Voyager Digital, an erstwhile brokerage firm, is facing a financial burden as it goes through the bankruptcy process. The company is set to pay its legal advisor, Kirkland & Ellis, a hefty sum of $1.1 million for fees and expenses associated with the bankruptcy proceedings that took place in April. This information comes from official documents that reveal the details of the charges.
During that month, Kirkland & Ellis employed a blended hourly billing rate of $1,313.18 for all the services rendered. The cumulative fees charged by the law firm’s attorneys and paralegals amounted to over $1.4 million, with some of the high-ranking members demanding an hourly rate exceeding $2,000, media reports said.
Kirkland & Ellis has a client portfolio that includes several crypto companies dealing with bankruptcy cases, such as BlockFi and Celcius. Voyager joined this list when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July.
The company had been severely impacted by the crypto credit crisis, which resulted in the collapse of numerous lenders and brokers operating in the space. Under the leadership of former E*Trade executive Steve Ehrlich, Voyager was a publicly traded entity in Canada. At the time of filing for bankruptcy, the company reported liabilities estimated to be between $1 billion and $10 billion.
It’s important to note that Voyager Digital is not the only entity grappling with substantial expenses throughout the bankruptcy process. The complex nature of such proceedings has led to significant fees for other companies as well.
The challenges posed by the crypto credit crisis have had far-reaching effects, placing a financial burden on various stakeholders involved in the industry’s ecosystem. As Voyager works towards resolving its bankruptcy, it finds itself among many others in the cryptocurrency sector, navigating the complexities and bearing the weight of substantial legal fees.
