Breaking: Ripple Ordered To Pay $125 Mln Penalty In SEC Lawsuit

American blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc. has been ordered by Judge Analisa Torres to pay the sum of $125,035,150 as a penalty in the long-drawn lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This landmark ruling marks an end to the months of speculation in which many predicted a settlement is imminent.

Ripple Lawsuit Ruling: What Next Now?

After much delay in the XRP lawsuit ruling, Judge Torres issued the penalty after discovering that 1,278 institutional sale transactions by Ripple violated securities law.  Noteworthy, this is the same judge that ruled on July 13, 2023, that XRP is not security, giving Ripple partial victory against the SEC. The ruling from last year involved Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail clients through exchanges. The penalty ruling today borders on the direct sale of XRP to institutional clients.

Even the Commission made attempts to appeal judge Torres’ July 13 ruling but it never pulled through. The new verdict came as a result of more investigations into Ripple’s operation. In addition to the fine, the judge imposed an injunction against future securities law violations.

As one of the high-profile legal battles in the past three years, this remedy’s ruling came at the right time with Ripple Labs‘ growing its business overseas. The ordered payment is lower than the $1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $900 million in civil penalty payment the SEC demanded for violation of the Federal Securities law as Ripple sold XRP to institutional investors.

Although, it is still bigger than the $10 million Ripple argued it would pay, To observers, this is a fair ruling with growing speculations on what might come next. In the meantime, it is not yet clear the next line of action that Ripple would adopt. Markedly, it could choose to pay the penalty of file an appeal.

Ripple Likely to go Under SEC Radar Again

There is another potential lawsuit brewing between the blockchain payment firm and the regulator. This time around, it has nothing to do with XRP but with Ripple’s upcoming USD-pegged stablecoin RLUSD.

Popular lawyer Fred Rispoli offered his take on the matter. He highlighted how “any issues the SEC has with $RLUSD is for another lawsuit and cannot be bootstrapped to one that is about to end!”

With this projection still speculative for now, the community is reeling from the potential impact of this recent ruling.

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