US CFTC orders former Voyager CEO of crypto lending company to pay $750,000 to defrauded customers

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a statement on Monday stating that Stephen Ehrlich, co-founder and former head of the bankrupt crypto lending platform Voyager Digital Ltd., must pay $750,000 to defrauded customers.

According to a consent order from the federal court in New York, Ehrlich neither admitted nor denied the allegations and is banned from commodity trading for three years, in addition to other restrictions. CFTC Acting Director Charles Marvine stated that this settlement highlights the agency’s important role in the digital asset sector, with compensating victims and restricting the defendant’s ability to cause future harm as its core mission. In October 2023, the CFTC sued Ehrlich and Voyager, accusing them of fraudulently operating a digital asset platform, misleading customers by claiming it was a “safe haven,” and attracting clients with promises of high returns while lending billions of dollars in customer assets to high-risk third parties. Ehrlich at the time said he was “angry and disappointed” by the allegations. Previously, Ehrlich had reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding related false statement charges.