Mark Cuban to be deposed for promoting Voyager ‘Ponzi scheme’

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Last year, CoinGeek reported that the digital currency lending platform Voyager Digital was insolvent.

Now, as part of a lawsuit against him for promoting it, billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank personality Mark Cuban will be deposed in Dallas, Texas, on February 2.

https://twitter.com/CryptoVinco/status/1612768420021272577?s=20&t=0d_4jwIZHDM7uEkq14-Z_w

The lawsuit was initiated by discontented users who claimed Cuban misrepresented Voyager in promotional materials. The suit alleges that Voyager was a “massive Ponzi scheme” and points out that Cuban aggressively promoted it to unsuspecting retail speculators.

Cuban’s statements included one that Voyager was “as close to risk-free as you’re gonna get in the crypto universe.”

Cuban’s request to split the deposition denied

Cuban requested that the deposition be split into two hearings, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid denied the request. The full deposition will take place on February 2, 2023.

Two employees of the Dallas Mavericks, the professional basketball team Cuban owns, will also be deposed before the end of the month.

What happened to Voyager Digital?

Voyager was one of the many casualties of the LUNA/UST collapse that unleashed widespread chaos in the digital currency markets. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July.

As the third quarter of 2022 was coming to a close, now defunct digital currency exchange FTX won the bid to buy Voyager’s $1.4 billion in remaining assets. That deal fell through when FTX went belly up, unleashing further carnage across the industry.

Binance is attempting to scoop up Voyagers remaining assets for a price tag of just over $1 billion.

Reputations continue to be tainted by association with ‘crypto’

Mark Cuban is not the only famous businessman to see his reputation damaged by association with an industry rife with criminality, fraud, and deception.

Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, Cuban’s fellow Shark Tank angel investor, has also seen his name dragged through the mud for his association with FTX. Long after it was clear that Sam Bankman-Fried was an outright fraud who had stolen billions in customer funds, O’Leary defended him, suggesting that it had all been a terrible mistake rather than a crime spree. O’Leary received $15 million to act as a brand ambassador for FTX.

Even the world’s most powerful and accomplished entrepreneurs can’t emerge unscathed after contact with the toxic waste dump that is the cryptocurrency industry. Truly, the level of criminality and corruption unleashed by the Crypto Crime Cartel is staggering in its proportions.

Follow CoinGeek’s Crypto Crime Cartel series, which delves into the stream of groups—from BitMEX to Binance, Bitcoin.com, Blockstream, ShapeShift, Coinbase, Ripple,
Ethereum, FTX and Tether—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.