SEC v. Ripple settlement feasible in next two weeks, said top laywer

Attorney Jeremy Hogan, a lawyer who has been covering the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit from the beginning, has predicted that if the new SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, chooses to settle with Ripple, that should happen within the next two weeks.

FinanceFeeds covered Mr. Hogan’s remarks in March, when he raised attention to two bombshells dropped by the Judge, consenting on XRP’s currency and utility value. With currencies and securities being two different things, the SEC’s argument that Ripple is security may lose its credibility.

This time, Attorney Jeremy Hogan commented on the most recent legal round, in which Ripple put the SEC to shame for making deliberate omissions and misquoting the Judge.

Ripple’s Memorandum of Law in opposition to the SEC’s motion to strike Ripple’s lack of due process and fair notice affirmative defense was a “Mona Lisa, a piece of art”, the attorney said.

The affirmative defense is important because if the Court finds Ripple lacked Fair Notice, the case is over even if the Court thinks XPR is a security, he explained.

At the end of the video, Attorney Hogan shared his prediction regarding the timeline of the lawsuit, depending on the SEC’s new Chair Gary Gensler strategy for the regulator: to pursue further regulatory clarity or go full steam ahead.

“My prediction is that if Gary Gensler is going to pull back from this lawsuit and instead work for more regulatory clarity – it will happen in the next 2 weeks.

“If we go into June with no settlement then this lawsuit has been adopted and supported by Chairman Gensler for better or worse. If that is the case I predict no settlement until September at the earliest”, he continued.

“If there is no settlement and we go to summary judgment or trial I predict…well, heck I don’t know – do I look like a mind reader?”

SEC’s new Chair, Gary Gensler, is described as “one of the leading reformers after the financial crisis” as he led the CFTC in implementing the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 and rein in abuses in the swap derivatives market.

Then, he pledged to work to “urgently close the gaps in our laws to bring much-needed transparency and regulation to the over-the-counter derivatives market to lower risks, strengthen market integrity and protect investors.”

Regarding regulatory clarity, the CFTC is watching the lawsuit as it will help to establish the scope of the SEC’s authority in the digital assets space”, said Commissioner Stump.

Also in the context of the SEC’s lack of clarity, XRP holders’ lawyer John E. Deaton said it “doesn’t take an expert to see that plenty is very wrong, very corrupt and very outrageous about the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple”.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has recently said the lack of clarity in U.S. regulation of cryptocurrencies is “frustrating.”