Just welcoming 2025, the legal disputes between lending platform Celsius and FTX have escalated again. Previously, Celsius accused FTX of making inappropriate statements and favoring specific creditors, leading to unfair distribution of funds and triggering Celsius's financial crisis, demanding $2 billion in compensation. Later, after the claim deadline, it revised the amount to $444 million, but both claims were dismissed by the court. Celsius challenged the court ruling again and appealed on December 31 last year.

Evolution of claims from $2 billion to $444 million.

Celsius, which went bankrupt in 2022 with over $1 billion in debt, demanded FTX pay $2 billion during the bankruptcy process, claiming that FTX executives made 'baseless defamatory statements' about Celsius's financial condition, accelerating Celsius's bankruptcy crisis.

Subsequently, Celsius revised its claim amount to $444 million after the original claim deadline and accused FTX of transferring some funds to specific creditors before bankruptcy, violating the principle of fair distribution. However, this amended claim was not approved by the court and was deemed unrelated to the original claim.

Celsius's appeal documents on December 31. The court ruled to dismiss Celsius's claim.

The U.S. court dismissed two claims from Celsius, citing reasons including:

  • Procedural issue: The amended claim submitted by Celsius was not approved by the court.

  • Irrelevance: The amended claim is unrelated to the original claim.

  • Insufficient explanation for delays: Celsius failed to reasonably explain the delay in submitting the amended claim.

  • Impact on FTX's bankruptcy restructuring: This application may harm FTX's bankruptcy restructuring process.

Celsius rebutted that the original claim already included allegations against FTX and met the requirements of bankruptcy law, and the court should not dismiss it, but should recognize the legal validity of these allegations.

Celsius submitted a $444 million claim again after the original claim deadline. Celsius appealed again.

Celsius bankruptcy trustee Mohsin Meghji appealed again on December 31 last year in an attempt to overturn the court ruling. Celsius stated that it will continue to pursue legal means to recover related funds in order to protect the interests of its creditors.

As of legal documents in August 2024, Celsius has repaid approximately $2.53 billion to about 250,000 creditors, accounting for about 84% of its total assets. In November 2024, Celsius announced it would redistribute $127 million from litigation recovery accounts to repay creditors.

Celsius's legal repayment documents from August last year.

The platform token CEL of Celsius surged 350% after repaying $2.5 billion, reaching $0.56 in September last year. However, the price later fell back and is currently below $0.20, down about 97.5% from its all-time high.

CEL is now priced at less than $0.20.

(Celsius founder Mashinsky pleads guilty to a maximum sentence of 30 years, for falsifying $8 million weekly for CEL)

This article 'FTX bankruptcy case has ups and downs: Celsius appeals again against the court ruling for the $444 million claim' first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.