The substantive parts of the Voyager-Binance.US sale deal could be allowed to proceed even before a legal appeal is worked through, court filings made Wednesday suggest, as concerns rise that the buyer could pull out.
The document says the U.S. government has now agreed that the bulk of Binance.US’s $1 billion deal to purchase assets of the bankrupt crypto lender can proceed, despite concerns that the fine print of the contract would pardon breaches of tax or securities law.
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The April 19 filing proposes that, until an appeal is settled, those contentious “exculpation provisions” should remain on hold, but not the remaining elements of the deal.
“The plan and confirmation order contemplate certain transactions and other steps, including making certain distributions to Debtors’ account holders… the parties agree that these transactions may go forward while this appeal is litigated and resolved,” said the document, which is signed by a U.S. Attorney and U.S. Trustee – a Department of Justice official concerned with bankruptcy matters – as well as by lawyers for Voyager and its creditors, but has not yet been agreed by Judge Jennifer Rearden.
Binance.US’s proposal to purchase Voyager assets, originally made in December, was in March approved by Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles, after a poll of Voyager creditors suggested massive support.
The bankrupt company’s lawyers say they’re worried that, once a four-month deadline expires, Binance.US could pull out of the deal, which would impose an extra $100 million loss on the estate. A further bid to speed up the proceedings was rejected by judges at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in an April 11 ruling.
