McDermott Will & Emery, a law firm based in New York, has filed a $5,1 million claim against the creditors of defunct crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital. The claim covers legal services between March 1 and May 13, 2023.
In a court filing dated July 3, the law firm billed the “Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors” for legal fees. The court documents revealed the law firm’s hourly rate for its services was $1,026.76.
The law firm listed a variety of legal services it provided for Voyager, including advising the committee regarding its powers and duties under the bankruptcy rules, attending meetings and negotiating with the representatives of the debtors and other parties of interest, and drafting on behalf of the committee all necessary motions, applications, answers, orders, reports, replies, responses, and papers, among others.
This was the third and final bill from the law firm, bringing its total compensation between July 5, 2022, and May 19, 2023, to $16.48 million, of which the creditors had already paid $8.97 million.
However, McDermott Will & Emery is one of many legal services providers that provide services to Voyager. On June 28, legal counsel Kirkland & Ellis billed Voyager for April legal fees totaling $1.1 million.
In July 2022, Voyager filed for insolvency amidst a crypto lending crisis that caused market contagion and the demise of some established crypto firms, including Celsius, BlockFi, and others. When it filed for bankruptcy, Voyager disclosed liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.
In addition to Voyager, numerous other crypto companies, such as Celsius and FTX, have incurred substantial legal fees due to protracted bankruptcy proceedings. Between February 1 and April 30, 2023, FTX was charged over $120 million in financial and legal advisory fees.
