In a court filing on Wednesday (August 9th), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a “temporary stay motion” to challenge the judge’s ruling on the sale of XRP under Ripple’s program. The SEC urged Judge Analisa Torres, who oversees the Ripple lawsuit, to grant the federal appeals court the opportunity to review her decision related to the sale of Ripple’s XRP tokens — a decision she previously considered to be in compliance with securities laws.
Former lawyer Scott Chamberlain took a bold prediction to respond to the SEC’s request. Scott Chamberlain recently tweeted his speculation that Judge Analisa Torres might deny the SEC’s appeal for an interlocutory review. He believed that the judge’s potential denial could stem from her cautious approach to avoid presenting new legal interpretations.
According to Chamberlain, Judge Analisa Torres consistently refrained from introducing new legal perspectives. Instead, she determined that the mentioned tokens were not securities, acknowledging that the SEC’s trading group “grouped” to analyze and directly apply the Howey test and its relevant principles to specific trading portfolios outlined by the SEC.
The SEC’s case faced challenges not because Judge Torres changed the legal criteria for the components of the Howey test, but because the actual evidence presented did not meet all the requirements of the Howey test for two out of the three selected trading groups by the SEC.
Chamberlain clarified that the main reason for the SEC’s failure was their inability to prove that XRP met all essential parts of the Howey test in those specific trading scenarios. This challenge did not arise from any changes in Judge Torres’ understanding of the legal requirements for these elements.