CFTC weighs enforcement action against former Voyager Digital CEO: Report

Following the lending firm’s bankruptcy filing in July 2022, U.S. officials were reportedly considering taking action against Stephen Ehrlich for violating derivatives regulations

Officials at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were reportedly considering an enforcement action against Stephen Ehrlich, the former CEO of crypto lending firm Voyager Digital.

According to an Oct. 6 Bloomberg report, CFTC staff were considering taking action against Ehrlich following an investigation concluding the former CEO violated U.S. derivatives regulations prior to Voyager’s bankruptcy filing. The firm filed for Chapter 11 protection in July 2022 amid the crypto market downturn.

Ehrlich was reportedly “angered and perplexed” by the claims:

“These allegations appear to be one of those times where the referees are making new rules and calling foul after the game has ended.”

Related: Creditors for bankrupt Voyager Digital billed $5.1M in legal fees

Voyager, still in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings, was already under scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission “for [its] deceptive and unfair marketing of cryptocurrency to the public”. A bankruptcy court approved Voyager’s plan to repay customers in May, and the case was ongoing at the time of publication.

The CFTC has several cases pending against crypto firms which have the potential to make waves across the U.S. regulatory space, but many of the enforcement actions in 2023 have been brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao have pushed for authorities to dismiss an CFTC lawsuit filed in March while many executives at Binance.US have left the exchange amid regulatory scrutiny.

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