- Celsius has filed a lawsuit against the former manager who stole cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
- Jason Stone allegedly stole $1.4 million in cryptocurrencies.
- Stone is suing Celsius back for allegedly inflating the price of its crypto offerings.
On Tuesday, the now bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network LLC filed a lawsuit against a former investment manager, accusing him of misplacing or stealing assets worth tens of millions of dollars.
Celsius filed a lawsuit against Jason Stone and KeyFi Inc in Manhattan’s bankruptcy court, accusing them of “gross negligence” and “extraordinarily inept” crypto investment. Apparently, Stone had wrongly portrayed himself as a pioneer in the sector.
The now insolvent firm has stated that Stone was “incapable” of generating profits using client assets and had instead lost “many tens of millions of dollars,” adding that Stone also refused to account for these decisions during his seven months with the firm.
The submitted lawsuit document reads:
The Defendants also sold some of the purloined assets for seven-figure returns (which they pocketed). Stone and/or KeyFi also appear to have used Celsius coins to acquire for themselves interests in numerous blockchain-related companies and platforms that they continue wrongfully to hold.
Furthermore, the former employee allegedly used the misappropriated funds to buy hundreds of NFTs, which he kept in an undisclosed location, and then attempted to mask his tracks by utilizing Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency “mixer” that was blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury on August 8 for its potential role in the laundering of cybercrime proceeds.
The lawsuit further alleges that in September 2021, Stone accessed Celsius’ 0xb1 wallet, stole $1.4 million worth of cryptocurrency, and then transferred the funds to the Tornado Cash service.
As of now, Celsius has urged the court to grant various requests with its lawsuit, including the return of “witheld property.” It has also requested compensation for damages, which it refers to as “[KeyFi and Stone’s] tortious, willful, and malicious conduct.”
Meanwhile, Stone has filed a counterclaim against Celsius, alleging that Celsius participated in the demise of the TerraUSD stablecoin and artificially inflated the price of cryptocurrencies while marketing itself as an ethical and financially sound enterprise. Stone’s firm KeyFi, was acquired by Celsius in 2020.
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