SEC drops case against crypto firm with ties to Trump, CEO says
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its yearslong case and appeal against a cryptocurrency firm whose CEO has ties to the White House, the CEO said Wednesday.
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Labs, said on the social media platform X that the case against his company "has ended."
"Today is a victory -- and a long overdue surrender by the SEC," he said.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment to ABC News.
The move, which was not confirmed by the SEC, prevents Ripple from potentially facing a $125 million fine -- and comes less than two weeks after Garlinghouse was at the White House for President Donald Trump's crypto summit.
Ripple also donated $5 million to Trump's inaugural committee, sources previously told ABC News, and Garlinghouse posted a photo to social media of him meeting with Trump in January.
The SEC's case had been going on for over four years. In December 2020 -- while Trump was still in office -- the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple and two executives for violating securities laws when they raised $1.4 billion through the sale of XRP crypto tokens.
A federal judge handed Ripple a landmark legal victory in 2023 when she ruled that the publicly sold tokens did not constitute a security, though she still fined the company $125 million because the tokens should have been sold to institutional investors. The SEC had appealed that ruling.
Ripple's appeal of the $125 million fine was still pending as of Wednesday.
Following Garlinghouse's announcement of the SEC dropping its appeal, the price of XRP surged more than 10% on Wednesday.
In his video statement on X, Garlinghouse called the case again him "lawfare" and praised the change in government.
"Thankfully, we have new leadership in the executive and legislative branches of our government," he said. "That leadership is actively seeking a rational and constructive way forward on crypto. Let's make the most of this."
