Celsius to distribute $127 million to creditors in second bankruptcy payout

Reported by The Block: The second payout, made in cash or crypto, will distribute roughly 60% of the creditors’ petition date claims.
Celsius filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after its $1.2 billion balance sheet gap was revealed. 
Its CEO, Alex Mashinsky, faces fraud charges and a potential prison sentence of over 100 years.

According to a court filing submitted Wednesday, Celsius, the defunct crypto lender, is distributing $127 million to eligible creditors in a second payout from its bankruptcy proceedings.

“As a result of the second distribution, each eligible creditor will receive a cumulative distribution in cash or liquid cryptocurrency equal to approximately 60.4% of the value of such creditor’s Claims as of the Petition Date,” the filing said. The value of bitcoin for payout is set at a weighted average distribution price of $95,836.23.

The filing added that eligible creditors who cannot receive liquid cryptocurrency through the designated distribution agent will be directed to receive the payout in cash.

In January this year, the Celsius bankruptcy plan administrators launched its first payout of $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies to 171,672 creditors, which saw a recovery rate of 57.65% of eligible claims.

Celsius filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after a $1.2 billion hole was discovered in its balance sheet. The company emerged from bankruptcy in November.

Last year, Celsius and former CEO Alex Mashinsky were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly misleading customers. Mashinsky was also charged with fraud and faces a maximum prison sentence of 115 years.

Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge rejected Mashinsky’s request to dismiss two fraud charges from his indictment.