New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, alleging that Mashinsky defrauded “hundreds of thousands of investors…out of billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.” The lawsuit also claims that Mashinsky “repeatedly made false and misleading statements about Celsius’s safety to encourage investors to deposit billions of dollars in digital assets onto the platform.” Celsius, which was once one of the world’s largest crypto lenders, filed for bankruptcy protection in mid-July 2022. The NYAG lawsuit aims to ban Mashinsky, a New York resident, from doing any business in the state and require him to pay damages, restitution and disgorgement, for an undisclosed amount. This legal action follows a number of suits by James against other companies in the cryptocurrency industry.
The New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, seeks to prohibit Mashinsky, a New York resident, from conducting any business in the state and requires him to pay an undisclosed amount in damages, restitution, and disgorgement.
Until July 10, 2022, there were approximately 600,000 accounts in Celsius’ Earn program, holding a total of around $4.2 billion, with $23 million of that being made up of stablecoins, according to a filing.
