Analisa Torres, a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has denied Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse's and co-founder Chris Larsen's twin motions to dismiss the lawsuit that was brought against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2020, delivering a blow to the individual defendants.
The motions were filed by the two top Ripple executives last April.
The court finds that the agency has plausibly alleged that Garlinghouse and Larsen recklessly disregarded the facts "that allegedly made Ripple's XRP amount to the unregistered sale of securities." The SEC has also "plausibly shown" that the individual defendants made domestic offers of the token. Moreover, the court rejected the claim that their sales were predominately foreign.