Highlights:
- Court denies Ripple and SEC’s request to cut penalties and dissolve injunction.
- Judge Torres rules no legal basis exists for altering the final XRP judgment.
- Ripple remains restricted from institutional XRP sales in the U.S.
In a new development in the long-running XRP lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres has denied a joint motion filed by Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The motion sought to dissolve a permanent injunction and reduce Ripple’s $125 million financial penalty. Judge Torres ruled that the motion failed to present the “exceptional circumstances” required to modify the court’s final judgment issued in August 2024.
Court Rejects Motion to Modify XRP Judgment
Ripple and the SEC submitted their joint motion under Rule 60(b), which allows courts to reconsider final judgments only in rare and justified cases. The request included two key actions: lifting the permanent injunction restricting Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors in the U.S. and reducing the financial penalty from $125 million to $50 million. The court declined both requests and preserved the original judgment.
Judge Torres stated that final judgments must be treated with seriousness and should not be altered unless public interest demands it. According to her order, both parties failed to provide valid legal grounds to reopen or revise the case. The ruling reaffirmed the need for procedural finality in cases involving regulatory enforcement.
This decision reinforces the court’s earlier finding that Ripple violated U.S. securities laws by offering XRP to institutional investors without proper registration. That decision formed the basis for the original injunction and financial penalty, both of which now remain in full effect.
Settlement Agreement Not Enough for Relief
Ripple and the SEC argued that their joint settlement agreement provided sufficient reason to alter the prior ruling. They also referenced a shift in the SEC’s enforcement strategy, including the dismissal of several crypto-related lawsuits. However, the court noted that none of the cited cases involved final judgments or civil penalties comparable to Ripple’s situation.
The ruling clarified that settlement agreements alone do not meet the criteria for modifying court orders. Judge Torres emphasized that a final judgment serves the public’s interest and not just those of the litigants. She explained that the legal threshold for Rule 60(b) relief requires extraordinary circumstances, which the motion did not present.
The court also cited prior Supreme Court rulings stating that judicial decisions must remain intact unless a clear and overriding reason justifies a change. Since the parties’ arguments did not demonstrate such urgency, the court rejected the motion outright. The motion was formally terminated and removed from the docket.
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Source: https://coincu.com/345297-judge-torres-denies-ripple-and-secs-joint/