Ripple Drops Cross-Appeal, SEC Agrees to Return Majority ($75M) of $125M Fine

Plus Jenner & Block becomes the latest Big Law firm on the receiving end of a Trump executive order.

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Bruce Carton
March 26, 2025

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Ripple to Get $75M of Court-Ordered Fine Back From SEC, Drops Cross-Appeal

The long-running legal battle between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to finally be near an end, with Ripple emerging victorious.

The SEC will return the lion’s share of the $125 million-court ordered fine paid by Ripple last year, according to a Tuesday X post from Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty, keeping just $50 million and returning the $75 million balance to Ripple.

by CoinDesk

Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Law Firm Jenner & Block

President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order targeting Jenner & Block, expanding his campaign of retribution against law firms he perceives as enemies.

Trump cited the firm’s ties to Andrew Weissmann, who previously served as a top member of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “He’s a bad guy,” Trump said after signing the order.

The order strips security clearances from lawyers at the firm, restricts their access to federal buildings, and directs agencies to end any federal contracts with the firm and its clients.

Tuesday’s order also explicitly targets pro bono work the firm has taken on to challenge the administration’s policies, saying it “abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.” Jenner has touted its extensive pro bono work in the past, and this year has backed lawsuits challenging the administration’s policies, including on behalf of transgender individuals and asylum seekers.

by WSJ

👉 Jenner & Block becomes the latest Big Law firm in the barrel. Trump’s executive order “Addressing Risks from Jenner & Block” is here.

SEC Drops Investigation into Web3 Gaming Firm Immutable

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into Web3 gaming platform Immutable and will not file enforcement charges, according to a Tuesday announcement from the company.

Immutable, an Australian company, disclosed that it had received a Wells notice — essentially an official heads-up from the SEC that it intends to file an enforcement action against the recipient — in November. At the time, the firm speculated that the SEC’s investigation was tied to its listing and private sales of its native IMX token back in 2021.

by CoinDesk

👉 The Reverse Sweep continues. There are only a few cases remaining in the “Active” column from the initial list published by CoinDesk just three weeks ago (see below):

Atkins Confirmation: “Fasten Your Seatbelts. It’s Going to be a Bumpy Night”

The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled Paul Atkins’ confirmation hearing for tomorrow at 10:00 am Eastern. While Atkins is widely expected to be confirmed, it looks like he should nevertheless be prepared to heed Bette Davis’s famous warning to “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

That’s because earlier this week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D. Mass) lobbed in a 34-page letter raising questions about Atkins’ record and potential conflicts of interest. After offering perfunctory congratulations on his nomination, Sen. Warren got quickly to the point….

by TheCorporateCounsel.net Blog

👉 Sen. Warren’s letter is here. In it, she writes that Atkins was an “SEC Commissioner in the years before and during the 2008 financial crisis and as an adviser to the cryptocurrency platform FTX before and during its sudden collapse in 2022. You have also advocated for weaker SEC rules, including for Chinese accounting companies in the United States, at your corporate advisory firm. You were an architect of Project 2025 and received ‘special mention’ for your extensive contributions.”

SEC Crypto Task Force to Host Four More Roundtables

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force announced today it will hold four more roundtables in its ongoing series discussing crypto asset regulation. The dates and topics for each roundtable are as follows:

— April 11, 2025 – Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading

— April 25, 2025 – Know Your Custodian: Key Considerations for Crypto Custody

— May 12, 2025 – Tokenization – Moving Assets Onchain: Where TradFi and DeFi Meet

— June 6, 2025 – DeFi and the American Spirit

Each roundtable will be open to the public at SEC’s headquarters (100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.) and streamed live on SEC. gov….

by SEC Press Release

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