SEC vs. Ripple: 3 Reasons Why Judge Torres Will Address XRP Secondary Market Trading

John Deaton, a pro-XRP lawyer and the attorney representing over 75,000 XRP holders in the crypto lawsuit involving Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped his take on what the court will address in the expected Summary Judgment.

In contrast to the opinion shared by the former Regional Director of the U.S. SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office Marc Fagel, Attorney Deaton has speculated that the presiding Judge in the XRP lawsuit Analisa Torres would address the secondary market trading of XRP when issuing the case’s final ruling.

Read Also: XRP Lawsuit: Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Involved In Process Of Hinman’s Infamous ETH Speech: Details

Fagel, who had earlier submitted that Judge Torres would put out the summary judgment in the coming days said Judge Torres may not address the secondary market trading of XRP. “According to Marc Fagel, a former SEC San Francisco regional director, Judge Torres’ ruling in the SEC vs Ripple is unlikely to address the issue of secondary market trading,” the founder of the metaverse project xSpectar wrote.

Deaton Counters, Highlights Three Reasons

Reacting to xSpectar’s tweet, John Deaton, the CryptoLaw founder outrightly disagreed with the former SEC Director’s opinion, stating three reasons why he is confident Judge Torres would not exclude secondary market trading of XRP in her summary judgment. 

First, Deaton cited the SEC’s motion for summary judgment. According to him, the content of the SEC motion requires that the court address the secondary market trading of XRP. Failure to do so “would arguably be a higher act of judicial activism” on the part of Judge Torres, Deaton said. 

Second, the CryptoLaw founder stated that excluding secondary market sales of XRP in the anticipated final ruling would mean that the judge has ignored the amicus briefs filed by him on behalf of over 75,000 XRP holders and several third parties including Coinbase.

Read Also: Ripple Lawyer Moves to Withdraw as Counsel in XRP Lawsuit, But No Cause for Alarm. Here’s why

Lastly, the popular XRP proponent and legal expert submitted that the exclusion of secondary sales of XRP from the court’s summary judgment may prompt him to file a motion for leave to participate in the penalty phase of the XRP lawsuit as he did in the SEC vs LBRY case. But this can only happen if Ripple loses at the summary judgment level. 

On the whole, Deaton posited that the district judge doesn’t “need” to address secondary market sales to decide whether Ripple offered or sold XRP as an investment contract as alleged by the SEC. “With that said, no one knows until she writes her opinion and, as a general rule, a judge usually only addresses what she/he needs to address,” he added.

---

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and Google News