Founder Alex Mashinsky has requested the court to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) case against him in the ongoing Celsius bankruptcy saga. Mashinsky’s legal team argues that the FTC’s allegations lack the necessary elements to support a claim of fraudulent activity. Mashinsky, who was arrested in July, faces multiple fraud charges and accusations of manipulating the price of the CEL token, following a coordinated attack by the FTC, the Department of Justice, and securities and commodities regulators. However, Mashinsky’s defense team dismisses these charges as “baseless” and calls for the court to drop the fraud allegations and the FTC’s claims of investor deception.
Mashinsky’s legal counsels argue that the accusations do not meet the criteria for a claim under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which requires knowingly false statements to obtain customer information from a financial institution fraudulently. They also emphasize that Mashinsky cannot be held accountable for violating the law since he resigned as the CEO of Celsius. The defense team claims that with Celsius already in bankruptcy and having reached a settlement agreement with the FTC, further allegations against Mashinsky cannot be substantiated.
In addition to Mashinsky, Celsius’ former Chief Technology Officer, Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein, is contesting the FTC charges. Goldstein denies the accusations, arguing that the FTC unfairly implicates him due to his association with other Celsius executives. The case against Goldstein is based on his retweeting of a blog post by Celsius, which he believes is being wrongly interpreted as his complicity.
US Attorney Damian Williams has requested a temporary halt to the FTC proceedings to avoid prejudicing the parallel criminal case against Mashinsky. Mashinsky, who stepped down as CEO in September 2022, was released on a $40 million bond during the bankruptcy proceedings. However, a court order freezing his banking and real estate assets has worsened his financial predicament.
Please refer to court motion document for more information.
Sources:
– Court motion document: [Link](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.602050/gov.uscourts.nysd.602050.45.0.pdf)
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About the author - J-S Tremblay
I've been involved in the cryptocurrency world since 2016 and trading since 2019. I started Moon and Lambo in 2021. I'm passionate about crypto and love to share my knowledge. I hate bankers and I hope that cryptocurrency will change the financial world for the better. View full profile...
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