Voyager and Binance.US Deal Faces Legal Challenge

In Brief

• U.S. government wants the bankruptcy court to put a stay on the deal.
• The provision limits government's abilities to to enforce the law on past and future actions of Voyager.
• If the deal goes through successfully, Voyager customers could recover 73% of their assets.

Plans by Binance.US to acquire the assets of the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager have been dealt a blow after objections were raised by the U.S. government.

Damian Williams, a U.S. government attorney, has filed to put a stay on Binance.US’s acquisition of Voyager or at least the Exculpation Provision.

The Exculpation Provision relieves Voyager from any past or future civil or criminal liability to thegGovernment. Williams writes, “One can imagine any number of illegal acts that could take place in the course of these transactions, from using stolen funds to carry them out to negligently failing to report associated taxes.”

Bankruptcy Court Cannot Immunize Voyager: US Government
In the filing, the Government’s attorney argues, “As the focus of the Code is the creditor-debtor relationship, it provides no basis for courts to prospectively immunize debtors and non-debtors from law enforcement and other actions undertaken by the Government. Nor can courts release debtors and non-debtors for acts committed after a plan becomes effective.”

Lastly, the government requests two weeks to seek relief from the District Court if the Bankruptcy Court rejects the proposal.

Customers Can Recover 73% of Assets if Deal Closes
Earlier this month, the Bankruptcy Court approved Voyager Digital to sell its assets to Binance.US. It also rejected the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) objections that Binance.US was not registered as a securities exchange.

Before that, several others, such as the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the Attorney General of New York, opposed the deal.

Binance.US, the American arm of Binance, won the bid to buy the assets of the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager for $1.022 billion. If the deal closes, Voyager customers could recover up to 73% of the assets.

Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022 due to its exposure to the collapsed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement about the recent developments, but it has yet to hear back.