Medialink founder Michael Kassan’s son Alexander Kassan was hit with a federal lawsuit over series of crypto transactions he made before a company went bankrupt amid his dad’s legal issues — that was dismissed this week, In Touch has learned.
Voyager Digital Holdings, a crypto company that filed for bankruptcy in 2022, filed a lawsuit against Alexander seeking the return of nearly $800,000.
“Voyager was a cryptocurrency brokerage company that allowed customers to buy, sell, trade, and hold more than 100 different cryptocurrencies on its platform,” the suit explained.
Voyager was accused by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of making promises to consumers consumers that their money would be safe. The consumers were locked out of their accounts when the company failed, per a Federal Trade Commission press release.
In October 2023, Voyager and the FTC reached a settlement that permanently banned Voyager from handling consumers’ assets.
In bankruptcy court, the administrator put in charge of handling Voyager’s debts and creditors, filed a lawsuit against Alexander Kassan, along with nearly a hundred other similar lawsuits against customers of the platform. There is no suggestion Alexander did anything wrong.
Prior to the company filing for bankruptcy, the administrator claimed Alexander “made a series of withdrawals and/or sales of cryptocurrency from its customer account with [Voyager].”
“During the Preference Period, Voyager transferred an aggregate of no less than $798,383.97 to Defendant, in satisfaction of the Withdrawals owed to Defendant,” the complaint alleged.
The suit explained, “On May 17, 2024, Plaintiff, through counsel, sent a demand letter (the ‘Demand Letter’) to Defendant, demanding that it return the Avoidable Transfers or provide information substantiating any defenses that Defendant claims exclude the Avoidable Transfers from Plaintiff’s recovery. The Demand Letter also identified total potential deposits or purchases of cryptocurrency which could potentially provide new value under Section 547(c) of the Bankruptcy Code, decreasing the net amount owed by Defendant to Plaintiff. The Demand Letter also provided the Defendant an option to settle the net preference exposure at a discount prior to Plaintiff initiating this preference action.”
On Thursday, October 31, the case was voluntarily dismissed.
Deborah Kovsky-App, the lawyer who represented Alexander and all of the more than 100 customers who received notices told In Touch, “This matter was fully resolved and the lawsuit was dismissed. Preference actions are a routine part of most bankruptcy cases. Trustees can claw back any transfers made by a debtor to its creditors within 90 days prior to the bankruptcy filing and then reallocate the assets pro rata to all creditors. A preference lawsuit doesn’t mean the creditor was doing anything wrong—it’s just part of the redistributive function of the Bankruptcy Code.”
The lawyer added, “In that regard, the preference action Alex received and has since been dismissed, is no different from the 100 plus preference claims asserted and then dismissed in Voyager or the 2,400 similar preference actions filed in Celsius.”
Alexander’s father, Michael, has a long history of legal issues, including an ongoing battle with United Talent Agency. Michael, a media executive, has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Lizzo, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton, Sting, and John Legend.
In 2021, UTA acquired Michael’s company MediaLink for $125 million. Michael was to stay on in a senior role. However, things quickly fell apart between the partners. Michael filed suit claiming he was misled about his job duties and privileges. UTA accused Michael of using the company funds as “clearly improper personal expenses.”
The legal battle has been going on for years. Recently, Michael filed an amended lawsuit UTA of embezzlement.
Michael’s attorney, Sanford Michelman tells In Touch about the amended lawsuit, “Jeremy Zimmer [UTA’s CEO] fraudulently lured Michael Kassan into selling MediaLink. After Zimmer and UTA breached their contract, Michael resigned and walked-away from a $10 million dollar payout so he could compete.”
Sandford continued, “Michael has since alleged that UTA embezzled $300,000 dollars from him and he has filed another suit against UTA.”
Bryan Freedman, UTA’s lawyer, tells In Touch, “Kassan’s desperate attempts to change the narrative of what happened here are pathetic. As stated, numerous times in the pleadings, Kassan personally stole a substantial amount of money that he knew belonged to the company.”
A separate lawsuit that Michael filed against Bryan for defamation was dismissed.
In court documents, UTA described Michael using UTA as his “personal slush fund.”
On top of that, UTA accused Michael of spending a “small fortune” travel, paid for his driver’s housing, designer clothes for his wife, and other expenses.
The Ankler also reported that Michael had a $3.3 million federal tax lien placed on his property. The outlet reported that Michael was hit with three civil judgments in the past.
Back in 1995, Michael was sued by American Express Travel which ended in him being hit with a $158,000 judgment. In 1997, he and an associate were hit with a $51,000 judgment in a case filed by Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems.
Another lawsuit filed by United Merchants Association the same year ended in a $43,000 judgment against Michael. The outlet reported that Michael and his wife have been named defendants in 28 lawsuits dating back to 1990.
A source close to the matter tells In Touch that all of the debts were resolved.
In addition, Variety reported that Michael “once had his wrist slapped in 1995 when he was suspended from practicing law in California following a conviction for grand theft by embezzlement. The charge was subsequently reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged from his record.”
A source told In Touch that Nostalgia Network, El Pollo Loco and M/A Burgers Inc were all part of the same transaction.
The insider said that Michael was a significant owner of multiple restaurant groups, and he made a bad business decision that moved money from one chain that was doing well to another chain that was not — in an effort to save the failing restaurants.
The source said Michael was able to save the restaurants but he knows what he did was wrong and regrets it. Michael was able to preserve his law license.
The source added that this was decades ago before he founded MediaLink and that Michael had apologized for it and wishes he could undo.
Michael Kassan tells In Touch, “Ages ago when I was a young entrepreneur in the 1990’s, before I ever created MediaLink, I exercised a business judgment that as I’ve stated publicly many times, I wish I could undo. But I cannot. Those events involve litigation arising from El Pollo Loco restaurants where I tried to save failing locations with loans from other locations. Ultimately, it was determined that judgement was not appropriate, and I took responsibility for that.”
He added, “Fortunately, my law license was preserved because the fact is I never took a dime for my own benefit. In addition, I was involved in other litigation arising out of El Pollo Loco between myself and others regarding related financial arrangements. As many people know, disputes happen and are eventually resolved. All those disputes were not just resolved, every one of us in those litigations became friends again and, in many instances, became long-term clients.”
