The XRP lawyer John E Deaton questioned the responsibility and concern of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the crypto community while the attorney shared his disagreement with the commission’s latest charge against the crypto startup LBRY.
Previously, the SEC charged the decentralized content platform alleging that the firm has been “conducting an unregistered offering and sale of crypto asset securities”. SEC won in the SEC- LBRY battle when US District Judge Paul Barbadoro ruled that the SEC’s claim couldn’t be proven wrong.
Recently, according to a court filing, the SEC has asked for revising the original penalty of $22 million that the regulators claimed to be the amount gained by the platform through the sale of its tokens LBRY Credits (LBC). Pointing out the platform’s “lack of funds and near-defunct status”, the SEC sought for an amendment, imposing a fine of $111,614 against LBRY. The SEC also warned against “conducting future unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities”.
The document read:
The Commission acknowledges LBRY’s representations that it is defunct, ceasing operations, and without the funds to pay a larger fine, and recognizes that a defendant’s ability to pay is a factor when imposing a civil penalty.
Responding to SEC’s malevolent move, Deaton shared a Twitter thread labeling the regulators as disgraceful:
If the SEC cared at all about individual investors and users of the LBRY platform it would have agreed to address the issue of secondary sales. Instead, the SEC refused to provide clarity although its lawyers agreed most users didn’t acquire an investment. The SEC is a disgrace.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) May 15, 2023
Deaton has favored Ripple since the beginning of the SEC-Ripple case, defending Ripple’s stance against the SEC. In a recent tweet too, he questioned the authority’s supposition of XRP as a security.
Deaton shared his disapproval of the SEC’s revisal of LBRY’s penalty, as his latest response, asserting that the SEC hasn’t considered “the individual investors and users of the LBRY platform”. He added that if the regulators cared for the community, “it would have agreed to address the issue of secondary sale”.
