Celsius, the fraudulent company that advertised ultra-high interest rates on crypto deposits, has emerged from bankruptcy and is operating again.
Under its new name, Ionic Digital, the Celsius 2.0 relaunch is going even worse than anyone could have imagined.
Although founder Alex Mashinsky is out of the company and awaiting his prison sentence, a new team of directors has been installed and have paid themselves lavish compensation packages worth $420,000 annually to operate the only business that remains in the resuscitated Celsius: mining.
That compensation package speaks for itself. Indeed, only 12 other companies in the S&P 500 index pay their directors more than Ionic.
However, even these incredible pay rates haven’t been enough to retain talent. Since Ionic revived Celsius’ mining business — its lending and interest-bearing businesses no longer operate — Ionic has lost two CEOs, two CFOs, a chief legal officer, and seven directors.
Worse, the company’s third-party auditor also resigned.
Celsius 2.0 frozen while millions of dollars drain away
According to a new lawsuit, Celsius 1.0 victims thought that their partial compensation in shares of Ionic would be worth $20. However, they are actually worth $0 today because they are illiquid and frozen by the Ionic board’s inaction.
The 86,000 creditors who accepted “$20” shares in Ionic are suing the company in an attempt to install their own board of directors and give themselves the opportunity to sell those shares.
They also want to stop the “millions of dollars that have funneled out of Ionic, revictimizing stockholders already hurt by Celsius’s pre-bankruptcy fraud.”
Of course, all courts hear two sides of every story. The complaint by these shareholders is merely one side of the Ionic story and the lawsuit is new as of February 10, 2025. Ionic and its counsel have not yet had the opportunity to respond in court.
Read more: Celsius planned to IPO as Ionic Digital but it’s not going well
In December 2024, Celsius founder Mashinsky pleaded guilty to two counts of financial fraud. He’s not part of Ionic today and is facing a maximum sentence of 30 years for his crimes. A judge has scheduled his sentencing window for April-May of this year.
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