Judge Robert J. Shelby (Robert J. Shelby) explained that the unfair actions of the SEC had misled the court. In August 2023, the regulator accused Debt Box of fraud with cryptocurrencies worth more than $50 million. The agency tried to get a ban on the company's activities and the freezing of its assets.
The regulator claimed that Debt Box transferred funds around the world, but later it turned out that the assets were transferred inside the United States. In addition, the court criticized the behavior of SEC attorney Michael Welsh, who recently resigned — the SEC not only submitted false and inaccurate statements to the court, but also did not correct them. The regulator only tried to retell the same story in other words, the court noted.
Judge Shelby stressed that the SEC grossly abused its powers granted to it by Congress, and this greatly hindered the conduct of the trial. The court ordered the SEC to pay $1 million in fees and costs to lawyers, as well as $750,000 to cover the costs of the arbitration manager.
Currently, the SEC is conducting proceedings with several crypto companies at once: Binance, Kraken, Ripple and Coinbase. Therefore, many industry participants insist that the US Congress clarify the regulation of cryptocurrencies by defining the specific powers of the SEC in relation to digital assets. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is confident that it is Congress that is able to soften the SEC's approach to cryptocurrencies.