Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research Joins Chorus Objecting to Binance Voyager Buy

Alameda Research, FTX’s defunct trading arm that was controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried, has joined the list of protesters against a plan by rival exchange Binance's U.S. affiliate to buy the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital, according to legal filings posted Wednesday with a New York bankruptcy court.

The transaction has already been opposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which demanded more information on how Binance.US could afford the $1 billion deal, and by state securities and banking regulators from Texas, New Jersey, Vermont and New York.

The U.S. Trustee, an office within the Department of Justice, also objected, writing, "Given [Voyager's] recent unpleasant experience with FTX US, the court should not countenance their attempt to rush headlong into another asset purchase agreement without sufficient evidence of due diligence and without affording parties-in-interest a full and fair opportunity for due deliberation."

The Binance,US plan, which was announced in December, “unfairly discriminates against” Alameda’s claims and breaches provisions of the U.S. bankruptcy code that says no junior creditors can be repaid until higher-priority claims have been settled in full, said the legal filing, calling for the Southern District of New York court to deny approval.

The filing, made by Andrew G. Dietderich of Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm representing the FTX group, said that Alameda is a “substantial shareholder” of Voyager. Under a rescue plan made in June, Alameda offered the collapsing Voyager $200 million and 15,000 bitcoins (BTC), of which $75 million in stablecoins still outstanding as of the date of bankruptcy, the filing said.

FTX and Alameda declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11 after revelations published in CoinDesk concerning the relationship between the two supposedly separate companies. Bankman-Fried, FTX's former CEO, has been charged with multiple crimes, including money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

A hearing on the Voyager issue will be held next Monday, the filing said.

Read more: SEC Files Limited Objection to Binance.US’s $1B Deal for Voyager Assets