US Regulatory Agencies Launch Parallel Lawsuits Against Co-Founder of Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed charges against the former CEO of Voyager, Stephen Ehrlich.

In a statement, the FTC says it filed a suit against Ehrlich for falsely claiming that Voyager accounts were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and that customer assets were safe even though the firm was already facing a looming bankruptcy.

The agency says deposits made to Voyager were not covered by the FDIC because the crypto platform is neither a bank nor a financial institution.

“The FTC staff complaint alleges that Voyager and Stephen Ehrlich violated the FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive practices and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s prohibition on obtaining a customer’s financial information through false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements. The complaint also alleges that Stephen Ehrlich transferred millions of dollars to his wife Francine, including funds that can be traced directly to the alleged unlawful conduct.”

The CFTC is also charging Ehrlich with fraud and registration failures in a parallel suit. The regulator says Ehrlich and Voyager misrepresented the safety and financial health of Voyager as well as claimed the platform would operate with the same level of rigor and trust as traditional financial institutions.

The commodities watchdog says Ehrlich also failed to register as an associated person of a commodity pool operator (CPO) despite soliciting funds for the Voyager pool.

Says CFTC’s director of enforcement, Ian McGinley,

“Ehrlich and Voyager lied to Voyager customers. While representing they would treat customers’ digital asset commodities safely and responsibly, behind the scenes, they took shockingly reckless risks with their customers’ assets, leading to Voyager’s bankruptcy and huge customer losses.

Amplifying their fraud, Ehrlich and Voyager broke their trust with customers while acting in capacities that required CFTC registration, which they failed to obtain.”

Voyager left consumers with losses of more than $1.7 billion when it collapsed in July of last year.

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