SEC Says Ripple Should Pay Nearly $2 Billion in Fines Over Sale
XRP to institutional investors. In its opposition motion filed last month, Ripple argued that this figure should be closer to $10 million.
The SEC noted that the proposed penalty was significant, but said Ripple’s proposed penalty would be a “slap on the wrist” in a document released Tuesday.
“Rather, it would encourage other issuers of crypto assets to violate Section 5 by making it a remarkably lucrative business, and thus deprive investors of the disclosures required by Congress, as a mere ‘cost of doing business.’ ” the SEC lawyers said.
The SEC and Ripple have been battling in court for years after the SEC accused the company of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which it says is an unregistered security.
Last year, Judge Analisa Torres of New York ruled that some of the XRP sales made by Ripple, called programmatic, did not violate securities laws because of a blind bidding process in place for them . However, it ruled that other direct sales of tokens to institutional investors were securities.
The SEC also criticized Ripple’s assurances to the court that it would not violate the law in the future.
