Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
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Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn has officially denied former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky any claim to bankruptcy proceeds from the defunct crypto lender.
The court order, entered on June 16, 2025, formally disallows all claims submitted by Mashinsky and his associated entities, including AM Ventures Holdings Inc., Koala1 LLC, and Koala3 LLC.
This frees up reserved cash, liquid cryptocurrency, and MiningCo shares for distribution to legitimate creditors under the Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
The stipulation agreement was reached on May 20, 2025, between Celsius litigation administrator Mohsin Meghji and Mashinsky.
The court’s decision ensures that Celsius creditors, who have already received over $2.5 billion in distributions throughout 2024, will benefit from the release of funds held in reserve pending resolution of Mashinsky’s claims.
From Crypto Visionary to Convicted Fraudster
Celsius Network, founded in 2017, positioned itself as a revolutionary alternative to traditional banking. It promised customers they could “unbank yourself” while earning double-digit yields on their cryptocurrency deposits.
Mashinsky’s charismatic promotion of the platform attracted billions in customer funds by promising that Celsius would lend these assets to institutional borrowers, generating returns far exceeding anything traditional financial institutions could offer.
The facade began cracking in mid-2022 as broader crypto markets entered a severe downturn and high-profile failures shook investor confidence.
Celsius customers, growing increasingly nervous about their deposits, began requesting withdrawals in high volumes, creating a classic bank run scenario that exposed the platform’s fundamental insolvency.
On June 12, 2022, Celsius froze all customer withdrawals and, within weeks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, revealing a massive $1.19 billion hole in its balance sheet that left hundreds of thousands of depositors facing potential total losses.
Federal prosecutors later revealed the extent of Mashinsky’s deception, showing how he had knowingly misled customers about Celsius’s financial health while directing employees to use new customer deposits to pay promised yields to existing users in a Ponzi-like scheme.
Most egregiously, prosecutors proved that Mashinsky had been secretly selling his personal CEL token holdings while publicly claiming he wasn’t selling.
Creditor Recovery Success Contrasts Sharply with FTX Debacle
While FTX creditors face the frustrating reality of receiving payments based on November 2022 cryptocurrency valuations, when Bitcoin traded at just $17,583 compared to over $109,000 today, Celsius creditors have benefited from more favorable recovery terms that better reflect actual market conditions during the distribution process.
Celsius has already distributed over $2.53 billion to approximately 251,000 creditors through multiple payout rounds, with the most recent November 2024 distribution adding another $127 million from the “Litigation Recovery Account.”
These payments have covered nearly two-thirds of eligible creditors and represent 93% of total claim value, a remarkably high recovery rate for a major cryptocurrency platform failure.
The success stems partly from the relatively quick resolution of the bankruptcy proceedings and the litigation administrator’s aggressive pursuit of asset recovery through various legal channels.
The contrast with FTX becomes even more pronounced when considering the complexity and duration of each bankruptcy process.
While FTX continues to grapple with what attorney Andrew Dietderich described as “27 quintillion” claims, including many fraudulent submissions, Celsius has managed to streamline its creditor verification and payout processes.
FTX’s repayment plan, which began distributions in May 2025 targeting $16.5 billion in total recoveries, faces ongoing challenges from creditors who argue they’re being shortchanged due to the outdated valuation methodology that doesn’t account for dramatic cryptocurrency price appreciation since the platform’s collapse.
As it stands now, Sam Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence and is projected for release in December 2044. Mashinsky, on the other hand, is now serving 12 years while being completely cut off from any financial recovery.
