Three high-profile American sports personalities have agreed to collectively pay $2.42 million to settle allegations that they helped promote the failed cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital.
According to a class action settlement filed on May 3, retired National Football League star Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski will pay the largest share of $1.9 million.
National Basketball Association player Victor Oladipo will pay $500,000, and Nascar driver Landon Cassill will pay $25,000. All three sports stars have agreed to the settlements without admitting to or denying any of the accusations.
The proposed settlement includes all United States individuals who enrolled in a Voyager Earn Program Account or purchased VGX tokens from October 2019 to the preliminary approval date.
In addition to approving the $2.4-million settlement, plaintiffs also plan to ask for an award of attorney fees of roughly $792,000.
Gronkowski, who launched a nonfungible token collection in 2021, became a Voyager partner, “brand ambassador,” shareholder and VGX tokenholder in September 2021, according to a press release at the time.
Investor’s legal representative, Adam Moskowitz, said the settlements are largely due to the athletes “who really wanted to help their fans.”
“Gronk had a sincere empathy for all of his fans, even though he lost money with Voyager as well. It is no surprise he continues to be such a trusted and respected spokesperson,” he told Law360.
A group of investors filed the class action against the owver of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, in 2022, adding Gronkowski and other Voyager promoters in 2023.
The settlements were negotiated through mediation aiming to resolve two key issues — whether the Voyager products were unregistered securities and whether the promoters solicited investors.
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The crypto trading platform filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 after being impacted by market turmoil in the wake of the Terra ecosystem collapse in May and the default of loans to the Three Arrows Capital hedge fund.
In April, Voyager Digital made some progress toward compensating its creditors by securing $484 million through settlements with FTX, Three Arrows Capital and Directors and Officers insurance claims.
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