Back in mid-June, cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius froze withdrawals for its customers. Since then, Alex Mashinsky has remained silent and there is no indication that client funds will ever be released. As Mike Alfred tweeted, the Celsius CEO planned to leave for Israel:
“This week, Alex Mashinsky tried to leave the country through Morristown airport, but the authorities stopped him. At the moment, it is unclear whether he was arrested or simply banned from leaving.”
The cryptocurrency community took a wait-and-see attitude and reacted relatively calmly to the news about the events around Celsius. Some participants are sure that Alfred revealed another unsightly side of the company. Recall that in 2021, Israeli police arrested Celsius CFO Yaron Shalem as an accomplice of Singulariteam founder Moshe Hogeg, accused of money laundering.
“Now everything is in the hands of lawyers, I don’t know if this is good or bad. I keep thinking that the FBI has almost certainly already contacted Mashinsky. Perhaps he was even captured, interrogated and released. But in this case, there is enough that the feds will want to study, ”Alfred wrote in his blog.
The other day, it became known that Goldman Sachs plans to raise $2 billion to buy assets of Celsius. The deal would allow the investment banking giant to buy the company’s distressed assets at a “huge discount” if Celsius decides to file for bankruptcy.
Celsius previously hired consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal to advise on the restructuring. The company also made a similar request to the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. According to unnamed sources, one of the restructuring options could be the bankruptcy of the company.
Ledger chief development officer Ian Rogers said that the company’s sales “jumped 4.5 times in a day on the news of the Celsius problems” and still remain high.
Source: Credit Link
