CFTC Orders Voyager Co-Founder to Pay $750,000 in Fraud Case

According to PANews, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Monday that Stephen Ehrlich, co-founder and former head of the bankrupt crypto lending platform Voyager Digital Ltd., must pay $750,000 to defrauded customers. A New York federal court consent order states that Ehrlich neither admitted nor denied the allegations and is prohibited from engaging in commodity trading for three years, among other restrictions. CFTC Acting Director Charles Marvine emphasized that the settlement underscores the agency's significant role in the digital asset sector, focusing on compensating victims and limiting the defendant's ability to cause future harm. In October 2023, the CFTC filed a lawsuit against Ehrlich and Voyager, accusing them of fraudulently operating a digital asset platform. They allegedly misled customers by claiming it was a "safe harbor" and attracted clients with promises of high returns, while lending billions of dollars in customer assets to high-risk third parties. Ehrlich expressed anger and disappointment at the charges at the time. Previously, Ehrlich had reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over related false statement allegations.