The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a New York judge to impose a nearly $2 billion fine against Ripple Labs, according to court filings. On Monday, Stuart Alderoty, Ripple Labs’ chief legal officer, posted on social media that the SEC was asking for such a fine and that redacted versions of the court documents would be made public by March 26.
The SEC’s proposal asks the court to order Ripple Labs to pay $876 million in disgorgement, $198 million in prejudgment interest, and $876 million civil penalty, amounting to a total of $1.95 billion. The case began in December 2020 when the SEC filed suit against Ripple Labs and its executives, alleging that they violated federal securities laws by selling XRP to both institutional and retail customers. Last July, New York Judge Analisa Torres’ ruled that the sale of XRP on exchanges and through algorithms did not violate U.S. law, only Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP did.
“The SEC asks the Court to consider how easily actors, particularly in the crypto asset space, can today engage in the same sort of conduct as Ripple’s and send a strong message that such abuses will not be tolerated,” the filing said. Alderoty criticized the SEC and wrote that the company will file its response to the SEC’s motion next month.
The SEC filing said that the “Defendant’s response shall be filed no later than April 22, 2024.”