San Francisco-based company Ripple has been ordered to pay $125 million worth of civil penalties.
Notably, this is only a fraction of the $2 billion sum that was initially requested by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, as reported by U.Today, Ripple argued that the amount of civil penalties should not exceed $10 million.
The judge has stated that there is "no question" that Ripple's "recurrent" and "highly lucrative" violations of federal securities laws are a "serious offense." However, the judge added that the case did not involve allegations of such examples of culpable conduct as fraud and misappropriation. Moreover, the SEC failed to establish that Ripple had caused significant losses to investors with its unregistered institutional sales.
Alex DovbnyaRipple is required to pay the aforementioned penalties within 30 days following the entry of the final judgment. The company will be able to transfer the payment electronically from a bank account or by certified check.
The SEC will hold this money together with "any interest and income earned thereon." The agency will have to seek court approval in order to distribute the funds.
The summary judgment likely marks the end of Ripple's long-lasting legal battle with the SEC, which started back in December 2020.
Last year, Torres ruled that the secondary sales of XRP tokens were not security offerings, which was a major win for the company.
However, it is still possible that the SEC might end up appearing in the Ripple case.
Godfrey Benjamin
Tomiwabold Olajide
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov