Bankrupt Crypto lender Celsius Sues Former Manager Over Alleged Theft
Celsius Network LLC on Tuesday sued a former investment manager, accusing him of losing or stealing tens of millions of dollars in assets before the crypto lender went bankrupt last month.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan bankruptcy court, Celsius accused Jason Stone and his company KeyFi Inc of "gross negligence" and "extraordinarily inept" crypto investing, after Stone falsely portrayed himself as a pioneer in the field.
Celsius said Stone proved "incapable" of deploying coins profitably, causing "many tens of millions of dollars" in losses.
It said he then misappropriated assets to buy hundreds of non-fungible tokens ("NFTs") that he stored out of reach, and covered his tracks by using Tornado Cash, a crypto "mixer" that the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned on Aug. 8 because it might help launder cybercrime proceeds.
Tuesday's lawsuit was filed six weeks after KeyFi sued Celsius in a New York state court in Manhattan.
It claimed that Celsius ran a Ponzi scheme, mismanaged customer deposits, failed to hedge investments, and cheated Stone out of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of compensation.
Stone worked with Celsius for about seven months ending in March 2021, court papers show.
In an emailed statement, Stone's lawyer Kyle Roche said KeyFi's compensation, including NFTs, had been authorized by Celsius Chief Executive Alex Mashinsky.
"Celsius's most recent filing is an attempt to rewrite history and use KeyFi and Mr. Stone as a scapegoat for their organizational incompetence," Roche said.
Both lawsuits seek to recoup sums that each side believes the other owes, plus compensatory and punitive damages.
Celsius, based in Hoboken, New Jersey, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on July 13, one month after freezing withdrawals and transfers for its 1.7 million customers because of "extreme" market conditions.
The cases are Celsius Network Ltd et al v Stone et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-ap-01139; and KeyFi Inc v. Celsius Network Ltd et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 652367/2022.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
