In a recent development, pro-XRP lawyer James Murphy believes that Judge Torres might deny the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) argument that institutional investors suffered pecuniary harm, a key factor in the SEC's quest for $876 million in disgorgement from Ripple Labs.

Murphy, also known as MetaLawMan, has stated that the SEC's reply brief fails to provide any meaningful addition to the argument that institutional investors were harmed financially. Ripple has previously argued that the Govil case precedent maintains that the SEC is not entitled to disgorgement if there is no financial harm to the buyer.

The SEC has relied on the SEC v. iFresh district court case, which held that the "pecuniary harm" requirement is met when a stock price is artificially inflated. The SEC claims that Ripple manipulated the XRP price through various means, including automated bots, a claim that Ripple executives have denied multiple times.

However, Murphy believes that the iFresh decision is a misreading of the 2nd Circuit holding in Govil on disgorgement. Interestingly, the judge who wrote the iFresh decision designated it "NOT FOR ELECTRONIC OR PRINT PUBLICATION," indicating that it is considered a weak precedent.

Furthermore, the SEC has argued that some institutional buyers suffered pecuniary harm as they received less of a discount on XRP compared to others who paid a higher price.

In response to these developments, lawyer Jeremy Hogan has stated that Judge Torres will likely deny the SEC's motion in part for $2 billion in fines, as it is still wrong to cite a decision with a "not for publication" designation as precedent. However, Hogan doesn't rule out the possibility of Judge Torres adopting the iFresh reasoning, and the judge may even schedule a hearing to resolve unanswered questions about the positions of the parties.

As the legal battle continues, the XRP price has traded over $0.52, down more than 2% in the last 24 hours, with a 24-hour low and high of $0.518 and $0.542, respectively.