Rakoff is without doubt the most respected judge in the country when it comes to complex securities matters. His resume would fill a book, and he has written five of those.
He didn’t like the reasoning in the Ripple case and had the opportunity to express that opinion when denying a motion to dismiss the SEC’s fraud case against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Hyeong Kwon (you remember him — the Terra and Luna algorithmic stablecoin promoter — and the crater he left behind before they jailed him in Montenegro?).
Judge Rakoff’s decision disposed of many of the usual defences ginned up by counsel in crypto cases — lack of personal jurisdiction, the “Major Questions Doctrine,” the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. But it’s Judge Rakoff’s gentle defenestration of the Ripple court’s rationale that’s worth quoting at length, as his writing is as clear as his reasoning.
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