Judge grants SEC request to file appeal in Ripple case

• Judge Analisa Torres has allowed SEC to file an appeal against July 13 ruling on XRP.
• SEC to file by August 18 and Ripple to respond by September 1.

The latest Ripple news is that Judge Analisa Torres, who ruled in July that public sales of XRP did not constitute an investment contract and thus not a security, has allowed a request by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to file an appeal against the ruling.

On August 9, the SEC filed a letter seeking to file an interlocutory appeal against Ripple Labs over the XRP ruling – even as the regulator looks to battle Ripple’s assertions regarding the rest of the case.

Judge sets timeline

Per Judge Torres’ decision today, the SEC can now proceed to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The regulator should have the appeal in place by August 18, while Ripple will have until September 1 to file its opposition. The timeline also includes September 8 as the deadline for SEC to file a reply.

The judge’s decision to grant SEC’s request came a day after Ripple opposed the regulator’s intended interlocutory appeal.

Ripple Labs chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty noted that there is “no extraordinary circumstance here that would justify departing from the rule requiring all issues as to all parties to be resolved before an appeal.”

John E. Deaton of Crypto Law. US says it could take 3-6 months for Judge Torres to deliver a ruling on the filing.

As I said last week, she was going to grant the SEC the right to file a formal motion for an interlocutory appeal. Now she can deny it and explain why she’s denying it along with explaining why Rakoff is completely off regarding his understanding of what she ruled. It was the SEC… https://t.co/QUmYAGWthG

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) August 17, 2023

SEC sued Ripple and two of its executives – CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive Chairman Chris Larsen – in December 2020. The securities regulator alleged that XRP was a security and that Ripple had violated securities laws by selling an unregistered security.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has come under heavy criticism for his approach to crypto regulation, with both Binance and Coinbase also sued.