Judge Tosses Voyager Investors’ Lawsuit Against Mark Cuban Over Mavericks Crypto Deal

A proposed class action accusing Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks of misleading investors by promoting crypto lender Voyager Digital has been thrown out by a federal judge in Florida, according to a statement from the defendants’ lawyers.

Brown Rudnick, who represents Cuban and the Mavericks, said US District Judge Roy K. Altman of the Southern District of Florida dismissed the case “in its entirety” on Dec. 30. 

Read more: Coinbase Data Breach Fallout Reaches India as Insider Arrested

We couldn’t be more pleased with the absolute right result. I suspect that the plaintiffs will consider filing in another jurisdiction. … I look forward to defending Mark and the Mavericks in any jurisdiction in this country.

Steve Best, lead counsel for Cuban and the Mavericks.

Voyager Lawsuit Dismissed

The complaint alleged violations of state securities laws and consumer fraud statutes and claimed Cuban repeatedly misrepresented Voyager before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022. The firm also said the ruling leaves the plaintiffs without a path to refile the case in that court.

Voyager collapsed during the 2022 crypto downturn, and at the time, it sought bankruptcy protection after reporting about US$1.3 billion (AU$1.9 billion) in crypto assets on its platform. The lawsuit was tied to broader fallout from that market crash, which followed the collapse of the Terra blockchain. 

Terra’s failure wiped out about US$40 billion (AU$61.2 billion) in market value, and its founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this month, as Crypto News Australia reported.

Kwon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud shortly after admitting he misled investors on TerraUSD’s depeg. Despite a US$4.55 billion (AU$6.7 billion) settlement with the SEC, the judge still imposed 15 years due to the massive scale of losses.

Related: Bitcoin’s Next Decade: Fewer Fireworks, More Fundamentals