While the blockchain company Ripple awaits the final decision in the legal standoff against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its team has asked the court to reject the agency’s motion that would make ground for an early appeal.
As it happens, Ripple has filed an opposition to the SEC’s anticipated motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal, listing multiple reasons for its position, according to the official documents shared by defense attorney James K. Filan in an X post on August 16.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP BREAKING: Ripple files it’s opposition to the SEC’s anticipated motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal. pic.twitter.com/Rk8Ho0Gfxw
— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) August 16, 2023
Contents of the opposition
Specifically, Ripple’s legal team has provided an official letter to Judge Analisa Torres, in which it is asking her to prevent the regulator from appealing on the grounds of lacking a clear legal question other than the (wrongful) application of the facts in the Howey test.
Furthermore, the lawyers argue that the SEC has long perceived the legal standoff as nothing more than a simple use case for the Howey test, and they also presented other cases which, in their view, demonstrate that the securities watchdog is in the wrong.
On top of that, the defense team believes that even the SEC potentially winning the immediate appeal would not advance the conclusion of the litigation, as there would still be other open questions, leading to the further prolongation of the court battle, as well as more legal problems.
At the same time, lawyer Jeremy Hogan commented on Ripple’s opposition, stating that the blockchain firm “makes solid arguments” against allowing the appeal,” adding that in the opposite scenario, Ripple could make its case even stronger in a higher court. As he said:
“But if it IS allowed, Ripple is going to get its “contractual obligations” argument in front of the 2nd DCA and THAT will be something. I’m talking Amicus Briefs raining from the heavens!”
Meanwhile, the XRP token that is at the center of this court saga is changing hands at the price of $0.58399, down 2.6% on the day, declining 7.25% across the previous week, and adding up to the monthly loss of 22.5%, according to the latest data retrieved by Finbold on August 17.
