Ripple Cites Voyager Bankruptcy Case Decision in Latest Letter to Judge Torres

Unsurprisingly, the latest filing has attracted a flurry of responses from XRP community members.

Ripple has filed another letter of notice of supplemental authority to Judge Analisa Torres in its legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to support its fair notice defense further.

Attorney James K. Filan, a defense lawyer and former Federal prosecutor who has followed the case closely, disclosed this in a tweet yesterday, sharing a copy of the document. Notably, in the latest supplemental authority filing, the blockchain payments company cites Judge Michael E. Wiles’ decision in the Voyager bankruptcy case to overrule the SEC’s objection to Binance.US’s bid for Voyager assets.

Unsurprisingly, the latest filing has attracted a flurry of responses from XRP community members.

Recall that, as highlighted in a previous report, Judge Wiles, in the recent ruling, bashed the regulator for fueling uncertainty in the nascent market. In other sections, the judge faulted the commission for failing to speak up earlier in the case, as highlighted by Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz in response to the latest development, describing the SEC’s actions as outrageous in eight different ways in a follow-up tweet.

The judge expressed outrage that the SEC would want to prosecute parties for carrying out transactions as ordered by the court. Moreso, because the SEC’s arguments as to why this could be the case were vague and lacking substance for the court to decide on. 

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It is potentially another situation where the SEC prioritizes its agenda over consumer protection. It requested the court to delay proceedings at the expense of consumers so the agency could form a position on whether VGX is a security and whether Binance.US is an unregistered security exchange. All the while, due to legal fees, the amount of assets users could recover would continue to decline.

See the thread from ConsenSys lawyer Bill Hughes below.

As highlighted by Hogan & Hogan Partner Attorney Jeremy Hogan, the judge used “abnormally strong language” to point out that regulators themselves had failed to come up with a metric to decide which crypto qualifies as a security even though cryptocurrencies and exchanges have been allowed to operate for years. According to Hogan, this speaks directly to a lack of fair notice, Ripple’s defense.

Attorney John E. Deaton, who represents thousands of XRP holders as a friend of the court in the legal battle, expressed hope that Judge Torres is likely already aware of the ruling as she is in the same district as Judge Wiles. In addition, Deaton asserted that it would support the defense of Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, accused of aiding and abetting the sale of unregistered securities in the SEC’s complaint. 

“I believe Judge Torres will rule that no reasonable jury could conclude that the two executives were reckless in not knowing XRP was a security when the SEC itself didn’t,” Deaton surmised.

The legal battle between the markets regulator and Ripple over whether XRP is an unregistered security has endured for over two years. Pundits believe a summary judgment ruling could come between now and mid-April.

In a previous supplemental authority filing, Ripple cited a recent Supreme Court ruling where two justices relied on the rule of lenity to support their opinions. Notably, the rule states that where the law is unclear, court decisions should be tailored to best favor the defendant.

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Source: https://thecryptobasic.com/2023/03/21/ripple-cites-voyager-bankruptcy-case-decision-in-latest-letter-to-judge-torres/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ripple-cites-voyager-bankruptcy-case-decision-in-latest-letter-to-judge-torres