Celsius Ex-CEO Withdrew $10 Million Weeks Before Company Froze Customer Accounts

It’s been a rocky time for players and lenders in the crypto market.

Just weeks before crypto lender Celsius put a stop to customer account transactions on June 12, former CEO Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million from the lender, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Celsius then filed for bankruptcy in July — with a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet.

Mashinsky, 56, who co-founded Celsius in 2017, announced his resignation as the company’s CEO on Sept. 27, per Bloomberg. Celsius appointed Chief Financial Officer Chris Ferraro, formerly of JPMorgan Chase & Co, to the role.

Mashinsky withdrew the money in May, according to FT, just as Celsius’ many customers, concerned about the market’s chaos, were doing the same. When Celsius froze the accounts in June, hundreds of thousands of retail investors lost access to their savings.

At its peak last year, Celsius had $25 billion worth of crypto assets deposited by customers.

Now, as the company discloses more information about its finances in the coming days, Celsius plans to submit details of Mashinsky’s transactions in court.

Per a spokesperson for Mashinsky, the ex-CEO and his family still had $44 million of crypto assets frozen with Celsius following the withdrawal.

Approximately $8 million of Mashinsky’s withdrawn assets went towards taxes on income from Celsius assets, per one of FT’s sources.