Stuart Alderoty, in an effort to bring clarity to the ongoing SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, has effectively put an end to the speculation surrounding a potential settlement in the legal battle.
The Chief Legal Officer of Ripple has dismissed the growing rumors about a pre-trial conference in the SEC lawsuit, which many members of the XRP community believed could lead to a resolution and bring an end to the lengthy legal dispute.
According to a scheduling order issued last year, the court had mandated that the parties hold a final pre-trial conference on April 16 at 2 PM, with Magistrate Sarah Netburn overseeing the meeting.
However, Alderoty has now clarified that there will be no pre-trial conference as ordered because the SEC has already dropped its charges against the individual defendants, Brad Garlinghouse (CEO) and Chris Larsen (Chairman).
Moving forward, Alderoty outlined the next steps in the SEC lawsuit. He stated that Ripple will file its response to the SEC’s remedies-related brief, which seeks a penalty of nearly $2 billion.
It is worth noting that Ripple’s response to the proposed penalty will be filed by April 22, 2024. However, the motion will be filed under seal, and a redacted version is expected to be made public by April 24, 2024.
Following this, Alderoty mentioned that the SEC will also file its reply to Ripple’s opposition by May 6, 2024.
The debate surrounding a potential settlement in the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit has been intensifying in recent times. This speculation gained momentum after the parties held a settlement conference on March 29.
While the outcome of the conference remains unknown, some members of the XRP community believe that a settlement could be reached soon.
The rumors were further fueled by a closed-door meeting held by the SEC on April 11. Additionally, Ashley Prosper, a prominent member of the XRP community, presented several reasons why the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit may be coming to an end, including the delayed release of 500 million XRP from escrow.
At the time, some crypto holders speculated that Ripple intended to sell the coins to raise funds for a settlement with the SEC. However, it was later revealed that the 500 million XRP unlocked from escrow were part of a scheduled release of 1 billion coins for the month of April. The remaining 500 million XRP were unlocked on April 12.
With Alderoty’s tweet effectively dispelling the settlement rumors, the focus now shifts to Ripple’s upcoming response to the SEC’s remedies brief, which is scheduled for April 22.
Ripple is expected to leverage a ruling from the Second Circuit in the SEC v. Govil lawsuit to argue that disgorgement should only be paid to institutional clients who suffered financial losses from their XRP purchases.
If the court rules in favor of Ripple, the company may only have to pay disgorgement to institutional clients who bought XRP at a price higher than its current value. This could potentially result in a significantly lower penalty than the $2 billion demanded by the SEC.
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