Ripple has made it clear that it will pay approximately $10 million as a penalty compared to the $2 billion proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. A top legal officer at Ripple said that the request by the Securities and Exchange Commission is an indication of its continuing intimidation against crypto.
Ripple filed its response to the SEC’s directive to pay $2 billion as a penalty in a legal document submitted on Monday, and the SEC had earlier imposed a heavy fine on Ripple for selling XRP to corporate investors. In its submission, Ripple had previously indicated that the figure should be very close to $10 million.
Ripple Lab’s response to the penalty for institutional sales has now been made public, and the company’s spokesperson explained that there are no allegations of fraudulent activity against Ripple. Their chief legal executive is confident that the judge will approach final remedies in a fair manner. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple have been engaged in legal fights for a long time.
SEC had alleged that Ripple raised $1.3 billion through the sales of XRP, which was treated as unregistered security. The SEC had accused Ripple of making billions of dollars in corporate sales of XRP, and they had indicated in a court filing that Ripple holds the biggest amount of XRP by any person and the company is engaged in selling it to institutional purchasers.
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Ripple Labs pointed out that it had changed how it sells XRP after the previous year’s court directive. The firm explained that they made changes to their contracts to avoid problems pointed out by the court. The Securities and Exchange Commission was not available for comments.
The SEC had instructed Ripple to pay $876 million, $198 million, and $876 million as disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalty, respectively. Ripple Labs argued that the SEC failed to prove that disgorgement is warranted, and they added that a typical civil penalty should not cross $10 million. It is to be noted that there is no pending allegation against Ripple of deceiving or misleading the institutional investor community.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s demand for huge penalties had drawn severe criticism from the top management of Ripple Labs. Ripple’s legal fight with the American SEC is entering its final stage, and the aftermath of this case will have a huge impact on the global crypto market.
The outcome of the legal fight will influence the price tag of XRP, the native token of Nipple. The crypto community has made sharp criticism of the demand of American regulatory bodies. Ripple Labs’s lawsuit will address the claims of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Sources familiar with the matter said Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission will meet to share thoughts on necessary steps before the legal document becomes available to the general public. The Chief Executive Officer of Ripple had voiced concerns similar to those expressed by their legal wing chief.
