On June 26, 2025, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint motion from Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reduce a $125 million fine. The decision also blocked an attempt to remove the permanent injunction on XRP institutional sales, which the court had imposed in 2023.
The Ripple SEC lawsuit reached a key point when both parties asked for an “indicative ruling.” That request, if approved, would have allowed the lower court to signal its intent to change its previous orders while the case was still in the appeals process. However, Judge Torres wrote that the original penalty and injunction still followed federal securities laws and did not qualify for reversal.
The ruling confirmed that Ripple’s conduct in past XRP institutional sales violated Article 5 of the Securities Act. According to the court document, Ripple showed a “willingness to push the boundaries” of the law, which justified the civil penalty and the ongoing ban.
$125 Million Fine Must Be Resolved Through Appeals Process
The court stressed that Ripple and the SEC cannot bypass the appeals process by filing a direct request with the lower court. Judge Torres explained that only a proper appeal could reduce the Ripple penalty or remove the injunction. She stated that there had been no change in facts or legal basis to support the joint request.
Judge Torres wrote in her ruling:
“Now they claim it is in the public interest to cut the civil penalty by sixty percent and vacate the permanent injunction entered less than a year ago. None of this has changed — and the parties hardly pretend that it has.”
Ripple and the SEC had proposed a settlement where $75 million from the escrow fund would return to Ripple, and $50 million would go to the SEC. However, the court denied that plan because it went against prior rulings. The escrow funds remain frozen under court order.
XRP Institutional Sales Still Banned Under Injunction
The 2023 summary judgment found that Ripple’s direct sales of XRP to institutions qualified as securities offerings. As a result, the court placed a permanent Ripple injunction on future institutional XRP sales. That restriction remains in place as of June 2025.
Ripple’s broader XRP securities case is nearing its end, but the court has not lifted any of its penalties or rulings. The $125 million fine was already a reduced version of what the SEC initially sought, which was close to $1 billion.
Though the SEC dropped its appeal earlier this year, Ripple still cannot resume XRP institutional sales. The joint request sought to finalize the case with a lighter penalty, but the court refused to amend its findings.
On March 19, 2025, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded to the SEC’s dropped appeal on X. He referred to it as a win for Ripple and the crypto sector. Despite that, the latest Judge Torres ruling has kept all earlier penalties active.
The full decision was entered on the public PACER record as part of case 1:20-cv-10832. The document shows that the court sees no reason to change the earlier ruling or reduce the Ripple penalty. The permanent injunction against XRP institutional sales remains in place, and the appeals court is now the only path for further changes.
A related filing earlier this year argued that fungible XRP tokens sold in secondary markets were not securities. That point, however, did not affect the court’s decision regarding direct institutional XRP sales.
