New York, NY – August 6, 2025 — Metropolitan Commercial Bank, the former banking partner of now-defunct crypto lender Voyager Digital, has secured a temporary legal victory as the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a sweeping 53-count fraud lawsuit. The ruling, issued Monday by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, determined that the current complaint does not plausibly establish claims of fraud or unjust enrichment.
The suit, originally filed in November by Michael Wyse, the bankruptcy plan administrator for Voyager, represents over 30,000 former platform users. It alleged that Metropolitan knowingly enabled Voyager’s deceptive marketing of its platform as safe, legal, and FDIC-insured, despite substantial risks and the eventual $1.7 billion owed to U.S. customers—much of which remains unpaid.
Judge Engelmayer noted that the complaint failed to show that any individual customer relied on specific misrepresentations from either Voyager or Metropolitan, a flaw that proved “fatal” to 38 of the fraud claims. The unjust enrichment claim was also dismissed, as it relied on the same legal grounds as the fraud allegations.
Despite the dismissal, the court has granted Wyse a final opportunity to amend the complaint out of consideration for the interests of former Voyager customers.
The suit contends that Metropolitan’s association with Voyager lent false legitimacy to the platform, allegedly helping it evade money transmission laws and mislead millions of retail investors. At its peak, Voyager claimed over 3.5 million users and $5.6 billion in assets.
Legal counsel for Wyse includes Darren Azman, John J. Calandra, Joseph B. Evans, Elizabeth Andrea Rodd, and Lisa Gerson of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Metropolitan Commercial Bank is represented by John Kolsin Crossman and Jeffrey Louis Friesen of Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman LLP.
The case is titled Wyse v. Metropolitan Commercial Bank, Case No. 1:24-cv-09108.
