Ripple Labs, which is facing a protracted legal showdown with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has seen yet another lawyer resign from their defense team.
Following Clayton J. Masterman’s withdrawal in late June, Anna R. Gressel, another significant figure on Ripple’s legal counsel, has moved to remove herself from the case.
This departure comes as the XRP community eagerly awaits summary judgment by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
Attorney Withdraws From Ripple Lawsuit
Another Ripple lawyer has called it quits.
Ripple’s defense attorney, Anna R. Gressel, submitted a motion to the Southern District Court of New York on July 12, seeking to withdraw from the case. Ripple asked the court to grant Gressel’s withdrawal request. Attorney Gressel will no longer be associated with the Debevoise & Plimpton LLP law firm as of July 12, and her withdrawal from the lawsuit is effective immediately.
The case against Ripple was brought forth by the SEC in December 2020 accusing the company, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and executive chairman Christian Larsen of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering. The suit hinges on whether the XRP cryptocurrency should be categorized as a security. If the judge rules it’s a security, its sales would be subject to stringent regulatory rules.
According to the Wednesday filed notice, other lawyers from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP will continue to serve as counsel for Ripple. Most importantly, just like the previous withdrawals of attorneys Kylie Chiseul Kim and Masterman, the latest departure is unlikely to have a bearing on the outcome of the closely watched lawsuit.
Summary Judgement Expected In September
In a recent related ruling, a United States district court judge declined to rule on whether the secondary sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) constitutes a security offering. The verdict might have given legal precedent to fellow Judge Torres, who is yet to decide on the SEC’s case against Ripple.
John Deaton, a U.S. lawyer representing thousands of XRP tokenholders, recently spoke on the average time Torres takes to rule on court cases. While it has been seven months since Ripple and SEC filed briefs in December, Deaton noted that the San Francisco-based blockchain payments firm is not the only one waiting for a ruling from the District Judge. For instance, he observed that Thor Equities case’s reply briefs were also filed in December and Torres hasn’t yet ruled.
Responding to Deaton’s tweet, Ripple CTO David Schwartz said he thinks a ruling on summary judgment is likely to come at the end of September.
“I know waiting is annoying and we’d all love to have a ruling on summary judgment motions as soon as possible, but I wouldn’t think anything was wrong, unusual, or strange until at least the end of September.”
Deaton agreed with Schwartz, adding that Torres would be put on the naughty judge list for the first time, and her decision would be pending over 9 months. Deaton has reviewed the majority of Judge Torres’ cases and none has ever exceeded the nine-month mark.
Market watchers have projected that Ripple has a good chance of defeating the SEC in the lawsuit.
