Experts in cryptocurrency law on Friday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may have dropped its final claims against executives at Ripple Labs because it wants to speed up a potential appeal to the Second Circuit—but that’s not the only noteworthy part of Thursday’s news.
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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Matt Solomon, who led Garlinghouse’s legal team alongside Cleary partner Nowell Bamberger, described the dismissal as “the right thing for the Commission to do.”
“In my experience, the Commission doesn’t dismiss cases lightly,” he said. “In fact, it’s incredibly rare. I think the Commission recognized that they could not win this trial against Chris and Brad.”
Solomon noted that the Ripple case was filed “in the waning days of the former chairman’s tenure.” Suing Ripple was one of the last official acts of former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, who resigned in December 2020.
Solomon said the charge of aiding and abetting never made sense for the Ripple executives, because aiding and abetting requires knowing or reckless acts.
Source: Crypto Lawyers Eye SEC Decision to Dismiss Ripple Execs’ Civil Charges | Law.com
