According to COINCU2, Celsius Network has filed a legal action against lending firm EquitiesFirst Holdings in an attempt to recover $439 million in cash and Bitcoin. The dispute began in July 2021 when Celsius tried to reclaim collateral from EquitiesFirst but was informed that the lender could not return the provided amount. Since September 2021, EquitiesFirst has been repaying the debt slowly at a rate of $5 million per month. As of July 2022, the company still owed Celsius $439 million, consisting of $361 million in cash and 3,765 Bitcoins.
Celsius Network initially sought collateralized loans from EquitiesFirst in 2019 due to the lack of institutional lending available to cryptocurrency companies at the time. In a sealed adversary complaint filed on September 6, Celsius Network seeks injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment related to the recovery of assets. The complaint names both EquitiesFirst and its CEO, Alexander Christy, as defendants. Celsius has also filed a summons requiring EquitiesFirst to respond within 35 days.
Celsius Network was one of the first crypto firms to declare bankruptcy amid the 2022 bear market, with former CEO Alex Mashinsky facing charges of securities fraud and manipulation of the company's CEL token. The Federal Trade Commission imposed $4.7 billion in fines on Celsius for alleged user deception but suspended the judgment to allow the platform to use the assets as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
