Last updated on May 18th, 2024 at 12:26 pm
The United States SEC has said that it will file an interlocutory appeal regarding a recent XRP ruling by Judge Torres in its case against Ripple. The financial watchdog made this known in an August 9 court filing.
An interlocutory appeal occurs when a party appeals a Judge’s ruling while other aspects of the case are still ongoing. Interlocutory appeal which is also known as interim appeal is allowed only under specific circumstances.
As other aspects of the SEC’s case go toward trial, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was asking for “leave to” appeal a portion of a recent ruling. The regulator said that granting an interlocutory appeal might avoid the necessity for two trials for the SEC and the government.
SEC not disputing XRP classification as non-security
Meanwhile, prominent lawyer, Jeremy Hogan – partner at Hogan & Hogan law firm has made it clear that the Commission isn’t appealing Judge Torres’s ruling which says XRP is not a security, rather, it is appealing the “programmatic and individual sales” of XRP.
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Hogan dropped his comment on X (formerly Twitter) while responding to a tweet by defense lawyer James Filan who informed the community of the development.
AND… the SEC continues making questionable decisions, requesting an interlocutory appeal.
Note that it is NOT appealing whether XRP itself is a security – just its losses on the programmatic and individual sales issues. https://t.co/GziVLp23mT
— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) August 9, 2023
Related Reading: Ripple Labs Onboards New Attorney as the SEC Lawsuit Continues
In a separate tweet, he pointed out that appealing the security status of XRP and challenging its programmatic sales are two different issues.
“But if the SEC wins the appeal on sales, then Ripple couldn’t use exchanges to facilitate sales. And the big Q: would exchanges keep XRP listed? I think yes, as long as they can verify the sales are not being made by Ripple,” he said.
The SEC sued Ripple Labs in 2020 alleging that the company offered unregistered securities in XRP and the case has been on since then. However, a recent ruling by District Judge Analisa Torres declared that while Ripple violated security laws by offering direct sales of XRP to institutional investors, its programmatic sales of XRP through exchanges to individual investors did not violate any laws.
Since the ruling, different crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, and BitGo have relisted XRP on their various platforms. Most recently, the popular crypto exchange Gemini announced via its official X account that deposits have resumed for XRP on its platform.
We have xciting news!
XRP is now available for deposits on Gemini. Trading support will follow xtra soon. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/f2EjxewRm0
— Gemini (@Gemini) August 10, 2023
SEC urges Ripple to respond to filing within a week
Meanwhile, the SEC suggested filing an opening brief outlining the appeal on August 18 and emphasized that Ripple will have one week from the letter’s submission to respond. Ripple’s deadline for responding is set for August 16 according to the filing. If the judge approves the filing, Ripple would have two weeks to react, and the SEC would have one week to respond to Ripple.
Victor Swaezy
Victor Swaezy is a crypto-journalist with more than 3 years of experience in covering blockchain technology and digital currencies news. Known for his comprehensive reporting, Victor has contributed to leading industry publications such as Coinfomania and Crypto News Guru, providing market participants with the required knowledge to make informed decisions. When he is not working, he loves to watch movies and have a good time.