The New York bankruptcy court appointed Shoba Pillay, a former federal prosecutor and Jenner & Block partner, to investigate the operations of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network.
Pillay’s findings suggest that Celsius misled its investors and used new customer funds to cover outstanding withdrawals, and operated differently from the claims made by its co-founder, Alex Mashinsky, that customer Bitcoin was fully collateralized.
The lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July with $2.8 billion in liabilities on its balance sheet.
Pillay also alleges price manipulation and failure to disclose spending, and potential tax compliance violations by the company’s mining arm, with a possible debt of over $23.1 million in taxes in the US and $3.7 million in VAT liabilities in the UK.
