The tone between Ripple and Gary Gensler is getting tougher. The crypto company's lawyer has now responded angrily to a tweet from the SEC boss.

Gary Gensler, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Ripple lawyer Stuart Alderoty are unlikely to become friends anytime soon. Alderoty seized on a tweet from the SEC chief to criticize him harshly.

Criticism of SEC chairman

Gensler published an excerpt about X of his speech at the 2023 Securities Enforcement Forum, in which he quoted former SEC Chairman Joseph P. Kennedy: "We are neither prosecutors of honest business nor defenders of deceit. We are partners of fair dealing and prosecutors of dishonesty. We will not prejudice, but we will investigate."

Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer of Ripple, took the tweet as a thank you and responded with clear criticism of the SEC chairman. "The SEC loses in court; it is criticized by judges for its shady behavior; it is reprimanded by the government's internal auditor; it conceals information about meetings with a criminal; it becomes irrelevant on the international stage. Gensler - who admits no guilt - has become the isolated Colonel Jessep".

In doing so, he played on a meeting between Gensler and the former and now convicted head of the crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried. He also compared Gensler to "Colonel Jessep," the movie villain played by Jack Nicholson in the Hollywood film "A Question of Honour." To the tweet, he added another joke toward Gensler: "My apologies to Colonel Jessep for this comparison.".

Lawsuit has been ongoing since 2020

The SEC had sued Ripple in December 2020 for alleged unauthorized securities trading. That was followed by years of lawsuits, including against the management team. In October, the SEC dropped charges against CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. The main trial is scheduled for April 2024.