Top three executives of Celsius withdrew $56.12 million in cryptocurrency in May – June 2022, just before the now-bankrupted crypto lender suspended withdrawals.
Alex Mashinsky, former CEO, Daniel Leon, former CSO, and Nuke Goldstein, CTO, as per the Statement of Financial Affairs filed late Wednesday, withdrew the funds from custody accounts in the form of Bitcoin, Ether, USDC and CEL tokens. Other executives, including Oren Blonstein the Chief Compliance Officer and Rodney Sunada-Wong the Chief Risk Officer, did not make any significant withdrawals.
Mashinsky took out $10 million in cryptocurrency in May 2022, Leon withdrew $7 million and an additional $4 million worth of CEL denoted as collateral between May 27 and May 31, while Goldstein withdrew about $13 million and an additional $7.8 million worth of CEL (denoted as collateral). After halting all user withdrawals, Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July. The firm attributed its move to “extreme market conditions” a month before.
Moreover, an independent examiner appointed by the US Trustee’s office is looking into why Celsius fell apart and how it managed, and stored customer deposits. Celsius management, as of late, is looking at fresh restructuring plans that involve turning the bankrupted firm’s debt into tokens and crypto custody. But the court is moving ahead with auctioning off the firm’s assets later this month. Furthermore, Celsius has to update the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) about its financial status and cash management on a regular basis. It is also obliged to disclose its monthly budget and cash balance, spending on wages, taxes and various other performance metrics.
