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After settling<\/a> on Thursday with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), bankrupt<\/a> crypto company Voyager<\/a> is permanently banned from handling consumers\u2019 assets. But the government agency also announced on Thursday that it\u2019s suing Voyager\u2019s former CEO, Stephen Ehrlich, for falsely claiming that users\u2019 accounts were FDIC insured.<\/p>\n When a bank or financial service is FDIC insured, that means that a customers\u2019 funds will be protected even if the bank fails. While Voyager promised customers this vital protection, these claims weren\u2019t true, as the FDIC doesn\u2019t insure crypto assets at all.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the company failed, consumers lost access to significant assets they had saved, including ongoing salary deposits, college tuition funds, and down payments for homes,\u201d the FTC explained in a statement. Voyager\u2019s customers were unable to access their cash accounts for over a month, and more than $1 billion was lost in crypto assets.<\/p>\n Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, citing volatile crypto prices and the bankruptcy of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), a crypto hedge fund that owed Voyager $650 million.<\/p>\n As part of the settlement, the FTC is fining Voyager for $1.65 billion, but the fine is suspended so that the defunct company can use that money to pay back customers instead. In a parallel filing, the CFTC is also charging Ehrlich with fraud and registration failures.<\/p>\n Government agencies have been increasingly litigious when it comes to crypto companies, especially in light of high profile failures like the FTX collapse<\/a> \u2014 currently, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is on trial<\/a> for fraud. Just last month, the SEC charged Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher\u2019s \u201cStoner Cats\u201d NFT series<\/a> for promoting unregistered securities.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n