Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was spotted earlier today at the federal courthouse in New York alongside chief lawyer Stuart Alderoty, according to photos shared by the @bobaboy76239 account on the X social media network.
As per the CourtListener legal database, there was a settlement conference scheduled for this Friday.
A spokesperson for Ripple told Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett that there was "nothing to share."
According to Terrett, this could be just a mandatory meeting that was supposed to take place before the pretrial conference that is scheduled to happen on Apr. 16.
As per a ruling by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, the parties were supposed to meet in person for at least one hour for settlement talks.
Valeria BlokhinaHence, the odds of Ripple scoring a settlement with the SEC this Friday appear to be extremely small.
As reported by U.Today, the regulator is demanding that Ripple pays more than $2 billion in fees and penalties. The gargantuan sum is supposed to deter others from potential violations of the same scope.
Ripple's top executives, including CEO Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, have harshly criticized the SEC. Meanwhile, Alderoty has accused the SEC of trying to intimidate Ripple and the broader cryptocurrency industry with such demands.
Ripple is supposed to file its reply next month, meaning that the fight is far from over for the company.
Meanwhile, Fox Business journalist Charles Gasparino is convinced that the SEC is going to appeal Torres's controversial ruling in the Ripple case, which did not recognize the XRP token as an unregistered security in a win for the San Francisco-based company.
Vladislav Sopov
Tomiwabold Olajide
Dan Burgin