NY State Sues Celsius Founder for Fraud

ALBANY, NY – The New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, for “defraud[ing] hundreds of thousands of investors”. The suit was filed in the Supreme Court of New York on Thursday.

I'm suing the former CEO of cryptocurrency platform @CelsiusNetwork for defrauding investors out of billions of dollars.

Alex Mashinsky lied to people about the risks of investing in Celsius, hid its deteriorating financial condition, and failed to register in New York.

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 5, 2023

According to a post on the Attorney General’s website, Ms. James said that Mashinsky “promised to lead investors to financial freedom but led them down a path of financial ruin”. The post went on to state the Attorney General aims to “secure disgorgement of any proceeds derived from Mashinsky’s unlawful conduct, as well as damages and restitution from investors.”

A possible obstacle in the Attorney General’s case could be a ruling in the separate case against Celsius by the Southern District of New York. On Wednesday the judge ruled against the SDNY that $4.2 billion of investor funds “became Celsius’ property…remaining in the Earn Accounts.”