Alameda Research, a troubled cryptocurrency investment company, has filed a lawsuit against defunct cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital in an attempt to recoup loan repayments that FTX paid before the exchange’s shutdown in November.
The accusations Alameda and FTX make against Voyager
On January 30, attorneys overseeing the bankruptcy case for FTX and Alameda filed a lawsuit against Voyager in a Delaware court seeking $445.8 million in damages.
Since these loan repayments were made so soon to FTX and Alameda’s own bankruptcy in November, FTX attorneys claiming to be acting on behalf of Alameda claim that they are entitled to be clawed back as a result of the proximity of these events.
According to FTX, payments to Voyager totaling $248.8 million were made in September, and $193.9 million were made in October. As stated in the documents filed with the court, the exchange also paid an interest payment in the amount of $3.2 million in August.
FTX admitted the charges that Alameda exploited client deposits from FTX for its high-risk investments but said that Voyager and other crypto lending companies were also engaged in the scheme by knowingly or carelessly channeling consumer cash toward Alameda with minimal or no due diligence.
It was alleged that the business strategy Voyager used consisted of a feeder fund. Retail investors were approached, and their cash was placed in bitcoin investment funds such as Alameda and Three Arrows Capital with little to no or very little due diligence performed.
Largely lost in the (justified) attention paid to the alleged misconduct of Alameda and its now-indicted former leadership has been the role played by Voyager and other cryptocurrency ‘lenders’ who funded Alameda and fueled that alleged misconduct, either knowingly or recklessly.
Lawyers
Voyager on its way to be acquired by Binance
Exactly three weeks ago, Voyager Digital won first court clearance for a planned sale of its assets to Binance for $1 billion. The company also said that it would seek to accelerate a study of the deal’s potential impact on the national security of the United States.
The Voyager clients will be transferred to Binance‘s cryptocurrency exchange as part of the deal that involves Binance, which includes a cash payment of $20 million. After that, customers would once again be allowed to make withdrawals, something they hadn’t been able to do since July 2022.
According to Voyager’s estimations, the acquisition will make it possible for consumers to recoup 51% of the value of the deposits they made prior to the company filing for bankruptcy.
