- Voyager stated it’s open to “any critical proposal” beneath bidding procedures
- Bankman-Fried stated the lender’s consultants desire a drawn-out chapter course of to spice up charges
Chapter attorneys representing cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital have slammed a buyout proposal spearheaded by Sam Bankman-Fried’s firms, claiming the provide made a number of “false and deceptive assertions” that violated each debtors and the chapter courtroom.
Voyager Digital responded to a joint provide from Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Analysis Ventures (Alameda/FTX) in a courtroom submitting lodged Sunday, calling it a “low-ball bid” that might give the crypto billionaire’s companies an higher hand.
The public proposal emerged in a press launch on Friday, which confirmed FTX and Alameda Ventures’ mother or father firms providing to purchase Voyager’s remaining digital property and loans, leaving out these made to defunct hedge fund agency Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
Beneath the identical provide, FTX would enable Voyager clients to obtain a share of their claims — in the event that they signed up for an FTX account.
“The Alameda/FTX proposal is nothing greater than a liquidation of cryptocurrency on a foundation that benefits Alameda/FTX,” attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis wrote. “It’s a low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue.”
Voyager stated it will entertain “any critical proposal” made beneath its bidding procedures, whereas the joint provide from Bankman-Fried’s companies “was designed to generate publicity” relatively than present worth to clients, they added.
Voyager’s attorneys additionally stated the proposal harms clients because it ignores tax penalties, eliminates the agency’s VGX token (which it appraises at $100 million) and declares no worth within the Voyager platform or mental property.
“Alameda/FTX’s proposal purports to permit clients to be ‘lengthy crypto’ whereas receiving money on account of their declare. However all Alameda/FTX’s proposal really does is purchase clients’ claims at a reduction,” they wrote.
Sam Bankman-Fried hits again at Voyager attorneys
In a Twitter thread late Sunday, FTX CEO Bankman-Fried recommended Voyager’s buyer funds could possibly be frozen for years, as chapter proceedings typically take that lengthy to resolve. “Bear in mind Mt. Gox? That course of continues to be occurring,” he tweeted.
Bankman-Fried added: “Voyager’s consultants could be slowly draining the remaining funds by charging charges each month the chapter course of dragged on. This didn’t appear proper to us. Prospects already misplaced property; we didn’t need them to lose extra.”
Voyager filed for chapter on July 5, days after freezing withdrawals on its platform. This was regardless of Alameda offering the agency with $500 million in a bid to alleviate its monetary stress attributable to a foul mortgage to 3AC.
The deal resulted in Bankman-Fried and Alameda retaining a mixed 11% stake in Voyager Digital, greater than every other shareholder. Alameda can also be Voyager’s second-biggest borrower — owing the lender $377 million in accordance with chapter paperwork (Voyager additionally owes Alameda $75 million).
Voyager’s attorneys ended their submitting with a scathing rebuke of Bankman-Fried’s firms, stating the corporate reserves all rights and cures “for [Alameda and FTX’s] clear and intentional subversion of the chapter course of and the damages that could be suffered by clients and different collectors consequently.”
Additionally they addressed hypothesis that Alameda and FTX had an “inside observe” to amass Voyager, based mostly on “some sort of sweetheart transaction phrases.”
“Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality as evidenced by this response,” they stated. “Voyager’s course of won’t be obstructed by anybody, together with Alameda/FTX.”
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