As the legal war between Ripple and the SEC continues to captivate the cryptocurrency world and beyond, the SEC has submitted a new argument to support its summary judgment request.
In particular, the SEC has filed a letter of additional authority to Judge Analisa Torres to further support its pending Petition for Summary Judgment, as posted in a tweet by pro-XRP U.S. defense lawyer and popular commentator James K. Filan.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP SEC files Letter of Supplemental Authority in further Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment. https://t.co/rdzW3Q6SIT
— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) April 11, 2023
The SEC references in the letter to an April 7 decision by a District of Massachusetts court, which grants the financial watchdog’s move for summary judgment and denies the defendant, the brokerage business Commonwealth Equity Services,’ cross-motion for summary judgment.
According to the agency, this opinion supports the SEC’s case against the blockchain company because it refers to the alleged violation of federal securities laws, as well as including the ‘fair notice’ argument advanced by the defendants in both cases, but rejected by the court in the Commonwealth lawsuit.
According to the SEC, the 50-year-old Supreme Court precedent was sufficient to be considered “fair notice” in the case against Ripple, because it was regarded as such by the Massachusetts court, which decided in favor of the SEC.
“First, its holding that longstanding Supreme Court precedent can provide fair notice is identical to the SEC’s position in this case: that Howey and its progeny provided Defendants with sufficient fair notice to defeat their constitutional defense.”
Finally, the Massachusetts court’s ruling provides “further authority for rejecting Ripple’s fair notice claim and approving the SEC’s request for summary judgment,” according to the SEC’s counsel, Benjamin J. Hanauer.
At the same time, lawyer Bill Morgan dismissed the latest letter from the SEC’s defense, claiming that there were no similarities between the two cases and hence no cause for alarm. As he stated in his April 12 tweet:
“If you think that there is fact similarity in selling an asset like XRP in a market which is 13 years old to buyers to whom it owed no post-sale obligations, & a case in which an investment adviser failed to make all necessary disclosure of potential conflicts of interest from which it benefitted to retail investor clients to whom it owed fiduciary duties and whose funds it managed, feel free to be anxious (…).”
from which it benefitted to retail investor clients to whom it owed fiduciary duties and whose funds it managed, feel free to be anxious about the SEC bringing this case to Judge Torres’ attention /2 pic.twitter.com/S7qZ8sA9MT
— bill morgan (@Belisarius2020) April 12, 2023
In other news, banking law expert Todd Phillips has raised concerns about using the Howey Test to determine what is or isn’t an investment contract because it requires “a contract, post-sale legal obligations, and the right to share profit,” and that using this argument could lead to the SEC losing its “war against crypto,” as Finbold reported on April 10.
XRP/USD 4-hour chart | Source: TradingView
Currently, the XRP token is trading at $0.5028, representing a 3% dip in the last 24 hours but a 0.12% climb over the week, as the digital asset maintains its monthly gains of 35.53%.
Read more:
- Ripple Ready To Fuel State-Backed Blockchain Products In Crypto-Friendly Montenegro
- XRP Trading Volume Uptick As Two Of Largest Crypto Exchanges Moved Close To 80 Million Tokens