Bankrupt crypto lending firm Celsius countersued decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol KeyFi and its CEO Jason Stone on Tuesday in the USA Chapter Courtroom claiming Stone misrepresented himself as an professional in DeFi, and that Stone and KeyFi hadlost Celsius cash by incompetence and deceit. The swimsuit got here a number of weeks after KeyFi sued Celsius for allegedly failing to honor a profit-sharing settlement.
KeyFi supplied Celsius with staking providers and DeFi technique. Based on the Celsius swimsuit, the defendants allegedly stole thousands and thousands of {dollars} in cash from Celsius wallets. Additional, Celsius alleges that the defendants purchased nonfungible tokens (NFTs) with Celsius cash with out Celsius’ authorization after which transferred them to their very own wallets earlier than promoting some for “seven determine returns (which they pocketed).” The defendants additionally allegedly purchased an curiosity in different crypto corporations with Celsius cash and used Twister Money, the crypto privateness protocol lately banned by the U.S. Treasury Division, to cover their actions.
Associated: US Trustee motions for examiner to probe Celsius’ ‘important transparency points’
Celsius KeyFi was a co-plaintiff within the swimsuit. It was a particular objective automobile owned by Celsius that KeyFi labored inside. The plaintiffs claimed that they had misplaced “many tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}” by the defendants’ gross negligence and presumably tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from transformed property. Additional, they claimed that KeyFi didn’t return funds when requested to take action and made frivolous claims in opposition to Celsius and tweeted about it:
“As Stone clearly supposed, the grievance and Twitter thread generated sensational media reviews amplifying his false narrative.”
KeyFi sued Celsius on July 7 alleging that Celsius didn’t honor a “handshake settlement” to share earnings after KeyFi’s staking and DeFi strategizing actions. KeyFi claimed the settlement was price thousands and thousands of {dollars} and Celsius operated as a Ponzi scheme. Celsius had suspended withdrawals on June 13 and was reportedly bancrupt when KeyFi sued it. Celsius filed for chapter every week later.