- Judge Torres rejected Ripple and the SEC’s latest settlement request.
- She said they haven’t shown exceptional circumstances to change the judgement.
- Both sides must now decide whether to continue their appeals.
It’s not without reason that Ripple’s has been called “the case that never goes away.”
Nearly five years in, Ripple’s fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission hit another wall as a federal judge rejected the parties’ latest attempt to quietly settle among themselves.
Judge Analisa Torres denied the joint request to dissolve Ripple’s permanent injunction and cut its penalty to $50 million, dismissing the proposal as legally flawed and contrary to the public interest.
That figure is already a steep discount from the $125 million imposed last year, and far below the $1.3 billion the SEC originally sought.
The parties argued that shifting SEC policy and a private settlement agreement justified revisiting certain aspects of the court’s final judgment.
Torres wasn’t convinced.
In her view, nothing had changed that would warrant reversing a decision the court spent years crafting.
“The parties must show exceptional circumstances that outweigh the public interest or the administration of justice,” she wrote in Thursday’s order. “They have not come close to doing so here.”
Industry reactions
The rejection drew comments from Corey Frayer, a former senior adviser at the SEC.
“The SEC made the unprecedented decision to reverse course on pending litigation,” Frayer said. “And today their leadership got a taste of what their hubris, incompetence, and crypto fealty results in.”
He also described the episode as “absolute malpractice” by the agency’s leadership.
Both parties have appeals pending before the Second Circuit.
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, downplayed the setback on social media.
“With this, the ball is back in our court,” he said. “The Court gave us two options: dismiss our appeal challenging the finding on historic institutional sales, or press forward with the appeal. Stay tuned.”
Crypto attorney John Deaton previously put the odds of Judge Torres approving the request at 70%.
But after reading Thursday’s order, he admitted he wasn’t surprised by the outcome.
“Although I believed she would ultimately grant the indicative ruling, I can’t say I’m shocked,” Deaton wrote.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is down slightly by 0.3% over the past 24 hours, currently trading at $107,000.
- Ethereum is down 0.2% over the same period to about $2,445.
What we’re reading
- Monero-only hacker IntelBroker caught after accepting Bitcoin from FBI ― DL News
- AI Crypto Tokens Swoon as Nvidia Reaches a New All-Time High — Unchained
- This altcoin season will be different — Milk Road
- Trump administration’s nod to crypto-backed mortgages raises alarms and applause in ‘defining moment’ ― DL News
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com
