TL;DR Breakdown
- SEC has written to court notifying that it has more evidence against the accused.
- The accused had petitioned to have the case dismissed.
- Larsen and Garlinghouse have sold over $600 million worth of XRP.
The US SEC has expressed interest in finding out how Ripple’s top execs conducted XRP sales and spent the proceeds. This follows a string of back-and-forth accusations traded between Ripple and the SEC since the regulatory body filed a case against Ripple in late 2020.
In the suit, Ripple Labs, along with its top execs Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, are accused of profiteering from illegal XRP sales over the past 7 years. SEC argues that the Ripple token is a security as opposed to Ripple’s adamant stance that the token is a crypto.
SEC has found evidence
In a recent letter addressed to a Judge (Sarah Netburn), attorney Jorge G. Tenreiro, acting on behalf of SEC, intimated that the authority has found evidence showing that Chris Larsen has been moving his stash of XRP tokens despite his current legal issues. This claim could be taken to mean that the accused might be trying to interfere with the attempts by SEC to track his token transactions.
The US SEC has been working on obtaining reliable records covering bank transactions of both Garlinghouse and Larsen, a move it claims will help in adding to the evidence being pilled up against the two. In early March, SEC sent subpoenas to some of the banks it identified as having facilitated Larsen’s and Garlinghouse’s transactions.
Interested in XRP sales
SEC claims to not be interested in the records of small purchases made by the defendants, but rather a record of bank transactions that could help uncover just how extensive XRP sales have been in funding the defendants’ lifestyles. This was in response to a move by the defendants asking the court to throw out the case.
According to SEC, Larsen and Garlinghouse have collectively sold over $600 million worth of XRP, with Larsen getting $450 million while Garlinghouse took home around $159 million. SEC also claims the two accused might have sold much more than the estimated amounts especially because their transactions are basically pseudonymous.
