Judge Mark Mastroianni has ruled in favor of the SEC in a case against Rivetz, a mobile crypto wallet company. The SEC claims Rivetz sold unregistered securities. A court document released on Monday details that the SEC will work with Rivetz's CEO, Steven Sprague, to propose a judgment for both injunctive and monetary relief by October 22, 2024.

This decision came after the judge granted the SEC's motion for summary judgment. This means the decision was based on evidence without a trial. Judge Mastroianni stated, “The SEC shall confer with Sprague and file a proposed judgment for injunctive and monetary relief on or before October 22, 2024.” He also mentioned that Sprague must submit any objections to this proposed judgment by November 5, 2024.

The SEC filed this action against Rivetz in 2021. They allege that the company violated securities laws during its $18 million initial coin offering (ICO) for the Rivetz token in 2017. ICOs are a way for crypto companies to raise funds for early projects, offering incentives to potential investors.

The SEC filing pointed out, “The undisputed facts here clearly establish that Sprague personally promoted the ICO in the United States and knew that no registration statement was filed prior to the ICO.”

In recent years, many crypto firms have faced lawsuits from the SEC. For example, in August, a federal judge ordered Ripple to pay $125 million after finding the company violated federal securities laws with its direct sales of XRP to institutional clients. This amount is much less than the $2 billion the SEC initially sought.

Additionally, the SEC has taken action against the crypto exchange Coinbase. They claimed that Coinbase “intermediated transactions in crypto securities on its trading platform.” The court sided with the SEC in this case, as noted in a filing from March. In 2023, the SEC also sued Binance, another major exchange, for violating securities laws.