Lawyer Unveils New Prediction For Ripple Case

Fred Rispoli, senior managing partner at Hodl Law, has shared his updated view on the XRP lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) via X (formerly Twitter). This updated prediction comes after the SEC gained a partial victory in the lawsuit.

As Bitcoinist reported, the US district court, under Judge Sarah Netburn, has ordered Ripple to disclose its financial statements for the years 2022-2023. This ruling aims to illuminate Ripple’s financial activities after the summary judgment, particularly focusing on the implications of its contracts and institutional sales.

The court has dismissed Ripple’s concerns over the potential for a “mini-trial,” underscoring the significance of these documents in determining the necessary injunctions and civil penalties. Rispoli’s reaction to this development reflects a mix of surprise and recalibration of expectations.

XRP Lawsuit: Ripple Is Still A Long Way From Full Victory

Rispoli expressed, “My Updated Thoughts: Well, shoot. I was hoping SEC was moving on to other pastures but I guess not. There is still a chance that SEC eventually concedes after the final order on damages (remember that’s probably coming mid-summer) but I’m starting to feel this is getting appealed. Again, an order from the 2nd Cir. doesn’t happen until mid-2026 […].”

He further elaborated on the implications of the court’s decision, emphasizing that the SEC’s pursuit of Ripple’s financial disclosures and the focus on post-complaint sales have elevated the significance of the damages portion of the case. Rispoli critiques Ripple’s strategy in contesting the discovery, suggesting that transparency in their post-complaint sales could have precluded future litigation on these transactions.

“I didn’t really understand why Ripple fought the discovery (see below) because keeping it hidden would allow the SEC to sue Ripple on post-Complaint sales at a later time,” Rispoli said via X. He advised that Ripple should have proactively structured any sales to fall outside the purview of the court’s order immediately after it was issued.

Anyway, Ripple should have immediately structured any sales in a way it believed took those sales outside the scope of the MSJ order the moment the order came out. We’ll see how well it did that in the upcoming briefing.

The lawyer’s analysis indicates that the SEC is aggressively targeting Ripple’s operational practices with the intention of imposing stringent restrictions, potentially threatening the company’s institutional operations. “This whole briefing is going to focus on Ripple’s current operations and how they are different from what got whacked in the MSJ. The stakes are still very high (for Ripple not XRP) unfortunately,” Rispoli stated.

At press time, XRP traded at $0.50224.

Featured image from DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com