Top Celsius Execs Withdraw $56M in Crypto before Bankruptcy

Mashinsky withdrew about $10 million in cryptocurrency in May 2022 while Leon cashed out about $7 million between May 27 and May 3.

According to new court documents, the top three execs of the troubled crypto firm Celsius withdrew $56.12 million in cryptocurrency between May and June 2022, just before the company halted withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy.

Former CEO Alex Mashinsky, former CSO Daniel Leon, and CTO Nuke Goldstein, according to a Statement of Financial Affairs issued late Wednesday, withdrew the funds largely from custody accounts in the form of Bitcoin (), Ether (), USDC () and CEL tokens (CEL).

Mashinsky withdrew about $10 million in cryptocurrency in May 2022 while Leon cashed out about $7 million between May 27 and May 3.

Leon also withdrew an additional $4 million worth of CEL denoted as “collateral” within that same period.

Goldstein also withdrew almost $13 million alongside an additional $7.8 million worth of CEL also denoted “collateral”.

However, according to the document, one of several submitted to the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, over a dozen other executives, including the company’s Chief Compliance Officer Oren Blonstein, Chief Risk Officer Rodney Sunada-Wong, and new CEO Chris Ferraro, did not make any significant withdrawals during that time period.

The October 5th document is the latest development around Celsius and its bankruptcy case. An independent examiner, appointed by the U.S. Trustee’s office, is currently looking at Celsius’ management and storage practices in order to determine why the company collapsed.

According to another court document filed on Wednesday, the bankruptcy court ordered Celsius to routinely provide updates on its financial situation and cash management to the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC), which represents all clients to whom Celsius owes assets.

The lender is also required to provide information on its monthly budget, cash position, wage and tax expenditures, as well as several performance measures related to its bitcoin mining operation and any earnings from the sale of bitcoin produced by the firm’s mining facilities.

Additionally, the crypto firm must obtain permission from the UCC before making any “critical vendor payments” over $50,000.

Alex Mashinsky and Daniel Leon have resigned from the crypto firm within the last two weeks.

Earlier this week, Alex Mashinsky was accused of withdrawing $10 million in crypto before Celsius froze withdrawals.