The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States has filed its opening remedies brief in the public court today. It wants Ripple to pay $2 billion for breaking securities laws. The regulator put the report in undercover for the first time on March 22. However, the motion was kept secret for almost four days while the parties discussed what needed removal.Â
According to the public version of the brief, the SEC asked the court to stop Ripple from selling *XRP* to institutions permanently so that the company wouldn’t break securities laws again. Ripple has broken federal securities laws, so the commission wants the court to fine the company almost $2 billion.
The SEC wants Ripple to pay a total of $1.95 billion. This includes $876,308,712 ($876.3 million) in disgorgement, $198,150,940 ($198.15 million) in prejudgment interest, and another $876,308,712 ($876.3 million) in civil penalties. It’s important to note that the SEC wants more than just fines and penalties. From 2013 to 2020, when the case was filed, Ripple sold XRP to institutional buyers and made $729 million.
The SEC says that after the case was filed in 2020, Ripple sold more XRP. Not only that, but the crypto payments company had also sold XRP worth billions of dollars since the court’s summary ruling in July 2023. Notably, the public version did not say how much money Ripple made from the sales after the lawsuit. The information was changed based on what both sides decided upon. The SEC gives three reasons Ripple should pay a $2 billion fine. The committee also pointed out three reasons why Ripple should pay fines of up to $2 billion.
First, the SEC said that the fine would be a deterrent to Ripple because it had sold a lot of XRP without being listed over the past three years. Second, the SEC says the crypto payments company has been breaking the law for almost ten years but has failed to take the blame. It said that Ripple lied about the summary ruling made in July when it said the decision was a complete win for the company. The commission also said that Ripple had not changed its ways and that the company had given less information about its XRP sales since the summary ruling Third, the SEC said Ripple didn’t listen to the advice of a good law firm that told the crypto payments business not to sell XRP for cash and instead promote it as an investment.
So, the SEC said that Ripple will only change its ways if the court punishes it severely and orders it to return all the money it made illegally from selling XRP to institutions in the past.
Ripple’s CEO Gives Hir Reaction
In response, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said that the commission, led by Gary Gensler, was always breaking the law. Several federal courts have criticized this. Garlinghouse talked about how a federal judge slammed the SEC for abusing the power Congress gave it in its case against DEBT Box. He also said that one of the judges in the current Ripple case had also said that the SEC wasn’t following the rules properly. The CEO of Ripple didn’t agree with the SEC’s plan to demand $2 billion in fines for a case that doesn’t involve theft or carelessness.
Interestingly, Garlinghouse told the XRP community that the company would show the SEC what it is when it replies to the brief. By April 22, Ripple should have sent its response to the SEC’s opening remedies brief. As was already said, Ripple’s response will be sent under seal by April 22, and a public copy should be sent by April 24.
