Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was charged with seven counts of fraud in connection with “false and misleading statements” about his company, among other things.
Alex Mashinsky, co-founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, has filed a response to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ suit against him. According to the document, the suit has shortcomings in presenting the facts in the case and its legal argument and should be dismissed.
James claims in her suit on behalf of the people of New York state that Mashinsky defrauded over 26,000 New York residents out of billions of dollars, particularly by making false statements about the company’s financial situation.
Mashinsky’s response alleges the suit “parrots misinformation,” shows a lack of understanding of Celsius’ business and cherry-picks statements from Mashinsky’s 180 weekly YouTube appearances. In addition, the suit allegedly does not consider circumstances beyond Mashinsky’s control — that is, the crypto market downturn.
While Banks are not your friends @Mashinsky is definitely your enemy
— Pete No Stop (@PeteNoStop) April 24, 2023
pic.twitter.com/7xpgyebGuH
The response also faults the suit’s application of the Martin Act, New York’s strict “blue sky” securities law and other statutes cited in the case's seven counts. The response states:
“Because the Complaint fails to state a legally-cognizable claim against Mashinsky and is otherwise deficient, it should be dismissed in its entirety.”
James’ suit against Mashinsky was announced Jan. 5 and amended in March. Notably, at least for Mashinsky’s response, the suit does not name Celsius as a defendant, only Mashinsky.
The creative lawyers defending fraudster Alex @Mashinsky are claiming that #Celsius Earn accounts are not securities the rewards they offered were based upon revenue.
— Cam Crews (@camcrews) May 2, 2023
Behold, the seldom used Ponzi defense! pic.twitter.com/f3OXG3elEm
Celsius declared bankruptcy on July 13, 2022 after pausing withdrawals a month prior. Depositors still have not received their money back, although Celsius settled with decentralized finance market makers Compound, Aave and Maker on the eve of its bankruptcy filing.
Related: Celsius creditors committee proposes suing Mashinsky, other Celsius execs
A court-appointed independent examiner found many issues with the company’s behavior in a report issued in January. Examiner Shoba Pillay said the company paid $1.36 billion more in rewards than it generated in revenue from customer assets between 2018 and June 30, 2022.
An auction of Celsius assets is scheduled for May 3, after a number of delays. Bidders reportedly include Gemini and Coinbase.
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