Celsius Execs spent $40 million before withdrawals were halted

Three executives at crypto exchange Celsius cashed out at least $40 million in cryptocurrency shortly before the company suspended withdrawals for all users earlier this year, according to a financial disclosure form filed in New York bankruptcy court earlier this year. late on Wednesday.

Withdrawals by Celsius executives, first reported by CoinDesk, doesn’t look good from an optics perspective, given the number of users who were blocked from withdrawing their funds during the liquidity crunch just a few months ago. Celsius has suspended all withdrawals indefinitely June Filed for bankruptcy next month, without leaving anything to the users. Decrease the percentage approx $4.7 billion For users but don’t have money to pay them.

The three CEOs who pulled out a total of $40 million in cryptocurrency are ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky, ex-CEO of strategy Daniel Leon, and current CEO Nuke Goldstein. Mashinsky resigned as CEO in September, but he remains at the center of the investigation into whether the percentage score was little more than a Ponzi scheme — something more than that. 40 states You are currently searching for it. Leon just quit yesterday.

The financial times It previously reported that Mashinsky withdrew nearly $10 million from Celsius before the company collapsed, citing unnamed sources, but we now know that Leon and Goldstein were also withdrawing their cash before the public knew there were any liquidity issues in Celsius. Leon withdrew at least $11 million. Goldstein withdrew at least $20.8 million, including millions in the Celsius token.

Gizmodo has uploaded the latest Centennial Court files, totaling over 14,000 pages, to a file Internet Archive For anyone who really wants to get into the nitty-gritty of a bankruptcy case. The registry appears to be quite large because it appears to contain the names and recent transactions of every user on the platform.

Oddly enough, Mashinsky’s wife Kristen withdrew more than $2 million in Celsius coins on May 31, according to the documents. Mashinsky did not immediately respond to an email early Thursday.

Celsius token is currently trading at $1.28, down almost 78% from last year. Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, is currently trading at $2,705, down 63% from last year. Ethereum, the second most popular coin, is currently trading at $1,360, down 62% from last year.

Goldstein’s attorneys said in a statement:

your report that mr. Goldstein withdrawing millions of dollars before the “pause” is a fatal mistake. the truth is that mr. Goldstein had not withdrawn even a single dollar in the four weeks prior to the pause – on the contrary, he deposited more than $90,000 in CEL tokens in late May, just three weeks before the pause. Most of the supposed “withdrawals” from our client’s account were, in fact, regular transfers between his accounts and corresponding deposits. In fact, the year before the break, it was Mr. Goldstein had positive net deposits in percentage terms (including interest), not withdrawals. Unfortunately, your account is defamed. Goldstein’s position, where there are currently millions locked in Celsius, makes him one of the company’s largest unsecured creditors. Nuke takes pride in its work to create a secure platform for Celsius users, and has worked tirelessly day in and day out to help restructure the company for the benefit of all of its creditors.

Update, Oct. 6, 11:29 a.m. ET: Updated with a statement from Nuke Goldstein’s attorney.