Ripple Labs, as stated in the court documents on August 23, had multiple lawyers involved in the case between the executives and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the ongoing legal process, there were changes in lawyers on August 23. First, lawyers Richard Best and Robert MacDonald Moye withdrew from the case. Moye’s withdrawal request is still under evaluation.
Lawyers Withdrawing from the Case
In the recent petitions, permission was requested for lawyers Richard Best and Robert MacDonald Moye to withdraw from the case, and the first petition was immediately accepted due to long-term medical leave. Moye’s withdrawal request is awaiting Judge Analisa Torres’ decision. In the early hours of the same day, a request was made for lawyer Pascale Guerrier to be dismissed from the case. This request was also immediately accepted by the judge.
On August 23, Judge Torres approved lawyer Michael A. Schulman representing Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and lawyers Marc J. Jones and Peter Bryan Moores representing the SEC. The crypto community expressed their opinions on these changes on social media. Some users stated that the departing lawyers did not want their names to be associated with the “wrong side of history.”
However, some do not consider the situation to be urgent. Prominent crypto attorney John E. Deaton said that these changes “mean nothing” in the larger scheme of the case.
Deaton also recently commented on the effects of ongoing legal activities between the SEC and Ripple, stating that the case has cost the adoption of XRP over the past three years.
Not the Only Lawsuit by the SEC
Coinbase and other major players in the crypto industry have argued that there are many examples where they contacted the SEC for regulatory clarification before listing XRP, but they did not face any objections. Recently, Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz commented on the situation following the acceptance of the SEC’s appeal and highlighted its complexity. He stated that the case is currently seeking an appeal at this particular point due to the ongoing interpretation of the case.
The lawsuit against Ripple is not the only crypto-related case involving the SEC. The SEC, which has been involved in a long-standing lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, recently received support from Senator Cindy Lumis for the request to dismiss employees of the exchange.
Both Gemini and Binance US have ongoing legal issues with financial regulators. The SEC continued its aggressive stance in the crypto space by filing a new charge against crypto investment manager Titan on August 21, citing misleading advertising claims. On August 23, they also accused a former U.S. corrections officer of involvement in a pump-and-dump-like crypto scam.
