SEC Eyes $2.6 Billion Fine From Ripple: Details

Popular XRP community member Ashley Prosper has taken to the X (formerly Twitter) platform to highlight why the U.S. SEC is actively pursuing the Ripple case.

According to Prosper, the securities regulator sees the Ripple case as an opportunity to secure substantial monetary remedies that could potentially impact its financial performance in the fiscal year 2024.

In a tweet yesterday, Prosper shared an excerpt from the SEC’s initial complaint against Ripple in December 2020.

The U.S. SEC, which alleged Ripple violated the law by offering and selling XRP as an unregistered security, claimed the crypto payments company sold 4.9 billion XRP to institutional investors from 2013 through the end of Q3 2020.

At the time of the filing in 2020, the SEC noted that the 4.9 billion XRP was worth $624 million. Interestingly, the value of the 4.9 billion XRP has skyrocketed in value to $2.64 billion.

Notably, Prosper said if the SEC successfully proves its claim against Ripple regarding institutional sales, 2024 could become the best fiscal year the commission has ever had.

“No wonder they don’t want to let it go easily,” Prosper remarked.

#XRP #XRPCommunity
What the #Ripple v #SEC Remedies phase is really all about.👇 A successful claim on all of those sales would contribute significantly to making 2024 the best fiscal year the SEC has ever had. No wonder they don’t want to let it go so easily. 🫰💰 pic.twitter.com/GOQ9hxvIhG

— Ashley PROSPER (@AshleyPROSPER1) February 25, 2024

Ongoing Remedies Litigation

For context, the legal tussle is currently in the remedies phase. The remedies litigation is focused on determining the appropriate penalty to address Ripple’s violation of securities laws via its institutional sales of XRP.

Although the SEC was initially focused on Ripple’s past institutional sales, recent developments suggest that the commission is also interested in the company’s post-complaint sales.

As reported earlier, Magistrate Sarah Netburn ordered Ripple to produce its audited financial statement from 2022 to 2023 and post-complaint contract governing institutional sales based on the SEC’s request.

She also ordered Ripple to disclose the proceeds received from selling XRP to institutional investors after the complaint was filed in December 2020.

The financial records the SEC requested would help the court determine the appropriate penalty that Ripple might face.

Aside from the monetary penalty, the SEC also expects the judge to impose an injunction that could prevent Ripple from selling XRP to institutional investors.

Meanwhile, the parties are expected to file their legal briefs from March 13 through April 29, 2024. Afterward, the court would issue its ruling on remedies. While there is no specific date for the ruling, legal experts speculate that the judgment would be issued in early summer.

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