Ripple’s legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has entered the summary judgment phase after both parties submitted their respective motions.
On Sunday, September 18, Ripple Defense attorney James Filan informed the crypto community about these submissions via Twitter social media.
Both Ripple and SEC filed motions for summary judgment in the Southern District of New York, asking District Judge Analisa Torres to make a ruling based on the arguments filed in accompanying documents.
In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple Labs, alleging that the crypto firm had raised over $1.3 billion by selling XRP in unregistered securities transactions. But Ripple maintained that XRP sales and trading did not meet the Howey Test, a test created by the Supreme Court to determine whether a transaction qualifies as a security.
On Friday, September 16, the parties filed various discovery motions over the last two years without settling whether Ripple violated securities law by selling XRP.
The motions for summary judgment imply that the parties are asking the court to decide whether the SEC or Ripple has provided enough evidence to prove whether there was a violation.
Based on the summary judgment for each side, the SEC wants the federal judge to rule that the crypto company affiliated with the XRP cryptocurrency violated federal securities laws. On the other hand, Ripple wants the judge to dismiss the lawsuit without requiring a lengthy trial.
The SEC argued, among other things, that various statements by Ripple’s executives show that Ripple sold XRP, and XRP investors bought the cryptocurrency with hopes that their holdings would spike in value over time.
But Ripple claimed that there was no contract between the company and XRP investors and that there was no common enterprise, one of the requirements under the Howey test.
What Are Crypto Users Saying?
The filing of these Motions for Summary Judgement has stirred up many online chats in the crypto-community. With this, the community believes the lawsuit is approaching an end.
Meanwhile, crypto legal expert Jeremy Hogan commented about the SEC-Ripple case. He pointed out the SEC is facing several major problems, which indicated a victory for Ripple.
The analyst claimed that the SEC failed to get “on record” that any XRP purchaser heard Ripple’s marketing pitch. He said this factor eventually has the “burden to prove EVERYTHING here.” Lawyer Hogan further disclosed that one of the SEC’s experts admitted that most of XRP’s price changes are due to market forces “and not Ripple.”
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