FTX receives court approval of stipulation with Voyager, committees

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., March 9 – FTX Trading Ltd. secured court approval of a stipulation with Voyager Digital, LLC and each of their respective official committees of unsecured creditors, according to an order filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

As previously reported, FTX said that, given the various disputes between the parties, they have engaged in arm’s length discussions to resolve or at least narrow their issues.

One of these issues has to do with FTX debtor Alameda Research Ltd.’s adversary proceeding against Voyager seeking to claw back $445.8 million in preferential transfers. The suit was filed in late January.

Between 2021 and 2022, Voyager lent hundreds of millions worth of cryptocurrency to Alameda. When Voyager filed its own bankruptcy cases in July 2022, it demanded repayment of all outstanding loans to Alameda, including prior to stated maturity dates. Alameda said Voyager was repaid in full.

The adversary proceeding seeks to recover those funds as preferential transfers for the benefit of Alameda’s creditors.

FTX said the stipulation will resolve some disputes between the parties with respect to Voyager’s proposed plan of reorganization and FTX’s prepetition proofs of claim filed against Voyager.

It will also require Voyager Digital LLC (Voyager OpCo) to establish a cash reserve in the amount of $445 million on account of the preference claims so that if FTX prevails in the litigation, there is value available to satisfy FTX’s claims.

And, it will establish a framework for the litigation of the preference claims.

An informal group of Voyager Digital Ltd. (TopCo) equity holders had objected to the stipulation, calling part of the deal a tactic by Voyager’s official committee of unsecured creditors to strip TopCo of value that could result in a distribution to its equity holders.

The stipulation provides for the option to assign a disputed $75 million loan to Voyager OpCo.

Should Voyager OpCo be assigned the loan, it will become the lender, Voyager Digital Holdings, Inc. (HoldCo) will be the borrower, and TopCo will be the guarantor.

Both Voyager and the creditors committee have filed objections to enforceability of the loan. And in Voyager’s original plan, it was indicated that the loan was being canceled with no distribution.

“With this backdrop, it is hard to believe that the $75 million loan has any value or is a valid claim against one or more Voyager debtors,” the equity group said.

The group said the committee may seek to cause Voyager OpCo to assert the guaranty against Voyager TopCo, stripping Voyager TopCo of value that would otherwise be distributed to TopCo equity interests.

FTX has headquarters in the Bahamas. The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11 under case number 22-11068.

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