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☆ FTX sues Voyager Digital to claw back $446 million in 2022 loan payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | Industry Insight | Upcoming Sec Climate Disclosure Rules Bring Urgency To Esg Data Strategy Planning | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 30(Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX sued crypto lender Voyager Digital on Monday, seeking to claw back $445.8 million in loan repayments that FTX made before collapsing into bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX and Voyager both filed for bankruptcy amid a 2022 collapse in cryptocurrency markets, but Voyager’s bankruptcy preceded FTX’s filing by four months. After Voyager filed in July, it demanded repayment of all outstanding loans to FTX and its affiliate hedge fund Alameda Research. FTX said in a court filing that on Alameda’s behalf, it paid Voyager $248.8 million in September and $193.9 million in October. In its Monday court filing, FTX acknowledged the allegations that Alameda raided FTX customer assets to cover its risky borrowing and lending.

Jan 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday shot down Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) attempt to offload tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products into bankruptcy court. The appeals court ruling revives those lawsuits. Monday's decision by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia dismissed the bankruptcy filed by the J&J subsidiary in 2021. The appeals court decision could force companies considering the strategy to more carefully consider its risks, two legal experts said. The Texas two-step has garnered criticism from Democratic lawmakers in Washington, and inspired proposed legislation that would severely restrict the practice.

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☆ Celsius bankruptcy examiner expected to report on Ponzi allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - A court-ordered examiner is expected to release a report on Monday addressing whether bankrupt crypto firm Celsius Network operated as a Ponzi scheme, which could add to the pressure on founder Alex Mashinsky, who is already facing fraud allegations. Hoboken, New Jersey-based Celsius filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors last July in Manhattan after freezing customer withdrawals from its platform. After appointing Pillay to the job, Glenn expanded her role by asking her to address persistent customer complaints about Mashinsky's conduct. Crypto exchange FTX, which went bankrupt in November, has resisted calls for an examiner in its own Chapter 11 case, citing the cost of overlapping investigations. Pillay and her team have sought to be paid $1.86 million for work performed in October and $1.69 million for November, according to court filings.

FTX said in a court filing in Wilmington, Delaware, late on Wednesday that the DOJ's proposed review would only add cost and delay to its bankruptcy case. As part of its own investigation, FTX asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing its Chapter 11 proceedings, to help it secure documents from Bankman-Fried, members of his family and other insiders with information about FTX transactions that used "misappropriated and stolen" funds. FTX is also seeking information about political donations by Mind the Gap, a political action committee founded by Barbara Fried, and Guarding Against Pandemics, an advocacy organization founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and his brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried. The U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog has called for an independent investigation into its collapse, a request that received backing from a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to pay debts incurred by his crypto-focused hedge fund, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.

☆ Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis optimistic it can resolve creditor disputes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sean O'Neal, the lawyer, spoke at a hearing in Manhattan bankruptcy court to consider "first-day" motions for Genesis Global Capital, the crypto lending business owned by Barry Silbert's venture capital firm Digital Currency Group. The filing followed the bankruptcies since last July of crypto lenders BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital. Brian Rosen, a lawyer for creditors holding $1.5 billion of claims, said "we are getting closer" to an accord. On Jan. 12, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Genesis and Gemini with illegally selling unregistered securities through their Gemini Earn lending product. Cameron Winklevoss has also called for Silbert's removal as DCG chief, and threatened litigation against DCG if Genesis' bankruptcy did not result in " a fair offer to creditors."

☆ Feds seized nearly $700 million from FTX founder Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors have seized nearly $700 million in assets from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in January, largely in the form of Robinhood stock, according to a Friday court filing. Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to pay debts incurred by his crypto-focused hedge fund, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. The ownership of the seized Robinhood shares, valued at about $525 million, has been the subject of disputes between Bankman-Fried, FTX, and bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi. The DOJ seized more than $7 million from other Silvergate accounts associated with Bankman-Fried and FTX. The DOJ previously seized nearly $50 million from an FTX Digital Markets account at Moonstone Bank, a small bank in Washington state.

☆ Factbox: Crypto's string of bankruptcies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

GENESIS GLOBAL CAPITALOne of the largest crypto lenders, Genesis froze customer redemptions in November after major exchange FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy. Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit, Genesis Asia Pacific. FTXThe Bahamas-based exchange shocked the crypto world by going bankrupt in November after suffering withdrawals of about $6 billion in just 72 hours and rival crypto exchange Binance ditched a possible rescue. CELSIUS NETWORKA crypto lender brought down by the collapse of terraUSD and luna, Celsius began its U.S. bankruptcy case on July 14. The U.S. affiliate of major crypto exchange Binance said in December it intends to buy Voyager's crypto lending platform in a deal valued at about $1 billion.

Former top FTX attorney Daniel Friedberg also opposed Sullivan & Cromwell's hiring, saying Thursday that the law firm had conflicts of interest stemming from its connections to Miller. Sullivan & Cromwell has told the court it should not be disqualified simply because it performed some pre-bankruptcy work for FTX. A Sullivan & Cromwell spokesperson has said the firm had a "limited and largely transactional" relationship with FTX prior to the bankruptcy and never served as primary outside counsel to any FTX entity. Serving as primary bankruptcy counsel to FTX would likely allow Sullivan & Cromwell to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, legal experts have said. FTX has sought bankruptcy court permission to pay top Sullivan & Cromwell attorneys more than $2,000 per hour.

☆ FTX says $415 million in crypto was hacked
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of FTX is seen at the entrance of the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Marco BelloJan 17 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX said in a report to creditors on Tuesday that about $415 million in cryptocurrency had been stolen as a result of hacks. Some $323 million in crypto had been hacked from FTX's international exchange and $90 million had been hacked from its U.S. exchange since it filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, CEO John Ray said in a separate statement on Tuesday. FTX told a bankruptcy judge in Delaware last week that it had recovered over $5 billion in crypto, cash and liquid securities, nine weeks after declaring bankruptcy. The crypto assets recovered to date include $685 million in Solana, $529 million in FTX's proprietary FTT token and $268 million in bitcoin, based on crypto prices on Nov. 11, 2022.

[1/4] The logo of FTX is seen at the entrance of the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 12, 2022. Companies facing wide-ranging investigations often hire pool counsel for employees. The use of pool counsel suggests that federal prosecutors in Manhattan probing FTX's collapse may be interested in questioning a deep roster of employees. The use of pool counsel enables a single legal team to gain expertise in the case, making it more efficient than having each employee retain individual lawyers, Krissoff said. The arrangement does not mean Covington is representing FTX, which has turned to Sullivan & Cromwell, another law firm.

☆ Voyager gets initial approval for $1 bln Binance deal amid national security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital received initial court approval on Tuesday for a proposed $1 billion sale of its assets to Binance.US, and said it will seek to expedite a U.S. national security review of the deal. He said Voyager intends to address any issues that would lead CFIUS to oppose the transaction. The Binance transaction includes a $20 million cash payment and an agreement to transfer Voyager's customers to Binance.US's crypto exchange, Sussberg said. Voyager estimates the sale will allow customers to recover 51% of the value of their deposits at the time of Voyager's bankruptcy filing. In addition to CFIUS, Voyager's proposed sale was also opposed by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and state securities regulators.

The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing customer funds at more than $8 billion. The affiliates -- LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan and FTX Europe -- are relatively independent from the broader FTX group, and each has its own segregated customer accounts and separate management teams, according to FTX court filings. In part to preserve the value of its businesses, FTX also sought Dorsey's approval to keep secret 9 million FTX customer names. Dorsey allowed the names to remain under wraps for only three months, not six months as FTX wanted. In addition to customer funds lost, the collapse of the company has also likely wiped out equity investors.

☆ Voyager seeks to expedite national security review of Binance deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital is working to expedite a U.S. national security review that could delay or block its proposed $1 billion sale of its assets to Binance.US, its attorneys said on Tuesday. He said Voyager intends to address any risk that CFIUS would oppose the transaction. The Binance transaction includes a $20 million cash payment and an agreement to transfer Voyager's customers to Binance.US's crypto exchange, Sussberg said. If CFIUS blocks the transaction, Voyager will be forced to repay customers with the crypto it has on hand, resulting in a lower payout for Voyager users, Sussberg said. Binance.US, based in Palo Alto, California, has said that its separate American exchange is "fully independent" of the main Binance platform.

☆ BlockFi says it repaid investor $15 mln to settle over crypto crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Executives of bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi Inc have repaid an investor $15 million to settle a threatened lawsuit over the company's cratering equity value in summer 2022, the company's attorneys said Monday in bankruptcy court. The BlockFi investor threatened to sue, alleging that BlockFi and its executives should have been more transparent about contagion risks in the cryptocurrency market, according to Sussberg. BlockFi believed the investor's claims were "specious," but it reached a confidential settlement on Aug. 23 under which BlockFi executives repaid $15 million to the investor, Sussberg said. That loan gave FTX an option to buy BlockFi for $240 million, essentially setting a maximum value for existing equity. As the company's value plummeted, BlockFi laid off 20% of its employees.

Jan 6 (Reuters) - FTX's U.S.-based bankruptcy team have agreed to coordinate with liquidators winding down the crypto exchange's operations in the Bahamas, resolving a dispute that threatened the recovery of what could be billions of dollars in lost funds. FTX’s U.S. bankruptcy team has been at odds with Bahamian officials since November, when competing bankruptcies were filed in the two countries. The Securities Commission of the Bahamas began liquidation proceedings on Nov. 10 against FTX Digital Markets Ltd., the company's Bahamas-based unit. The next day a U.S. Chapter 11 proceeding was filed in Delaware, which included more than 100 FTX entities including FTX Trading and crypto hedge fund Alameda Research. Bahamian regulators have seized FTX assets, which officials said was meant to safeguard assets that will ultimately be returned to creditors of FTX Digital Markets.

☆ U.S. judge says Celsius Network owns most customer crypto deposits
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled on Wednesday that Celsius Network owns most of the cryptocurrency that customers deposited into its online platform, meaning most Celsius customers will be last in line for repayment in the crypto lender's bankruptcy. The ruling means that most Celsius customers will be lower priority than customers who held non-interest bearing accounts and other secured creditors. Celsius' terms of service made clear that the crypto lender took ownership of customer deposits into its interest-bearing Earn accounts, according to Glenn. That means that Earn customers will be treated as unsecured creditors in Celsius' bankruptcy, and they will be last in line for repayment after Celsius repays higher-priority debts. The ruling authorizes Celsius to sell approximately $18 million stablecoins that had been held in customers' Earn accounts.

[1/3] The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company's IPO in New York City, U.S., July 29, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew KellyJan 4 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are in the process of seizing shares of Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) tied to Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been charged with fraud in the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, a U.S. attorney told a judge on Wednesday. He said the Robinhood shares were subject to litigation and it was an "open question" about who owns them. The Robinhood stock, worth about $465 million at Wednesday's late afternoon price of $8.30 per share, is also being claimed by BlockFi Inc, another bankrupt crypto firm. BlockFi is suing Emergent in a bid to seize the Robinhood stock, which was pledged by Alameda as collateral to guarantee repayment of a loan made by BlockFi.

[1/3] The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company's IPO in New York City, U.S., July 29, 2021. The Department of Justice did not believe the 56 million shares of Robinhood, worth about $465 million, were property of a bankruptcy estate, U.S. attorney Seth Shapiro told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing the FTX bankruptcy. Bankrupt crypto firm BlockFi, FTX and liquidators in Antigua have all laid claim to the Robinhood stock, along with Bankman-Fried. He said the Robinhood shares were subject to litigation and it was an "open question" about who owns them. BlockFi is suing Emergent in a bid to seize the Robinhood stock, which was pledged by Alameda as collateral to guarantee repayment of a loan made by BlockFi.

The government will give documents and evidence to Bankman-Fried’s lawyers in a process known as discovery. Prosecutors said on Tuesday that they have hundreds of thousands of documents with more on the way as they continue gathering evidence. Discovery can take months, particularly if disputes arise over what evidence the defense is entitled to see ahead of trial. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has said his office will continue to make announcements as its probe widens. Criminal defendants can change their plea at any time, and their lawyers often negotiate with prosecutors over a possible plea deal.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ U.S. review could delay or block Binance deal for Voyager Digital
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Binance's $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital could be delayed or blocked by a U.S. national security review, according to a Friday bankruptcy court filing. The crypto exchange's U.S.-based affiliate Binance.US intends to buy Voyager's crypto lending platform with a bid that includes $20 million in cash and crypto assets that will be used to repay Voyager's customers. Attorneys for Voyager and Binance.US did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Binance.US, based in Palo Alto, California, has said that its separate American exchange is "fully independent" of the main Binance platform. Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July, months after the crash of major crypto tokens TerraUSD and Luna sent shockwaves across the digital asset industry.

But in a late Wednesday night court filing, a group of non-U.S. FTX customers who say they are owed $1.9 billion told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey that this case is different. FTX, once led by Sam Bankman-Fried, is also seeking an exception that would keep its customers' names secret. In October, for example, the judge overseeing Celsius Network's bankruptcy ruled that customer names must be revealed, but their addresses and email addresses could be kept secret. He has asked a committee representing all FTX creditors to weigh in. Lawyers for the official FTX creditors committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Dec 27 (Reuters) - FTX customers filed a class action lawsuit against the failed crypto exchange and its former top executives including Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday, seeking a declaration that the company's holdings of digital assets belong to customers. The proposed class, which wants to represent more than 1 million FTX customers in the United States and abroad, seeks a declaration that traceable customer assets are not FTX property. The customer class also wants the court to find specifically that property held at Alameda that is traceable to customers is not Alameda property, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks a declaration from the court that funds held in FTX U.S. accounts for U.S. customers and in FTX Trading accounts for non-U.S. customers or other traceable customer assets are not FTX property. If the court determines it is FTX property, then the customers seek a ruling that they have a priority right to repayment over other creditors.

[1/2] The logo of FTX is seen at the entrance of the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 12, 2022. FTX declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11, collapsing amid a wave of customer withdrawals. New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell is representing FTX in its Chapter 11 case and guiding its efforts to return assets to customers. Court-approved billing rates for bankruptcy attorneys did not cross the $2,000-per-hour mark until earlier this year, when a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a $2,035-per-hour fee in the bankruptcy of cosmetics giant Revlon. Before FTX's bankruptcy, Sullivan & Cromwell represented the company in U.S. regulatory inquiries and on potential acquisitions, including its proposed acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital.

☆ Revlon and key creditors strike deal, April bankruptcy exit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Bankrupt cosmetics giant Revlon Inc on Monday reached a restructuring agreement which would turn over ownership of the company to its lenders and wipe out current shareholders. Revlon now has the support of a faction of critical secured lenders and its unsecured creditors, who had previously been at odds during the company's bankruptcy. The restructuring agreement requires Revlon to get court approval on April 3, which would allow the company to exit bankruptcy on April 17, 2023. Revlon has said it is exploring a sale of the company as a potential exit from Chapter 11. The restructuring agreement allows Revlon to pursue a sale, as long as the offer is high enough to fully repay the Brandco lenders.

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