case and ruled that XRP was not considered a security, but summary judgments for certain charges against the company, Garlinghouse, and Larsen were not approved, advancing those charges to a full trial.
The prosecutors and defense lawyers on the case have until Aug. 23 to submit blackout dates for the trial, which is expected to start between April 1 and June 30, 2024.
The SEC initially filed its lawsuit against Ripple, Garlinghouse, and Larsen in December 2020. This led to the XRP token being delisted from many exchanges that served U.S. customers, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini.
After Judge Torres ruled that XRP was not a security, XRP price spiked 96% from $0.47 to a high of $0.933 and has since entered into consolidation and currently trades at $0.633.
XRP/USD Chart by TradingView
The SEC is now looking to appeal certain aspects of the judgment by Torres and sent a letter to the Judge on Wednesday saying an “Interlocutory review is warranted.”
“Specifically, the SEC seeks to certify the Court’s holding that Defendants’ “Programmatic” offers and sales to XRP buyers over crypto asset trading platforms and Ripple’s “Other Distributions” in exchange for labor and services did not involve the offer or sale of securities under SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293 (1946),” the SEC said. “These two issues involve controlling questions of law on which there is substantial ground for differences of opinion as reflected by an intra-district split that has already developed.”
The SEC referenced the recent decision in its case against Terraform Labs in which the Judge on the case denied a request for dismissal that cited the XRP decision and said he did not agree with the ruling that XRP is not a security.
Interestingly, the request for an interlocutory appeal is not seeking to appeal whether XRP itself is a security, and is instead focused on the rulings around “programmatic” offers and sales to individuals via trading platforms and Ripple’s “other distributions.”
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| Wells Fargo analyst predicts XRP price will hit $100-$500 |
The regulator has requested that Judge Torres put the case on hold during the appeal, saying there are multiple other pending court cases that could be affected depending on the appeal’s outcome. The SEC has ongoing lawsuits with a number of crypto firms, including Binance and Coinbase, over alleged securities violations.
The SEC is seeking an “expedient and efficient ultimate resolution of this litigation,” and has proposed a start date of Aug. 18 for a review of its request for appeal, “which is two days after Defendants’ response to this letter is due.”
Stuart Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer at Ripple, responded to the appeal request by saying, “The SEC does not have the ‘right’ to appeal just yet, which is why they are asking permission to file an ‘interlocutory’ appeal. Ripple will file its response with the Court next week.”
