District Judge Analisa Torres has granted the request by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to file an interlocutory appeal in the Ripple case over XRP. Judge Torres’ approval came one day after Ripple Labs filed its objection to the SEC’s request.
Judge Approves SEC’s Request in Ripple-XRP Case
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s request seeking to file an interlocutory appeal in the Ripple case over XRP has been granted by District Judge Analisa Torres despite Ripple’s objection to the regulator’s request.
In a court order filed on Aug. 17, Judge Torres stated that the court had reviewed the SEC’s and the defendants’ letters, adding:
The SEC’s request to file a motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal is granted.
The judge further ordered the SEC to file its motion by Aug. 18 and the defendants (Ripple Labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen) to file their opposition papers by Sept. 1. The SEC must then file its reply, if any, by Sept. 8.
The securities watchdog filed a request on Aug. 9 seeking permission from Judge Torres to file an interlocutory appeal to some parts of her ruling in the Ripple case over XRP. The SEC also seeks to stay the district court proceedings.
On Aug. 16, Ripple Labs, Garlinghouse, and Larsen filed their opposition to the SEC’s request. Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, tweeted Wednesday: “We oppose the SEC’s request for an interlocutory appeal. There is no extraordinary circumstance here that would justify departing from the rule requiring all issues as to all parties to be resolved before an appeal.”
Lawyer James K. Filan clarified on Twitter what Judge Torres has approved. “The court has set a briefing schedule for the SEC’s request to file a motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal. This does not mean an interlocutory appeal has been authorized. It just means the SEC is allowed to request it.”
The SEC is not seeking to dispute whether XRP is a security; it is seeking to appeal the court’s decision on programmatic offers and sales of XRP on crypto exchanges as well as Ripple’s “other distributions.” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stressed:
Reminder — the request for appeal (even if granted) doesn’t change the fact that XRP is not a security. That’s not up for debate / trial.
Do you think the SEC will successfully appeal the Ripple ruling over XRP? Let us know in the comments section below.
