Ripple needs to pay $1.95 billion in fines, SEC says in proposed final judgment

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants Ripple Labs to pay close to $2 billion and asks a New York court to weigh the "severity" of the firm's misconduct. 

In a proposed final judgment filed on Monday, the SEC asked Judge Analisa Torres to approve the fine, which includes $876 million in disgorgement, $198 million in prejudgment interest and a civil penalty of $876 million. 

"The SEC asks the Court to consider the severity and pervasiveness of Ripple’s misconduct, and the need to send a strong deterrent message to Ripple and others considering whether to raise capital by selling securities to the public in unregistered transactions involving crypto assets," the agency said in the court filing. 

The SEC and Ripple have been battling in court for years after the SEC accused the firm of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP -1.79% , which it says is an unregistered security. Last year, Judge Torres ruled that some of Ripple’s sales, called programmatic, of XRP did not violate securities laws because of a blind bid process in place for them. She did, however, rule that other direct sales of the token to institutional investors were securities. 

The SEC's proposed final judgment concerns direct sales to institutional investors. The SEC says Ripple received almost $1 billion from "its illegal sales of XRP." 

"Ripple’s behavior here strikes at the core of the need for securities transactions to be registered and full and fair disclosure provided," the SEC said later in the court filing. "If companies can raise money with the ease that Ripple did—by simply receiving billions of units of computer code that cost little to nothing to create and then turning it into billions of dollars, without registering these transactions with the SEC and providing the requisite disclosures—the legal structure underpinning our financial markets will be jeopardized." 

Ripple weighed in

Ripple's executive team first said the SEC's proposed $2 billion in fines and penalties was incoming on Monday. 

"Our response will be filed next month, but as we all have seen time and again, this is a regulator that trades in statements that are false, mischaracterized and designed to mislead," Alderoty posted on X on Monday. "They stayed true to form here. Rather than faithfully apply the law, the SEC remains bent on wanting to punish and intimidate Ripple - and the industry at large."

Ripple's response is due by April 22, the SEC said in its court filing.