Epstein Emails Fuel Speculation About Political Motives Behind SEC Lawsuit Against Ripple
Newly surfaced emails from the Epstein circle raise questions about the motivation behind the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple, while legal experts emphasize that XRP was never a security.
Revelations from the so-called Epstein Files are causing discussions in the crypto sector. An email from 2014 that Austin Hill sent to convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein described Ripple and the then-new Stellar project as harmful to the ecosystem and his own business, as former Ripple CTO David Schwartz pointed out in a social media post [1].
Attorney James Murphy commented on the situation by stating that the majority of securities lawyers familiar with cryptocurrencies had known that XRP was not a security. The enforcement actions under former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton were both unfounded and unjustified [1].
The lawsuit, which was filed shortly before Clayton's resignation, led to a years-long legal battle. The outcome: Early XRP sales to institutional investors were classified as unauthorized securities trading, but Ripple paid only a comparatively small penalty [1].
The case gains additional explosive relevance through new revelations that tech investor Jason Calacanis, who criticized XRP in February 2025 as a "centrally controlled security," apparently also had connections to Jeffrey Epstein [1].
Sources
- [1]btc-echo.de
AI-Assisted Content
This article was created with AI assistance. All facts are sourced from verified news outlets.