Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty has made a strong statement regarding the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
With the case heading to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Alderoty offered his own perspective on what's next.
“The Second Circuit will either affirm Judge Torres or expand on her decision,” Alderoty said in a statement. “The best the SEC can hope for (which is a distant hope) is a retrial.”
The SEC had filed a “tentative” appeal earlier this year after Judge Analisa Torres ruled in Ripple’s favor on several key points, particularly regarding the classification of Ripple’s native token, XRP. However, the appeal was denied, which Alderoty said left the SEC in a precarious position. He noted that during the SEC’s unsuccessful appeal, Judge Torres made it clear that Ripple’s defenses, including the all-important Fair Notice argument, would resurface if the case were to be retried.
According to Alderoty, the Fair Notice defense hinges on whether a person of “ordinary intelligence” would have been aware of the prohibitions of the law in Ripple’s case. Alderoty noted the irony of the SEC’s potential future arguments, saying: “The SEC may argue to Judge Torres that she was not a person of ‘ordinary intelligence’ when she ruled against them. Strange.”
*This is not investment advice.
