The XRP community is abuzz with speculation that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may have jeopardized its appeal against Ripple Labs by missing a crucial filing deadline. The controversy centers on the SEC’s alleged failure to submit Form C within the mandated 14-day period following its Notice of Appeal, a procedural misstep that could potentially lead to the dismissal of the case.
On October 2, the SEC filed a Notice of Appeal against Judge Analisa Torres’s final ruling from August 7. The agency did not specify the grounds of its appeal at the time, necessitating the filing of Form C to detail its arguments. The Notice of Appeal was received by the court on October 3 but was only docketed on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s PACER system on October 4, creating confusion over the actual deadline for the Form C submission.
SEC Appeal In Peril? Pro-XRP Lawyers Flag Missed Deadline
Pro-XRP attorney Jeremy Hogan highlighted the urgency on X on October 16, questioning whether the Form C was due that day based on federal court rules. He noted that when calculating deadlines, “you don’t count the day of filing and then it must be filed within 14 days,” suggesting that October 16 was the final day for submission.
However, Hogan admitted to being cautious due to his lack of recent experience in federal court appeals but maintained that if the form was not submitted on time.”I’m trying to figure out how we got the timeframe wrong but…I can’t see any flaw in the logic. The C was due today and…it’s not showing up on the docket. If it wasn’t filed, the appeal “will” be dismissed (is what it says). Those are the facts as we know ’em,” he remarked.
Fred Rispoli, founder of HODL Law and another attorney supportive of XRP, urged the community not to get overly excited about the possibility of an untimely filing. He acknowledged that while the Form C should have been filed by 11:59 pm EST on October 16, the Local Rules of the Second Circuit (LR 12.1(d)) state that failure to comply “may result in dismissal of the appeal.” But Rispoli warned that “appellate courts give A LOT of leeway to federal agencies. Even a lame excuse from the government is likely enough to allow the Court to let it slide.”
Bill Morgan, a fellow pro-XRP lawyer, questioned the extent of discretion that should be afforded in such cases. “There is a discretion in most jurisdictions to extend the time to appeal. Government agency or not however, you should need more than a lame excuse. How many attorneys does the SEC have working on this case,” Morgan writes.
Related Reading: Ripple CLO Predicts Timeline For SEC Appeal Resolution
Adding to the confusion, FOX Business journalist Eleanor Terrett suggested that the actual deadline might be October 18, not October 16. “According to this document filed in the Second Circuit, the SEC’s notice of appeal was filed the 2nd but not docketed until the 4th. So, it seems the real deadline is actually Friday, October 18th at 11:59PM,” she remarked.
Community member Breezy (@xrpbreezy) challenged this view, pointing out that Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, had also indicated October 16 as the deadline. Breezy questioned the likelihood of Alderoty being mistaken, but Terrett insisted, “I was told from the filing date, yes, but that document says fourteen days from ‘this notice’ which is dated the 4th.” However, she later added, “There’s even more confusion around this now, as this document may be referencing a different form, not Form C. I’ve reached out to all parties for comment.
Amid the deadline debate, Rispoli speculated on the potential grounds the SEC might raise in its appeal. He suggested that the SEC would likely argue that Judge Torres erred on several key points, including the classification of “Programmatic Sales” and “Other Distributions,” the decision not to allow disgorgement, and the imposition of what the SEC might consider a “too low” penalty of $125 million.
Rispoli added that, given the SEC attorneys’ approach, they might even challenge the notion that “XRP in and of itself isn’t a security,” although he acknowledged that such an argument would be unlikely to succeed.
At press time, XRP traded at $0.5572.
