coindesk.com
Ripple's top leaders are cleared in the SEC's securities-violation accusations that have spent years winding their way through federal courts.
The case is seen as one of the bellwethers in the ongoing dispute between the crypto industry and SEC in what defines a security.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will no longer pursue claims that Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse or Executive Chairman Chris Larsen aided and abetted the company in violating federal securities laws in its XRP transactions, canceling a trial scheduled for next year and giving the crypto company another victory in the agency's long-running suit against it.
According to a filing Thursday afternoon, the parties agreed to voluntarily dismiss the suit against the two executives with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again. The SEC will continue pursuing damages against Ripple, the filing said.
"For nearly three years, Chris and I have been the subject of baseless allegations from a rogue regulator with a political agenda," said Garlinghouse, in a statement. "Instead of looking for the criminals stealing customer funds on offshore exchanges that were courting political favor, the SEC went after the good guys."
Ripple won a major - if partial - victory in July, when the judge overseeing the case ruled that the company had not violated federal securities laws in making XRP available to retail investors by putting it on exchanges. In the same ruling, Judge Analisa Torres said the company had violated federal securities law in selling XRP directly to institutional investors.
It's this second part where the SEC and Ripple will continue discussions, Thursday's filing indicated.
"The SEC and Ripple intend to meet and confer on a potential briefing schedule with respect to the pending issue in the case—what remedies are proper against Ripple for its Section 5 violations with respect to its Institutional Sales of XRP," the filing said.
SEC spokespeople did not immediately return a request for comment. A Ripple press release described the filing as a "surrender" and the original pursuit as "absurd theatrics."
Read More: SEC Sues Ripple Over 7-Year, $1.3B 'Ongoing' XRP SaleUPDATE (October 19, 2023, 21:18 UTC): Adds comment from CEO Brad Garlinghouse.