U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid denied Cuban’s request to postpone the deposition and stated that his full deposition will take place on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will be “deposed” next month as part of his defense against a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that he promoted an alleged “ponzi scheme” in the form of now-bankrupted crypto lender Voyager Digital.
In the legal world, a deposition is generally defined as answering a line of questioning under oath during the pre-trial discovery stage of a potential court case.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid denied Cuban’s request to split the deposition into two sessions on Jan. 9, and stated that his full deposition will take place on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas.
Two Dallas Mavericks employees will also have to be deposed as part of the defense before Feb. 23.
Furthermore, the judge stated that the three plaintiffs, Pierce Robertson, Rachel Gold, and Sanford Gold, will be deposed before the end of this month.
Plaintiffs’ counsel expressed their delight at the judge “denying Mark Cuban’s attempts to stay and delay discovery” in a fiery statement to legal news publication Law360 on Jan. 9.
“We have been litigating on behalf of hundreds of injured Voyager investors for more than a year and will finally be able to uncover evidence of what occurred and fully understand to what extent Mr. Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks were involved in the’offering’ of these unregistered securities and to what extent he was to profit,” they said.
Cuban’s counsel also spoke to Law360, stating that the plaintiffs’ deposition will cover “issues of standing, alleged false statements included in the complaint, and questions about the plaintiffs’ Voyager accounts.”
The original lawsuit was filed on August 10, 2022, with the plaintiffs alleging that Cuban misrepresented Voyager on numerous occasions before it went bankrupt, making dubious claims of being cheaper than competitors and offering “commission-free” trading services.
The suit also claims that the firm sold unregistered securities and that Cuban and Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich used their sophisticated experience to entice uneducated investors to invest their life savings in what they now believe to be a “ponzi scheme.”
Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 6, last year. Following liquidity issues caused by crypto winter and a large loan to Three Arrows Capital that was defaulted on, the firm stated that the move was part of a “Plan of Reorganization.”
