Blockchain firm Ripple has said in a court filing that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lacks a compelling argument to justify pursuing an appeal in its ongoing legal dispute. In the filing made on Friday, Ripple asserted that the SEC has not presented a strong enough case to warrant intervention by an appeals court.
The SEC is currently seeking approval from a federal judge, Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York, to appeal her previous ruling that found Ripple’s sales of XRP to retail investors did not violate securities laws, media reports said.
In Judge Torres’ July ruling, Ripple was found to have violated federal securities laws when selling XRP to institutional investors but not when making it available to retail investors through exchanges.
If Judge Torres approves this request, the SEC will have to persuade the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to take up the case. In its filing, Ripple argued that there are no significant legal questions at play, and an appeal would not expedite the overall resolution of the case.
According to Ripple’s filing, the ruling issued in July did not involve a “controlling question of law,” and the SEC’s motion for an appeal similarly failed to meet this standard. Ripple further contended that the SEC has not demonstrated that different judges might arrive at contradictory rulings or that an appeal would expedite the conclusion of the court case, which are prerequisites for the judge to grant an appeal.
Notably, a different judge in the same court, Judge Jed Rakoff, disagreed with Judge Torres’ assessment in a separate ruling in the SEC’s case against Terraform Labs. The SEC referenced this discrepancy when filing its substantive appeal on August 18.
In its recent filing, Ripple argued that the factual underpinnings of each case were distinct, leading to the contrasting rulings. The filing highlighted that the court’s summary-judgment ruling in the Ripple case relied on evidence indicating that Ripple had not made promises or offers to purchasers in its Programmatic Sales. In contrast, Terraform Labs, according to the SEC’s allegations, had promised all purchasers, whether they bought directly from Terraform or elsewhere, returns of 19-20% on their initial investment.
The SEC has until September 8 to respond to Ripple’s latest filing.
