The Press Stories
A businessman in the crosshairs of the Israeli judiciary was involved in the Celsius network in its early days after allegedly playing a key role in a major fraud. Cryptobank’s founder, Alex Mashinsky, has now resigned, however, Moshe Hogeg promised the opposite when he was sacked last fall, weeks after a 200 million investment by the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
Published at 6:00 am.
“Celsius has nothing to do with that boy you spoke of,” said Mr. Mashinsky responded to a representative of the Dirty Bubble Media blog during an online question-and-answer session on Nov. 24.
The entrepreneur regularly participated in the exercise before the Celsius Network filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last July—which forced CDPQ to write off its $200 million investment.
Three days earlier, on November 21, Moshe Hogek was arrested along with seven others, including the former CFO of Celsius Network, Yaron Shalem. According to Israeli police, the men were part of a group that allegedly received “several hundred million shekels” (Israel’s national currency) in schemes that took place over a “long period of time”.
These allegations have yet to be proven in court. Mr. Hogek denies the allegations against him.
After a police raid last fall, Mr. Mashinsky, Mr. He wasted no time in distancing himself from Hogek. Although the entrepreneur does not appear anywhere on the Celsius Network website, his photo is featured prominently in an archived version from 2018. Pres I was able to consult. Cryptobank’s advisory board includes Mr. Hokek was there.
Image from the Celsius Network website
Moshe Hogek, who was arrested in Israel last fall, acted as a consultant to the Celsius network in its early days.
During the same period, Mr. Mashinsky, Mr. He held a similar role at Hogek’s company, Sirin Labs.
Image from Sirin Labs website
While he was head of the Celsius network, Alex Mashinsky was a consultant to a company whose president is in the firing line for Israeli justice.
Celsius Network founder Mr. with Cryptobank last year. It is unclear why Hogekin denied involvement. Mr. Mashinsky and the company did not respond to questions Pres. He resigned on Tuesday, saying he was “regretful” that “continuing to serve as CEO has become an increasing distraction.” Mr. Mashinsky will still be on the board of directors.
At Sirin Labs site Mr. There are no traces of Mashinsky’s column. However, the company still appears on the ruling Dynamics platform – a venture capital firm founded by the CEO of Celsius Networks.
Other red flags
Links between MM. Mashinsky and Hogek have been noticed in the cryptocurrency universe. They fueled American cryptocurrency investor Mike Alfred’s mistrust of Celsius Network and its senior management.
“First, I think [Celsius] A quick Buck story [money grab] A guy who likes to spend a lot of money, he says. Crypto is a great way to access large amounts of capital. It’s the Wild West. No censorship, no one looking over your shoulder. »
Mr. The story is similar from the side of Corey Clipston, CEO of SwanBitcoin, who was already skeptical about the veracity of Mashinsky’s past achievements.
“If you pay a little attention, you can easily see a lot of red lights,” he says.
Answers to the questions Pres, the fund did not want to say if it was aware of the links between MM. Mashinsky and Hokek.
Yaron Shalem was in charge of finance at Celsius Networks when CDPQ and Westcap became partners in the company. The facts he was accused of allegedly occurred before he joined Cryptobank. Mr. Shalem left the company in December 2021.
Nevertheless, before being recruited by Celsius Network, Mr. Shalem, Mr. Hogek was employed by the companies he founded for at least four years. According to his LinkedIn profile, between 2014 and 2018 he was responsible for the finances of Mobli and the company Singulariteam.
In collaboration with Martin Vallieres, Pres
Under the magnifying glass of the authorities
Alex Mashinsky was under investigation by US tax authorities (Internal Revenue Service) last fall prior to the announcement of a financing round led by Celsius Network with CDPQ and Westcap. According to the documents consulted Pres, filed a claim of about CAN 1 million against his Manhattan New York condo because unpaid amounts were late. In a document dated Oct. 5, 2021, the IRS wrote, “We have made a request to pay this debt, but it remains unpaid.” The case was concluded last August.
Learn more
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- 1.7 million
- This is the number of Celsius Network depositors whose assets were frozen by Cryptobank last June.
Source: Celsius Network
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