Stephen Alpher
Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's co-regional news chief, Americas. He holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
Celsius on Tuesday filed a countersuit against KeyFi and its CEO Jason Stone, accusing the defendants of stealing valuable property from Celsius and demanding damages and restitution. Celsius acquired part of KeyFi in mid-2020.
"This action arises from the defendants' incompetence, deceit and conversion," the bankruptcy court filing by Celsius said.
The bankrupt crypto lender labels KeyFi and its founder and CEO Jason Stone as "not just incompetent, they were also thieves." Further, according to Celsius, Stone and company used the recently banned Tornado Cash "mixer" to cover any tracks left by their theft of assets.
"The defendants' liability to Celsius is staggering," said Celsius, saying funds lost through negligence alone are worth many tens of millions, with funds stolen possibly worth tens of millions more.
In early July, KeyFi and Stone filed suit against Celsius, accusing the company of crypto market manipulation and the lack of any accounting controls to protect consumer deposits.
