Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius Network, has asked the court to dismiss the FTC’s charges against him due to a lack of evidence.
Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder and former CEO of Celsius, an insolvent crypto lending platform, asked the court on Monday to dismiss the charges against him brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The legal action comes after Celsius encountered financial difficulties last year due to the bear market in cryptocurrencies. The Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) collaborated in July to apprehend Mashinsky.
The Most Recent Memorandum From Mashinsky
In a Monday filing, the former Celsius Network’s attorneys argued that the FTC’s allegations against their client should be dropped. The filing demonstrated that the FTC’s claims under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) should be dismissed because they fail to allege specific violations of the rules and laws affiliated with these acts.
In addition, the attorneys argued that the FTC could not pursue monetary damages from the defendant under the FTCA, citing the recent AMG Capital Mgmt., LLC v. FTC court decision.
As required by the 1999 GLBA Act, Mashinsky’s attorneys also stated in the filing that the accusations fail to establish that the defendant knowingly made false statements with the intent to acquire customer information from a financial institution fraudulently.
The filing revealed that the complaint against Mashinsky lacked credible evidence to support the allegation that he is currently violating or on the verge of breaking the law. This is since the former CEO of Celsius Network resigned on September 27, 2022.
What Follows?
Having previously entered a not-guilty plea to charges of fraud and price manipulation of the CEL token, which his legal team deemed “baseless,” Mashinsky’s attorneys now assert that the court should also reject the FTC’s allegations of investor deception.
Mashinsky and his former Chief Technology Officer, Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein, argued that the FTC should clarify its regulations before pursuing cases involving novel issues such as marketing fraud.
In a separate submission, Goldstein argued that he was unjustly implicated due to his association with other Celsius executives and retweeting a Celsius blog. His filing revealed that the FTC’s case against Goldstein is based solely on unsubstantiated culpability claims by association.
Goldstein is accused of participating in an elaborate cryptocurrency fraud operation. His attorneys argued that the FTC does not provide concrete evidence of Goldstein’s direct, aware participation in these actions.
In the meantime, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asked the court to provisionally halt FTC proceedings to avoid any potential prejudice to the concurrent criminal case.
