Prominent XRP-supporting attorney John Deaton says that Ripple Labs’ general counsel has reason to be confident as the company moves to end its lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC sued Ripple Labs in late 2020 under allegations that the payments firm issued XRP as an unregistered security.
Ripple Labs recently filed for a summary judgment on the suit, which is when an entity asks the court to dispose of the case without a full trial taking place.
Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty said,
“My hot take – after two years of litigation, the SEC is unable to identify any contract for investment (that’s what the statute requires); and cannot satisfy a single prong of the Supreme Court’s Howey test. Everything else is just noise.
Congress only gave the SEC jurisdiction over securities. Let’s get back to what the law says.”
In a new interview with Eleanor Terret, Deaton says he was surprised by how weak the SEC’s filings were, saying that much of their case contained irrelevancies.
“I think there’s a reason for Stu to be confident. I have to tell you something, I was proven wrong already by these briefs because if people go back to my tweets a couple of weeks ago, I tweeted out that when we see the summary judgment motions and they’re unredacted, that we’re going to see evidence that we were unaware of. I said I probably predict that there will be some evidence against Ripple that is more damaging than some people think…
[But] it’s missing. I was surprised that the SEC did not have more specific evidence. All the specific evidence that they pointed to was to institutional investors and accredited investors. They made no connection to XRP holders, the retail holders, you or me or people out there.”
Deaton represents 67,000 XRP holders in the lawsuit after U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres granted the crypto investors “Amici Curiae” status last year.
“Amici Curiae” means “friend of the court,” according to Cornell Law School. Amici curiae can submit documents known as amicus briefs on issues relevant to the case as long as the court approves the briefs in advance.
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