Judge Rejects XRP Hodlers` Bid to Join SEC Against Ripple Case as Defendants

There has been another twist in the ongoing battle between distributed ledger technology firm Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Monday, Oct. 4, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that individuals holding the company’s XRP token cannot act in Ripple’s ongoing lawsuit as defendants.

The determination comes after a number of XRP token holders aimed to file “friends of the court” briefs which would allow them to join the case as defendants and support Ripple in its claims that the token does not violate securities laws.

Judge Torres asserted that allowing XRP holders to join the suit would “compel the SEC to take an enforcement action against them,” according to Law360. She added that it would also delay the case which Ripple and token holders have urged for a quick resolution to.

However, the judge determined that tokenholders can participate as “amicus curiae” — a party that is not involved in the litigation but is allowed by the court to advise or provide information. Torres stated:

“The court concludes that amici status strikes a proper balance between permitting movants to assert their interest in this case and allowing the parties to remain in control of the litigation.”
Counsel for Ripple, Andrew Ceresney, said that they were pleased with the outcome for XRP holders that can now “share their meaningful perspectives with the court.”

In a motion to intervene filed in March, the XRP holders claimed that they stood to lose billions should the regulator win the case. It also questioned the SEC’s claimed motives of protecting investors.

“Claiming to protect investors, the SEC is seeking $1.3 billion in alleged ill-gotten gains from the named defendants, but by alleging that today's XRP may constitute unregistered securities, the SEC caused over $15 billion in losses for XRP holders,” the filing said.
 

Source: cointelegraph.com