Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will give a deposition the following month as part of his defense against a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming that he encouraged investors to participate in the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital, which is considered to be a Ponzi scheme. Two Dallas Mavericks staffers will also give depositions before February 23 as part of the defense.
On July 6, Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after experiencing cash problems brought on by the crypto winter and a sizable loan that was not repaid to Three Arrows Capital. The company stated that the transition was a part of a “Plan of Reorganization.” In a legal sense, a deposition typically entails responding to questions while under oath during the pre-trial discovery phase of a possible court case.
Cuban’s request to divide the deposition into two sessions was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid in a court order dated January 9. So instead, Cuban’s full deposition will be taken on February 2 in Dallas, Texas.
The judge also announced that three of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, Pierce Robertson, Rachel Gold, and Sanford Gold, will give depositions by the end of this month.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys were thrilled that the judge “rejected Mark Cuban’s attempts to postpone and delay discovery” in a very heated statement to legal news outlet Law360 on January 9.
They claimed that after more than a year of litigation on behalf of hundreds of affected Voyager investors, they will finally be able to find proof of what happened and properly understand how much Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks were involved in the “offering” of these unregistered securities and how much he stood to gain.
The contested lawsuit was first submitted on August 10. Before Voyager filed for bankruptcy, the plaintiffs claimed that Cuban repeatedly misrepresented the company, making unsubstantiated claims that it was less expensive than rivals and provided “commission-free” trading services.
In addition, the lawsuit claims that Cuban and Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich used their extensive business acumen to convince ignorant people to deposit their whole life savings in what they now see as a “Ponzi scam” by offering unregistered securities.