Attorney John Deaton, who represents the more than 75,000 XRP token holders in the Ripple lawsuit, said that judge Analisa Torres may not be looking at punishing the company owing to the non-fraud nature of sales to institutional investors. Also, he indicated chances of filing an amicus brief in the Coinbase lawsuit.
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Small Penalty For XRP Institutional Sales
Going into the year 2024, Deaton foresaw a decision on what could be the appropriate penalty for Ripple to pay for the sale of XRP tokens for institutional investors. He termed the XRP lawsuit as the single biggest non-fraud enforcement action since the Howey case in 1946. Of the speculated $770 million disgorgement that Ripple faces in the lawsuit, Deaton said, a significant amount would be excluded thanks to the legality of On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) XRP sales and the sale of tokens to institutional investors in jurisdictions outside the US.
Amicus Brief In Coinbase Lawsuit
Speaking to Fox journalist Eleanor Terrett, the attorney said he would file an amicus brief on behalf of Coinbase customers if the crypto exchange loses the motion to dismiss. The hearing for the Coinbase motion is scheduled for January 17, 2024. The amicus brief is aimed at arguing that individuals and token holders do not want the US SEC and Coinbase to speak on their behalf rather than acting to protect the token holders.
However, the attorney predicts a partial victory in motion to dismiss on the grounds that the asset sales were done on an intermediary (exchange) and not in the form of an issuer. Earlier, Coinbase lawyers argued that the US SEC was referring to decades old laws, adding that the exchange was seeking the agency’s response to its request for clear guidance to crypto companies. On June 14, 2023, the SEC said it is yet to take a decision on what action was needed to take on the rulemaking petition.
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