In 2023, Fortress experienced a $15 million theft. Though the company originally announced it would be acquired by Ripple, which had agreed to cover the shortfall, the deal eventually fell through. It's not clear how — or if — the funds were ever restored.
Fortress's insolvency has strong parallels to that of Prime Trust, another trust company that shares a founder in Scott Purcell. NFID issued a cease and desist to Prime Trust in June 2023 after finding the company was insolvent; in bankruptcy proceedings, that company later blamed much of the insolvency on losing access to a hardware wallet that held customer assets.