Ripple and SEC suspend $125 million verdict, hinting at future appeal

Author: Turner Wright, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance

In a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the legal team defending Ripple Labs asked for a stay of execution of the $125 million portion of the August 7 judgment that required the company to pay.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 4, Ripple's lawyers stated that the SEC had agreed to delay the request to pay the judgment amount after September 6. The legal team proposed that Ripple deposit 111% of the judgment amount, about $139 million, into a bank account until 30 days after "the expiration of the appeal period or the outcome of the appeal."

Source: SDNY

The filing appeared to lay the groundwork for a possible SEC appeal, with Ripple executives praising the Aug. 7 ruling at the time. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the ruling a "win for Ripple," and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty said the company would "respect the $125 million fine."

Awaiting Court Approval

As of the time of publication, Judge Analisa Torres, who is overseeing the SEC v. Ripple case, has not yet granted the request. Any appeal could mean that Ripple's lawsuit against the SEC has not yet ended after it was first filed in December 2020. According to the court's guidelines, if "the United States or a U.S. official or instrumentality is a party," either party has 60 days to file an appeal.

The SEC's complaint accused Ripple of using XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds and initially targeted Garlinghouse and Ripple Executive Chairman Chris Larsen. In July 2023, Judge Torres ruled that XRP tokens were not securities sold programmatically on exchanges.

The price of XRP is $0.56 at the time of publishing, up about 0.15% over the past 30 days.