The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has appealed against the court ruling in favour of the proposed asset acquisition deal between Voyager Digital and Binance.US. The appeal was filed one day after Judge Michael Wiles granted Voyager Digital permission to proceed with the sale of its assets to Binance.US.
The U.S. Trustee for Region 2 filed the appeal on March 8, challenging the Southern District of New York’s approval of Voyager Digital’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The plan would have permitted the insolvent cryptocurrency brokerage company to liquidate its assets worth billions of dollars, with the goal of recouping funds to reimburse customers.
The proposed acquisition has faced strong opposition from authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various state agencies. Last month, the SEC objected to the acquisition of Voyager, citing concerns that Binance.US may be violating the law by operating an unregistered stock exchange in the United States.
During the hearing on March 7, 2023, Judge Wiles was unfazed by the SEC’s apprehensions and stated that action must be taken as the creditors of Voyager are waiting and have no access to the property they have invested in. Some have invested their life savings in this property. Given the uncertainty of the situation, they must take some form of action.
Judge Wiles said he could not place the subject on an indefinite deep freeze until regulators assessed if there were issues with the acquisition and plan since the Bankruptcy Act does not provide for an indefinite waiting time. He added that the existing plan would result in a 73% recovery for Voyager’s clients.
A poll conducted on February 28 found that 97% of Voyager customers support the Binance.US agreement. In the event that Voyager decides not to pursue its current plan of selling itself to Binance.US, or regulators successfully block the transaction, the bankrupt lender may choose to liquidate. Such a decision is anticipated to result in considerably lower profits for the lender’s creditors.
If you would like to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
