SEC, Ripple ask for ruling tied to $125 million fine in latest filing as they look to wrap up years-long case

Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are trying again to divvy up millions of dollars in fines, following a judge’s rejection last month.

In a court document filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers for Ripple and the SEC said the court should allow its joint motion and issue a ruling that the court “dissolve the injunction against Ripple” and allow for $50 million worth of fines to go to the SEC with the rest, $75 million, going to Ripple.

“Doing so would promote efficiency and the policy favoring settlements, obviate the need for additional litigation in this Court and the Court of Appeals, and be consistent with the SEC’s recent actions in other crypto registration cases,” they said in the filing.

The filing marks the latest move in the nearly five-year saga between Ripple and the SEC as both parties look to bring an end to the case. In 2020, the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of which it says is an unregistered security. Over a year ago, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some of Ripple’s sales, called programmatic, of XRP did not violate securities laws because of a blind bid process in place for them. She did, however, rule that other direct sales of the token to institutional investors were securities.

That second part regarding institutional investors meant that Ripple would be fined $125 million. Both parties are looking to have $50 million go to the SEC, with the rest going to Ripple.

In March, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said his company’s legal battle with the SEC had effectively ended, and the SEC dropped its appeal. The latest in the case has been focused on the $125 million fine. Last month, Judge Torres rejected a request for an indicative ruling statement from a district court about how it would rule on a motion if it still had jurisdiction over a case.

Torres said last month that the parties failed to address the “heavy burden” they must overcome to vacate the injunction, adding that relief from judgment under Rule of Civil Procedure 60 should be made in “exceptional circumstances.”

In the court document, both parties cited the SEC’s sweeping changes in how it views cryptocurrency. Since former SEC Chair Gary Gensler left office in January as the Trump administration rolled in, the agency has dropped several investigations and charges against large crypto firms. The agency also rolled out a crypto task force, which has held several roundtables as it works to create a regulatory framework.

“Accordingly, there are ‘exceptional circumstances’ beyond the Settlement Agreement itself that justify modifying the final judgment here to facilitate settlement, obviate the pending appeals, and conserve agency and party resources,” lawyers for Ripple and the SEC said on Thursday in the court document.

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