Judge Merges Multiple Lawsuits Accusing Silvergate Bank of Collusion with FTX Exchange
On April 19th, United States District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley decided to consolidate three investor lawsuits against the now-defunct crypto bank, Silvergate Bank, that involve the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.
According to Cointelegraph, the lawsuits, which accuse Silvergate of aiding investor fraud by FTX, were brought against the bank by four former investors, Matson Magleby, Golam Sakline, Nicole Keane, and Sonam Bhatia in February.
While they will remain separate from other federal cases against FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, they will be combined by mutual agreement of the litigants due to the common questions of law and fact, common defendants, same alleged course of conduct, and overlapping causes of action in the Silvergate cases.
It is worth noting that four former investors have accused Silvergate Bank of aiding investor fraud by FTX, with allegations of processing illegitimate transfers of FTX customer funds to Alameda Research.
FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, causing liquidity issues for Silvergate and contributing to the crypto market crash.
New York State’s financial regulator, the NYDFS, clarified that the collapse of Signature Bank was due to a broad-based run from depositors across various business sectors, not related to crypto, during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on stablecoins on April 18.
The NYDFS Superintendent, Adrienne Harris, stated that it was a misconception that the failure of the crypto-friendly Signature Bank was tied to cryptocurrency.
Bloomberg reported on April 19 that the run was caused by the departure of depositors such as law firms, trust accounts, fiduciaries, and wholesale food vendors from the bank.
The bank was seized by federal regulators in March.
On another note, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have said they are facing difficulties trying to comply with the specific bail conditions set forth by the court. As a matter of fact, they are trying to install monitoring software on Bankman-Fried’s parents’ smartphones that would take pictures of the user every five minutes to monitor who is using them.
The lawyers have encountered unexpected challenges as modern smartphones have stepped up their security measures, including app sandboxing.
Bankman-Fried’s legal team has requested an extension until Friday, April 21, 2023, to comply with the court’s orders.
Until a working solution can be found, his parents can continue using their existing cell phones.
