July 12, 2022

FDIC Probes Voyager Digital Over FDIC Claims

Voyager Digital marketed its deposit accounts for crypto purchases as safe, but customers might not be afforded the protection they thought because their assets weren’t insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the way they thought, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (July 7).

The report noted that Voyager had marketed the accounts as protected by the FDIC. But that wasn’t entirely the case, and the FDIC is investigating, WSJ reported.

This comes as Voyager’s brokerage and lending services have been caught in a tangle of downward-spiraling crypto prices, and the company has filed for bankruptcy.

Voyager has frozen all activity, including withdrawals on $350 million in customer deposits stored at the New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Voyager said customers would be able to access those funds from the bank after the completion of a “reconciliation and fraud prevention process.”

There’s currently no timeline on when that will happen. But the report said that the funds are likely to be paid in full. This is not necessarily true for Voyager’s crypto assets.

Voyager advertised that deposits in Metropolitan Commercial Bank were insured by the FDIC. But the FDIC insures accounts only in the case of a failure of

Read the rest

Tamara F. Lawson named dean of the School of Law

July 5, 2022

Tamara F. Lawson has been named to the next Toni Rembe Endowed Deanship of the University of Washington’s School of Law, Provost Mark A. Richards announced today. Her appointment, set to begin Aug. 16, is subject to approval by the UW Board of Regents.

Lawson will replace UW Professor Elizabeth Porter, who has served as interim dean since the beginning of the calendar year.

Lawson comes to the UW from her position as dean and professor at St. Thomas University College of Law in Miami. Prior to becoming dean, she was the associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean for faculty development. She is the chair of the Law Professors Division of the National Bar Association and a board member of the Law School Admission Council. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Governors for the Society of American Law Teachers.

“Dean Lawson brings a wealth of experience and expertise in enrollment and student success, financial management, fundraising, and diversity and inclusion in the field of law, as well as impressive scholarship in criminal law,” Richards said. “We expect that, under Dean Lawson’s leadership, the UW School of Law will

Read the rest