Ripple Proponent John Deaton Joins Another Lawsuit in California, Here’s What it Means for XRP

John Deaton, an attorney, and proponent of XRP has joined yet another lawsuit against Ripple Labs, a San Francisco-based payments startup. Deaton has submitted a motion that will allow him to file an amicus brief in the California lawsuit Zakinov v. Ripple Labs. 

On behalf of 75,890 XRP holders from the United States and 143 other countries, Deaton, five other XRP holders, and SpendtheBits Inc., a business that has integrated XRPL, filed the motion.

“Because Plaintiff only owned XRP for two weeks five years ago, he wrongly asserts that XRP is not decentralized like Bitcoin,” Deaton stated.

The case is the merger of two different legal challenges, the first of which is a class-action lawsuit brought by lead plaintiff Bradley Sostack, a former XRP investor who alleges Ripple offered XRP in violation of California advertising rules and as an unregistered security.

The plaintiff rejects the XRP holders’ request to submit an amicus brief, but Ripple, the defendant, agrees. Deaton contends that the plaintiff’s opposition shows that, absent the court’s permission to file the proposed amicus brief, the interests of more than 75,000 XRP holders will not be pursued or safeguarded.

The lawyer had earlier said, “Whether it’s the SEC or a plaintiff’s attorney making the absurd argument that secondary market transactions of a token are also securities simply because it may have been previously offered or sold in a way that violated Section 5 of the Securities Act, I’ll see you in court.”

Deaton has participated actively in the ongoing SEC case against Ripple by submitting an amicus brief on behalf of proponents of XRP in opposition to the regulator’s demand for summary judgment. In 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple for allegedly marketing XRP as unregistered securities.