The U.S. Department of Justice has filed апелляцию against the ruling approving Binance.US’s purchase of Voyager’s assets undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
The authorities are trying to block the $1.02 billion deal, which Judge Michael Wells approved earlier this week. He noted potential risks but said there were no compelling reasons to deny.
In December 2022 Binance.US offered the highest bid for Voyager’s assets. However regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York Department of Financial Services, opposed the deal.
During the hearing on the case, SEC stated that the U.S. unit of Binance runs an unregistered securities exchange. At one hearing, the judge called for the regulator to explain its position.
“Something must be done. There are creditors waiting and, in the midst of all this uncertainty, they do not have access to the assets in which they have invested their savings, so we must take some action,” Wells said.
In September 2022, the Voyager asset sale auction was won by FTX. The broker reached a preliminary agreement with the US unit of Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange.
However in November FTX Group filed its own bankruptcy filing, after which Voyager had to restart the process.
In March 2023, Lookonchain observed a selling-off of the broker’s assets for ~$56m.