Ripple Settlement With SEC Unlikely Says, Deaton

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Deaton predicts that the SEC case against Ripple will end in a court ruling.

In a Twitter thread yesterday, attorney John Deaton argued that an out-of-court settlement in the US Securities and Exchange Commission case against Ripple is unlikely, predicting that the case will get a court ruling instead.

2023 SEC 🆚 Ripple 🧵

Will the case settle?

After 18K votes, the👇 poll shows 59% of people believe a settlement will happen.

Tbh, 59% is higher than I would’ve guessed.

A year ago, I believed a settlement was likely b/c the SEC wouldn’t want the Hinman emails made public. https://t.co/9T4YneixBX

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) January 1, 2023

Deaton made these arguments in response to a recent Twitter poll he conducted concerning the outcome of the legal battle in 2023. Notably, the result showed that most XRP holders believed a settlement was the most likely outcome, as reported by The Crypto Basic.

However, Deaton, in his thread yesterday, surmises that he stands with the minority who predict that the case will make it to summary judgment.

“…I am in the 39% who answered the poll believing that we will get a decision by Judge Torres,” said the friend of the court in the 2-year-long legal battle.

The lawyer supports his position on the outcome with 3 arguments.

Firstly, despite previously believing that the desire to keep the Hinman documents private would force the SEC to seek a settlement, Deaton now believes that the SEC is prepared for these documents to go public. The lawyer argues that while the draft documents of the controversial 2018 speech may indicate malicious SEC intent, it is unlikely that it will have a significant bearing on the court’s summary judgment decision. Notably, this is one of the SEC’s arguments in its latest omnibus motion to seal the Hinman documents.

Deaton now believes that there was no mention of XRP in the controversial documents citing the sparse referencing of the documents in reply briefs from Ripple since they got their hands on them.

Secondly, he argues that SEC chair Gary Gensler may currently be willing to take on the risk of an unfavorable outcome for the SEC in summary judgment as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission is also pushing to regulate the crypto markets.

Finally, Deaton says the ruling in the LBRY case and the collapse of FTX are likely to have “emboldened” the SEC. The lawyer has reiterated his prediction that the SEC will soon file a lawsuit against a crypto exchange. 

“I think the @LBRYcom ruling emboldened him and the SEC,” Deaton tweeted. “I also believe SBFraud @SBF_FTX & @FTX_Official have given Gensler more ammo to use in his war against crypto.”

“As many of you know, 6 months ago I predicted he will sue an exchange in the very near future. And it’s coming.”

It is worth noting that recent rumors of a Ripple settlement date in November and December have fueled speculations. Notably, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett debunked both rumors citing sources close to the case as reported by The Crypto Basic.

The 2-year-long legal battle is on its last legs. Consequently, it is unsurprising that speculations on its outcome are reaching a fever pitch. If no out-of-court settlement is reached, the XRP community should expect a ruling on or before March 31, according to attorney James K. Filan who has followed the case closely.

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