In the USA, a California federal judge decided that a lawsuit filed against Ripple company and CEO Brad Garlinghouse should continue with the court process, not with a "summary trial". The judge stated that the sales of XRP to small investors are likely to be included in the status of a security sale.
Another civil securities lawsuit was filed against Ripple Labs in the USA, although not by a government agency. A person named Bradley Sostack stated that Garlinghouse sold millions of tokens after he said in an interview in 2017, "I'm looking at XRP for the long, long term," and filed a lawsuit.
The request for the lawsuit filed against Ripple company and CEO Garlinghouse to continue as a summary trial was rejected by judge Phyllis Hamilton yesterday. This situation will initiate a court process, that is, a hearing.
Why is the securities issue on the agenda again?
Plaintiff Bradley Sostack claims that Garlinghouse's statements misled investors and that Garlinghouse actually violated securities laws. If the court decides whether XRP is a security or not, it will be important in terms of legal consequences. If the court decides that the sales of XRP to small investors were securities sales, then Brad Garlinghouse could be said to have violated securities laws. If XRP is not considered a security, some of the claims based on securities laws may be dropped.
As you may remember, in the Ripple-SEC case, US District Court judge Analisa Torres stated that retail sales of XRP were not securities sales, but sales to institutional investors fell into this status. The decision was described as a partial victory by the crypto world.
Although courts working in different regions in the USA take into account each other's decisions, they are not obliged to give the same decision.
Despite the judge's decision, there was no sharp decline in the price of XRP. XRP is trading at $0.49 at the time the news was written.
-Hakan Ateşler
