Celsius Co-Founders to Pay Over $6 Million to FTC in Settlement

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Celsius co-founders Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein have been ordered to pay over $6 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that they misled users about the platform’s security prior to its collapse. Goldstein, former Chief Technology Officer of Celsius, is required to pay $2.014 million under an order signed by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on Monday. Leon, former Chief Strategy Officer of Celsius, is required to pay $4.1 million under a separate order entered on June 29. The FTC stated that Celsius falsely claimed to hold sufficient reserves to meet withdrawal demands, maintain $750 million in insurance coverage for customer deposits, and refrain from issuing unsecured loans. The FTC alleged these representations were false, and that executives continued to assert the safety of customer deposits just days before the company filed for bankruptcy. At its peak, Celsius held $25 billion in assets and owed users $4.7 billion when it filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. The orders also prohibit Leon from marketing or selling any products or services usable for depositing, exchanging, investing, or withdrawing assets, and prohibit Goldstein from marketing or selling retail products or services usable for trading cryptocurrencies.