Two Wall Street giants Apollo Global Management and Fortress Investment Group are eager to restart the now-bankrupt crypto lending firm Celsius under new management, The Wall Street Journal has learned, citing people familiar with the matter.
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According to the report, the two are in talks about putting up to $50 million so that Celsius could resume some operations. The people say Apollo and Fortress have been submitting bids and counterbids during an auction and even solicited "millions of dollars from additional investors to join a consortium." The terms of the restart remain unclear.
In January, the New York State Attorney General's office accused Alex Mashinky, the head of Celsius, of "defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors out of billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency." Attorney General James added that Mashinsky led investors down a path of "financial ruin." Mashinsky claims the firm's downfall was caused by a "series of calamitous, external events."
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