US SEC seeks $2 billion from Ripple Labs, chief legal officer says
Updated Mon, March 25, 2024
FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/
By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking fines and penalties totaling $2 billion in its case against Ripple Labs over sales of the cryptocurrency XRP, the company's chief legal officer said in a social media post on Monday.
In posts on X, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said the regulator has asked U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan for the penalties in court papers filed under seal. The SEC was scheduled to file the documents publicly with redactions on Tuesday.
"Rather than faithfully apply the law, the SEC remains bent on wanting to punish and intimidate Ripple - and the industry at large," Alderoty said.
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment.
Torres ruled in July that the blockchain company's sale of XRP worth $728.9 million to hedge funds and other sophisticated buyers amounted to unlawful sales of unregistered securities.
Ripple is scheduled to file a reply in April.
The SEC sued Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen in 2020, accusing them of illegally raising more than $1.3 billion in an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP.
The SEC dropped its remaining claims against Garlinghouse and Larsen in October.
The case has been highly watched, as it is among the biggest brought by the SEC in the cryptocurrency space.
While the SEC partly won the case, Torres dealt the regulator a high-profile setback when she ruled that XRP Ripple sold on public cryptocurrency exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security.
Torres denied the SEC's request to repeal that ruling while the case is in progress. But the regulator may appeal once the judge decides its request for penalties.
Other crypto companies facing SEC lawsuits, including major exchanges Coinbase and Binance, have pointed to Torres' ruling in urging other judges to dismiss the regulator's claims.
While the SEC has depicted most cryptocurrencies as the same kind of investment that has been classified as securities for decades, the industry has argued securities laws do not fit digital assets and called for new laws and regulations.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Paul Simao and Marguerita Choy)
US charges KuCoin crypto exchange with anti-money laundering failures
Reuters
Tue, March 26, 2024
(Reuters) -Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday charged KuCoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, with violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws by failing to vet customers, allowing billions of dollars in illicit funds to be transferred since its founding in 2017.
Prosecutors said the Seychelles-based exchange sought business from U.S. customers without registering with the Treasury Department and putting in place procedures to verify clients' identities as required by U.S. law.
KuCoin posted on social media site X that customer assets are safe and its lawyers are looking into the allegations.
"KuCoin respect the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance standards," it said.
Prosecutors also charged the exchange's founders, Chinese nationals Chun Gan, 34, and Ke Tang, 39, with conspiracy. They remain at large, according to prosecutors.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission separately filed a civil lawsuit against KuCoin alleging it failed to register its futures and swaps activities with the regulator.
KuCoin in December agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle the state's lawsuit accusing it of failing to register there.
KuCoin trails Binance, Coinbase and Kraken among cryptocurrency spot exchanges on factors including traffic, liquidity and trading volumes, according to the data company CoinMarketCap.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Costas Pitas)
Reuters
Tue, March 26, 2024
(Reuters) -Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday charged KuCoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, with violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws by failing to vet customers, allowing billions of dollars in illicit funds to be transferred since its founding in 2017.
Prosecutors said the Seychelles-based exchange sought business from U.S. customers without registering with the Treasury Department and putting in place procedures to verify clients' identities as required by U.S. law.
KuCoin posted on social media site X that customer assets are safe and its lawyers are looking into the allegations.
"KuCoin respect the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance standards," it said.
Prosecutors also charged the exchange's founders, Chinese nationals Chun Gan, 34, and Ke Tang, 39, with conspiracy. They remain at large, according to prosecutors.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission separately filed a civil lawsuit against KuCoin alleging it failed to register its futures and swaps activities with the regulator.
KuCoin in December agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle the state's lawsuit accusing it of failing to register there.
KuCoin trails Binance, Coinbase and Kraken among cryptocurrency spot exchanges on factors including traffic, liquidity and trading volumes, according to the data company CoinMarketCap.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Costas Pitas)
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