Ripple ordered to pay $125 million in penalty for improperly selling XRP tokens

(Reuters) - Ripple Labs has been ordered by a Manhattan court judge to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about $125 million in penalties over charges of improperly selling the cryptocurrency XRP, according to a court filing.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The SEC had been seeking fines and penalties totaling $2 billion in its case against Ripple Labs, its chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty said in March. This penalty would qualify only for a fraction of that amount.

The SEC previously 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 had been highly watched, as it is among the biggest brought by the SEC in the cryptocurrency space.

THE RESPONSE

"We respect the court's decision and have clarity to continue growing our company," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a post on X.

"As court after court has stated, the securities laws apply when firms offer and sell investment contracts, regardless of the technology or labels that they use,” a SEC spokesperson said in reaction to the ruling.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh; additional reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal; Editing by Michael Perry)