lawyer John Deaton says he “wouldn’t be surprised” if there’s a summary judgment decision on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple in the coming days or weeks.
Deaton says in a new interview with Fox Business that he doesn’t think the case will end well for the SEC.
“I think the SEC is going to lose, but that doesn’t mean Ripple is going to get an outright win either. But I think the SEC is going to lose at summary judgment because of the theory that they went with… Normally, when you go after a promoter, you say ‘On this particular day, you made an unregistered securities offering or sale. And that particular transaction was a security, an investment contract.’ And now they’re saying that all sales of XRP — the token itself — is a security.”
The SEC launched the lawsuit in December 2020, alleging that Ripple has been selling XRP as an unregistered security for years.
On Tuesday, Judge Analisa Torres a 57-page ruling on the SEC and Ripple’s motions to exclude expert testimony from summary judgment. The ruling sided for and against both Ripple and the SEC in various ways.
Ripple general council Stuart Alderoty,
“Yesterday’s opinion from the Court on Ripple and the SEC’s proposed expert opinions – if you didn’t read all 57 pages, here’s the TLDR [too long; didn’t read]
Specifically – not only is the SEC’s expert on ‘reasonable expectations of an XRP purchaser’ struck from the record, but so is their expert who tried to say what “caused” the price of XRP to change.
On the flip side – our experts that explain how Ripple’s contracts clearly differ from those in ‘Howey,’ tax treatment of XRP (not a security), accounting treatment of XRP (not a security), and currency experts on XRP (not a security) are all allowed to stay in.”
As we have said throughout, we have always felt confident about our case and with each ruling, even more so.”
Deaton has played an active role in the lawsuit, filing an amicus brief on behalf of XRP supporters in opposition to the SEC’s motion for summary judgment.
