The office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Salt Lake City, known for the failed fraud case against the crypto startup DEBT Box, is closing. The judge decided to dismiss the case while the SEC office recorded a “depletion” of staff.
SEC: the office of the failed lawsuit against the crypto startup DEBT Box will close its doors
According to what reported, it seems that the Salt Lake City office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is about to close its doors.
This office is known for the lawsuit filed against the crypto startup DEBT Box for fraud, which, however, subsequently requested the case to be dismissed.
In fact, at the moment, it seems that the SEC office in Salt Lake City is experiencing a “staff depletion,” as many of the regulatory authority’s lawyers have been removed due to this case.
In fact, two SEC lawyers, attorneys Michael Welsh and Joseph Watkins, resigned in April after a federal judge sanctioned them for committing a “serious abuse of power” in attempting to freeze the assets of the cryptocurrency company DEBT Box.
After the closing, the SEC office in Denver will assume all enforcement jurisdiction.
SEC vs. DEBT Box: the failed lawsuit against the crypto startup
It was January 2024, when the news had already leaked that the SEC was looking to dismiss the case against DEBT Box. The reason would be a series of revelations of inaccurate statements made by the agency’s own lawyers during the legal proceedings.
At that moment, the SEC, which would have filed the lawsuit against DEBT Box in July 2023, would have informed the judge of its intention to dismiss the case without prejudice. Only in this way, the regulatory authority could have refiled the case at a later time.
Only last week, therefore, the judge wanted to issue a dismissal ruling, but ordered the SEC to pay DEBT Box 1.8 million dollars in legal fees. And so, the SEC of Salt Lake City will close its office.
“The agency took into consideration its budget and organizational efficiency in deciding to close the office, and it has no intention of closing other regional offices”
The return of the SEC also against Ripple
Also in January 2024, the SEC had made headlines again for its return in attacking the crypto company Ripple.
In fact, the regulatory authority had asked the New York judge to compel the company to provide its financial statements for the period 2022-2023.
What the SEC has always targeted against Ripple is to uncover the institutional sale of XRP, seeking to remedy and resort to injunctions and civil penalties.
In fact, in the July 2023 ruling, Judge Annalisa Torres had determined that XRP would be considered an unregistered security only if sold to institutional clients.
Subsequently, in March 2024, the SEC requested the Court to impose a fine of 876 million dollars in disgorgement, 198 million dollars in prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty of 876 million dollars again against Ripple.
Obviously Ripple Labs has opposed the SEC’s proposal to impose the sanction of almost 2 billion dollars on the crypto company.