On February 6, 2023, the law firm of Kirkland �38; Ellis issued a subpoena against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and executives on behalf of Voyager Digital. The subpoenas require them to produce documents and communications related to the “Alameda Loan Agreement” between Alameda Ventures and Voyager, among other important documents. Additionally, Voyager Digital has subpoenaed former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and former FTX head of product and investor relations Ramnik Arora.
Kirkland �38; Ellis Law Firm Requests Documentation for Proposed FTX-Voyager Transaction
Law firm Kirkland �38; Ellis, representing now-bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital, has issued subpoenas for former FTX and Alameda employees, including Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Ramnik Arora. Attorneys are asking the parties to produce all documents and communications related to the Voyager transaction between Alameda Ventures and West Realm Shire Inc. (also known as FTX).
Before FTX’s debacle, FTX and Bankman-Fried insisted that the cryptocurrency exchange would help Voyager’s clients access liquidity in July 2022. Bankman-Fried tweets He is “pleased to provide liquidity to Voyager’s clients wherever we can,” and published a press release on PR Newswire detailing how FTX will help the insolvent crypto firm. Following Bankman-Fried and FTX’s announcement, reports emerged that FTX would acquire Voyager and its assets for $1.4 billion.
However, on October 14, 2022, the Texas Securities Board (SSB), the Texas Department of Banking, and the Texas Attorney General opposed FTX’s potential acquisition. The Texas securities commissioner said an investigation into FTX was needed before the deal could be completed. FTX is under investigation for not being registered as a money transmitter or in any other capacity with the Texas Department of Banking, nor is it registered as a securities dealer in the state. Kirkland �38; Ellis wishes to obtain all documents and communications that the subpoenaed individuals may have regarding the proposed FTX/Voyager transaction.
The lawyers also want all the documents related to the DOJ fraud case and the SEC case. The document mentions documents related to “Ellison Admissions” and “Wang Admissions”. Attorneys for Voyager are seeking documents related to FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray III, and his statements. The lawyers also said they would need “text messages, Slack messages, Telegram and Signal messages” between any of the aforementioned parties. The document also mentions Bankman-Fried’s tweetstorm from July 24, 2022, and is seeking any communication with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Kirkland & Ellis is looking for any available “logs of transactions by FTX-related entities in any way related to VGX tokens” between April 2022 and November 11, 2022. Essentially, the law firm’s list is comprehensive, mentioning just about every document that could be bound to help FTX and Bankman-Fried’s proposed deal, then acquire Voyager Digital. The subpoena comes after Alameda Research sought to recover $446 million in what it called a “preferred transfer” to Voyager.
tags in this story
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Realm Shire Inc.
What do you think of the outcome of the FTX and Voyager Digital subpoenas? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the Head of News for Bitcoin.com News and a fintech reporter based in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He is passionate about Bitcoin, open source code and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written over 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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