Former New England Patriots player Rob Gronkowski has agreed to pay $1.9m to those affected by the collapse of cryptocurrency brokerage firm Voyager Digital.
Gronkowksi, alongside NBA player Victor Oladipo and US motosports racer Landon Cassill, agreed to settle the lawsuit lobbied against them by victims of the Voyager collapse.
Plaintiffs will now be compensated for $2.425m in total, $1.9m coming from Gronkowski, $500,000 from Oladipo and Cassill to pay $25,000.
A court filing revealed: “Plaintiffs are proud to announce to the Court the first tranche of proposed Class Settlements, made with three Voyager Promoters. These proposed Settlements result from the tremendous efforts of the Honourable Michael Hanzman (Ret.), who has conducted numerous mediations in this matter to date.”
The lawsuit against the three US sports stars stems from the collapse and ultimate bankruptcy of Voyager in July 2022, which resulted in investors losing upwards of $3bn in total of lost funds.
Gronkowski, in this instance, was announced as a Brand Ambassador of Voyager in September 2021. He was also a shareholder in and holder of the Voyager token VGX.
The crypto brokering platform received scrutiny from industry experts over its handling of business practices. , Most notably, the company was criticised for stating its investors’ deposits were protected by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance.
“The Voyager collapse, and resulting bankruptcy, resulted in over $3bn dollars in losses for Class Members who purchased unregistered securities in the form of VGX tokens and the Voyager interest bearing accounts (“EPAs”),” the court filing continued.
“For two years, Plaintiffs have worked tirelessly to efficiently litigate these claims to benefit all Voyager victims. Today, those efforts begin to bear fruit.”
Another high-profile individual embroiled in the lawsuit is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The court filing revealed that Cuban is the “remaining defendant for trial in November 2024”.