Sec News SEC to appeal court decision in Ripple XRP case

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated in a court filing that it intends to submit an “interlocutory appeal” in response to a judge’s ruling on Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP.

The SEC is seeking to appeal a portion of a recent ruling while other parts of the SEC’s case proceed to trial. By pursuing this interlocutory appeal, the regulatory body aims to potentially avoid the necessity of conducting two separate trials for the SEC and the government.

“Specifically, the SEC seeks to certify the Court’s holding that Defendants’ ‘Programmatic’ offers and sales to XRP buyers over crypto asset trading platforms and Ripple’s ‘Other Distributions’ in exchange for labor and services did not involve the offer or sale of securities under [the Howey test],” the SEC filing said.

Last month, a federal judge issued a verdict affirming that Ripple’s direct sales of XRP to institutional investors were in breach of securities regulations, but its automated sales to retail investors via exchanges were deemed compliant.

Ripple expected to respond by August 16

According to the SEC’s submission, Ripple is expected to provide a response by August 16, 2023 (a week from the date of the filing). 

The SEC has proposed submitting an opening brief outlining the appeal on August 18. Subsequently, Ripple would have a two-week timeframe to present its response, and the SEC would then have an additional week to counter if the judge grants approval for the filing.

The SEC had previously indicated the possibility of appealing the decision in a distinct case. During the consideration of Terraform Labs’ motion to dismiss its SEC lawsuit, the regulatory agency’s legal representatives advised Judge Jed Rakoff of the same court to disregard the ruling in question.