Lawyer James Filan shared on X on Apr. 8 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple Labs, its co-founder Christian Larsen, and CEO Brad Garlinghouse all submitted a joint letter outlining a proposed settlement agreement.
The joint settlement letter, sent to Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asks for a preliminary ruling on whether the injunction issued in the Aug. 7, 2024 ruling.
The letter also requests to release the $125,035,150 held in escrow for the civil penalty against Ripple, with $50 million going to the SEC and the rest returned to Ripple.
If Judge Torres makes the above ruling, both parties will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to temporarily return the case so they can seek relief.
Ripple XRP battle ends with $50M penalty
The joint settlement letter is the latest step toward ending the years-long securities case against Ripple. In Dec. 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for allegedly selling $1.3 billion worth of unregistered XRP token securities.
Judge Torres issued a landmark summary judgment in July. 2023. The judgment states that while selling tokens to institutional investors violated securities laws, selling them to retail investors on public exchanges didn’t. However, the situation changed when President Donald Trump took office for his second term in Jan. 2025.
In March, Ripple and the SEC reached a historic settlement in which both parties agreed to drop their appeals and cross-appeals. The company’s penalty was also reduced from the original $125 million to $50 million.
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, personally donated $300,000 in XRP to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in June. 2024. Ripple Labs also gave $5 million in XRP to Trump’s inaugural committee.
