Judge grants amicus requests to support Ripple in lawsuit with SEC

Oisin Mcilroy

2 years ago

District Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has granted I-Remit and TapJets’ requests to file amicus curiae briefs in support of Ripple Labs, following a rejection of objection by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Fast facts

I-Remit, a global remittance firm, wrote in its proposed amicus brief that it does not use XRP “to speculate on it” nor does it consider XRP to be an investment, while private charter and aircraft management company TapJets wrote that its acceptance of XRP as payment in exchange for its services is vital.

The SEC last Tuesday objected to the two firms’ motions to file amicus briefs, alleging that their proposed briefs were improper attempts to offer evidence outside the constraints of discovery restrictions and the rules of evidence.

An amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief is filed by a person or organization that is not a party to the case but petitions the court for permission to submit a brief intended to influence the court’s decision.

Ripple reacted to the SEC’s opposition by arguing that the commission “mischaracterizes both the briefs and the law.”

Following the news, prices of XRP – the native token of XRP Ledger that powers Ripple’s payment network – gained 0.79% in the past 24 hours to US$0.4912 as of 3.15 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to data from CoinMarketCap, after it led losses the previous afternoon.
Last month, the court similarly approved cryptocurrency lobby group Chamber of Digital Commerce to be an amicus curiae in the case. In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple and its executives, alleging that the sale of XRP constituted an offering of unregistered securities worth over US$1.38 billion.