SEC permitted to move for interlocutory appeal against Ripple

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was granted court permission to move for an interlocutory appeal against Ripple on Aug. 17.

A filing shows that Judge Analisa Torres has reviewed submissions from both sides and granted the SEC’s request to file a motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal.

The latest filing does not indicate why Judge Torres chose to permit the SEC’s request to move for an interlocutory appeal, nor does it represent Judge Torres’ ultimate agreement or disagreement with the SEC’s upcoming appeal in and of itself.

The SEC will need to file its motion for appeal by Aug. 18, while Ripple will need to file its opposition papers by Sept. 1. The SEC will need to file any reply by Sept. 8.

SEC appeal takes aim at Ripple’s victory

The SEC initially filed charges against Ripple in December 2020. Ripple achieved a partial victory in that case in July 2023 when courts found that its programmatic or exchange sales and certain other distributions of XRP were not securities.

Now, the SEC intends to contest that result. The SEC put forward a basis for an interlocutory appeal on Aug. 9. There, it argued that there is a controlling difference of law and room for substantial differences of opinion as shown by an “intra-district split” — specifically, due to differences in a separate SEC case against Terraform Labs.

Ripple attempted to block the SEC’s appeal on Aug. 16 by arguing that the intended appeal deviated from the regulator’s earlier focus — namely, the application of the Howey test. Ripple also asserted that the matter could not be settled as a simple application of the law, which it believed was necessary for any appeal of this type.

Lawyers for Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen also submitted opposition to the SEC’s request later that day.

The executives’ lawyers took issue with the stay or pause in proceedings that will result from the SEC appeal, noting that a stay would cause the two individuals to wait longer for their trial. Both executives currently await a jury trial at their own request.

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