‘Ripple is well-positioned to pay a significant civil penalty,‘ says SEC
The SEC’s filing on a proposed $1.95 billion in fines and penalties for Ripple suggested the firm needed an incentive to stop violating laws beyond “just the cost of doing business.”
A United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brief detailing proposed fines and penalties for blockchain firm Ripple describes a different narrative than the one pushed by the company’s executives.
In a March 25 filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys for the SEC proposed Ripple pay $876,308,712 in disgorgement and $198,150,940 in prejudgment interest and a $876,308,712 civil penalty — roughly $1.95 billion total. According to the regulator, the fines and penalties were appropriate based on Ripple’s “defiance of the law,” continuing to sell XRP after legal warnings.
“Ripple is well-positioned to pay a significant civil penalty,” said the SEC. “And one is warranted here both because a civil penalty should not be just the cost of doing business for a securities law violator, as the Second Circuit has held, and because the need for deterrence is clear given Ripple’s enormous amount of unregistered sales of XRP over the last three years.”
