Judge Analisa Torres Blocks Ripple-SEC $50 Million Settlement Citing Procedural Defects

A federal judge has turned down a joint proposal from Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle their long-running lawsuit for $50 million, citing procedural shortcomings.

In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres highlighted that the case is currently on appeal, placing the settlement request beyond her jurisdiction. She described the filing as “procedurally improper” and pointed out that even if she had jurisdiction, the motion failed to meet the legal criteria for altering a final judgment.

The SEC filed suit against Ripple in December 2020, accusing the company of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of unregistered XRP tokens.

Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, took to X to clarify that the judge’s decision did not impact the company’s previous wins in the case. He noted that the ruling concerned procedural matters tied to the dismissal of Ripple’s cross-appeal.

Alderoty reaffirmed that both Ripple and the SEC remain committed to resolving the lawsuit and plan to submit revised proposals to the court in the near future.