Ripple and CEO Brad Garlinghouse Face Another Lawsuit Over XRP Crypto Being a Security

Another class-action lawsuit has been filed against Ripple Labs and CEO Brad Garlinghouse. This lawsuit follows the one filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that the defendants sold XRP, which it considers unregistered security, for over $1.38 billion.

• The lawsuit, filed Monday in a Florida district court alleges that the “sale of XRP cryptocurrency tokens to Florida residents” violates Florida securities laws.

• The suit names Ripple Lab Inc., XRP II LLC, and Garlinghouse as the defendants. They have allegedly sold “millions of dollars (or more)” in XRP tokens since 2013 without registering either with federal or Florida authorities.
• Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen alleging that they sold over 14.6 billion units of XRP for at least $1.38 billion. After the SEC’s lawsuit, several major cryptocurrency exchanges delisted XRP, including Coinbase, Binance, Okcoin, and Blockchain.com. Ripple has insisted that XRP is not a security and plans to fight the SEC charges.
• The plaintiff, Tyler Toomey, said he purchased 135 XRP on or around Nov. 24, 2020, for $97.80 and then sold the coins at a loss. The lawsuit states that the “plaintiff sustained a loss of $48.56, or just over 50% of his initial investment.)” Although the plaintiff’s own loss is small, he “seeks to represent a class defined as all persons or entities in the State of Florida who purchased XRP.”

• Toomey is seeking monetary compensation including “reasonable” attorney’s fees, expenses, and costs of the suit, on his own behalf and on behalf of other class members.