- FTX has sued crypto lender Voyager Digital to seek back $446 million in loan repayments.
- The two crypto firms filed for bankruptcy last year due to liquidity issues amid the so-called "crypto winter."
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX sued Voyager Digital to recover $446 million in loan repayments it made to the crypto lender before imploding last November.
Lawyers representing FTX sued Voyager for $445.8 million, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
FTX and Voyager Digital both filed for bankruptcy last year as turmoil engulfed cryptocurrency markets. While FTX crashed on severe liquidity issues, Voyager suffered from the so-called "crypto winter" in the digital-asset market, and cited exposure to the now-defunct Three Arrows Capital.
According to the lawsuit, Voyager demanded FTX and its sister trading arm Alameda Research pay all outstanding loans after it went bust last July. FTX said that on Alameda's behalf, it paid Voyager $248.8 million in September and $193.9 million in October.
However, those loan payments were made so close to FTX's bankruptcy and that means the crypto exchange is entitled to take back those funds, the lawsuit claims.
FTX seeks to use the recovered money to pay off Alameda's creditors, per the court filing.
FTX lawyers also acknowledged the allegations that Alameda was secretly borrowing billions of FTX's customer funds to fund its risky investments, in the lawsuit. But what's been "largely lost" in the narrative is Voyager's role in fueling the alleged misconduct, it said.
"Largely lost in the (justified) attention paid to the alleged misconduct of Alameda and its now-indicted former leadership has been the role played by Voyager and other cryptocurrency "lenders" who funded Alameda and fueled that alleged misconduct, either knowingly or recklessly," the lawsuit said.
As FTX undergoes bankruptcy proceedings, more details are emerging about the embattled firm and it's ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to the Guardian, FTX was being watched by Australian regulators for almost eight months before the crypto exchange crashed.