NEW YORK: Bankruptcy exchange FTX sued Voyager Digital on Monday, seeking to recover US $445.8 million in loan repayments that FTX made before collapsing into bankruptcy in November 2022.
FTX and Voyager both filed for bankruptcy in 2022, despite the collapse of the criptocurrency 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.
In a court filing, FTX said that Voyager US $248.8 million was paid in September and US $193.9 million in October. The court filings show that FTX made a US $3.2 million interest payment in August.
Because the loan payments were made so close to FTX's bankruptcy filing, they are eligible to be clawed back and possibly used to repay other FTX creditors, according to FTX's complaint.
FTX, once one of the world's top exchanges, shook the sector in November by filing for bankruptcy, leaving 9 million customers and other investors with losses in the billions of dollars.
Its founder Sam Bankman- Fried has been indicted on fraud charges, and several top executives, including Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to fraud. Bankman- Fried is scheduled to appear in court in October and has denied wrongdoing.
FTX appeared to be a white knight that could stabilise the reeling criptocurrencies markets after the storm that brought down Voyager and other crypto firms in the summer of 2022. FTX offered to buy Voyager's platform at a bankruptcy auction, but the proposed acquisition fell apart when FTX was imploded in November.
In its Monday court filing, FTX acknowledged the allegations that Alameda raided FTX customer assets to cover its risky borrowing and lending. Voyager and other criptocurrencies were complicit in Alameda's conduct, knowingly or recklessly pushing their clients' assets toward Alameda, it said.
FTX said that the business model of the Voyager was that of a feeder fund. Retail investors were urged to invest their money with little or no due diligence in cryptocurrencies investment funds like Alameda and Three Arrows Capital. Three Arrows Capital went bankrupt in 2022, and its founders refused to cooperate with court-appointed liquidators who are trying to recover assets for Three Arrows customers.