Seven-member committee to represent creditors formed in Genesis Global’s bankruptcy case

A seven-member committee to represent unsecured creditors has been established in the U.S. bankruptcy case of Genesis Global.

The unsecured creditor committee will serve as a voice for creditors in court. William Harrington, a representative for the U.S. Trustee, appointed the committee, according to a Feb. 3 filing. The U.S. Trustee is an office within the Justice Department that represents the government in bankruptcy proceedings and helps formalize committees.

Who are Genesis’s creditors?

Genesis Global is the lending arm of trading firm Genesis. It filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 20. The filing outlined a list of its top 50 unsecured claims, totaling more than $3.6 billion. Some of the biggest claims — including one of nearly half a billion dollars — are attached to entities whose identities have been redacted. They mostly belong to individual creditors, a person familiar with the matter previously told The Block.

The claims featured several high-profile crypto firms, including $30 million owed to Plutus Lending, a division of the crypto platform Abra, and $53 million to VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund.

Who is on the committee?

Some of the creditors from the top 50 unsecured claims list also feature on the newly formed committee, including Mirana and Digital Finance Group.

Mirana has a $151 million claim and is the fifth-largest on the top 50 unsecured list. Jonathan Allen, the creditor contact for Mirana, had previously called Genesis Global’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing “sloppy.” 

“Mirana Ventures is not a creditor and has no exposure to this. I have no connection to Mirana AM and much of the info including the amount is incorrect,” said Allen, noting that Mirana Asset Management and Mirana Ventures are two separate entities under the Mirana investment arm. 

Investment firm Digital Finance Group has a claim for $37 million, according to the chapter 11 filing, while Dutch crypto exchange Bitvavo had to suspend repayments after being unable to access 280 million euros ($303 million) held on Genesis Global.

Genesis’s lending arm took a financial hit following the collapses of the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and the FTX exchange last year. The firm halted withdrawals and new loan originations from its lending affiliate on Nov. 16. 

Members of the committee are:

• SOF International.
• Teddy Andre Amadeo Gorisse, an individual creditor.
• Digital Finance Group, an investment firm.
• Richard R. Weston, an individual creditor.
• Mirana, an investment arm for crypto exchange Bybit.
• Amelia Alvarez, an individual creditor.
• Bitvavo custody, a crypto exchange.

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