Two former executives, and one current executive at crypto lending firm Celsius, withdrew a total of $42.13 million worth of cryptocurrency between May and June of this year, before the company froze customer withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy.
The information was detailed in a Statement of Financial Affairs filed late Wednesday. Former CEO Alex Mashinsky, former CSO Daniel Leon, and current CTO Nuke Goldstein withdrew bitcoin, ether, USDC, and CEL tokens mainly from custody accounts, the filing shows, which was first reported by CoinDesk.
Other executives did not make significant withdrawals during that time period, the document shows.
Mashinksy withdrew $10 million in crypto in May 2022, the Financial Times first reported. Leon withdrew $7 million with an additional $4 million worth of CEL denoted as “collateral.” Goldstein took out approximately $13 million, with an additional $7.8 million worth of CEL denoted “collateral.”
Mashinsky resigned as CEO last week, followed by Leon’s resignation earlier this week. Goldstein has been at the firm as co-founder and CTO since 2017, according to his LinkedIn.
Before freezing customer withdrawals and filing for bankruptcy in the summer, Celsius was one of the biggest crypto lending platforms, with nearly $25 billion in assets under management in October 2021. By the end of last year, the firm had reached a $3 billion valuation. The firm filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in July.
The next court hearing is scheduled for Oct 7 at 10am ET. Mashinsky did not respond to request for comment earlier this week. Daniel Leon and Nuke Goldstein could not be reached for comment. Celsius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
