Class Action Lawsuit Accuses Wintermute Of Helping Mashinsky Dupe Celsius Users
- A class action lawsuit filed by Celsius investors has been amended to include crypto market maker Wintermute Trading.
- The lawsuit accused Wintermute of aiding CEO Alex Mashinsky in duping Celsius investors.
- The defunct crypto lender’s investors have claimed that the market maker engaged in wash trading to inflate CEL’s value.
A class action lawsuit filed by investors of the Celsius Network has named crypto market maker Wintermute Trading. Wintermute, one of the biggest liquidity providers in the crypto market, has been accused of helping Celsius founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky of duping the defunct crypto lender’s investors.
Celsius Investors: Wintermute Engaged In Wash Trading To Pump CEL
According to a report by Bloomberg, plaintiffs who filed a class action lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky and other Celsius executives amended their complaint to include Wintermute Trading Ltd. The investors have accused the London-based crypto market maker of engaging in wash trading and other malpractices since as early as March 2021. As per the amended complaint, improper activities were adopted to inflate the value of the crypto lender’s native CEL token as well as other loan products.
When deciding whether to trade in CEL Tokens, a reasonable investor would consider it important to know that the Executive Defendants and Wintermute were engaging in manipulative trading with respect to the CEL tokens, and ensuring that the reported trading volumes reflected real market demand.”
Lawyers representing the disgruntled investors claimed that Wintermute’s trading activities corrupted the price of the CEL token as well as the trading volume reported by the crypto lending platform. They further accused the market maker of colluding with the lender to engage in a strategic pattern to deceive the latter’s investors. The amended complaint also accused Wintermute of playing a key role in the failed attempt by Mashinsky to prop up the CEL token in May 2022 following the collapse of Terra. Wintermute didn’t respond to a request for comment by Bloomberg. Attorneys representing Alex Mashinsky declined to comment.
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