The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is strongly contesting Ripple’s recent arguments against the XRP ruling. In response to Ripple’s memo, which argued against the need for an appeal, the SEC filed a forceful reply in their ongoing legal battle, media reports said.
The SEC countered Ripple’s claim that they hadn’t presented a strong enough case for an appeal, emphasizing that Ripple itself acknowledged the wide-reaching significance and exceptional importance of the issues at hand.
The SEC had previously indicated its intention to appeal Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking the judge’s permission to do so. Judge Torres granted the SEC the opportunity to make its case, setting a deadline of September 1 for Ripple to present its opposing arguments. The filing made on Friday serves as the SEC’s response to Ripple’s opposition memo.
Judge Torres had ruled in July that Ripple had violated federal securities laws in its sale of XRP to institutional investors but had not done so with retail investors. However, another judge in the same court, Judge Jed Rakoff, had disagreed with this ruling when presiding over a separate SEC case.
The SEC highlighted this discrepancy in its initial memo and reiterated it in Friday’s filing, as part of their effort to persuade Judge Torres to allow what is known as an “interlocutory appeal.” This type of appeal permits an appellate court to address specific legal questions while the original case continues to progress in the lower court.
The filing pointed out, “‘[Judge Rakoff] did reject this Court’s legal conclusion that the existence of ‘blind’ trading platform-based transactions precludes the application of Howey, as a matter of law, under virtually identical facts (sales of the crypto asset by the issuer to investors on a platform in blind bid/ask transactions).”
If Judge Torres grants the SEC’s motion, the SEC will need to present its case before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
