Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, was arrested Thursday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter, and was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, per a court filing.
The SEC lawsuit alleges Mashinsky and Celsius raised billions of dollars through the sale of unregistered crypto asset securities and misled investors about the financial success of his business.
The lawsuit adds to a series of challenges for Celsius Network, which earlier this year was also sued by New York's attorney general.
The crypto industry has been on shaky ground after the SEC's lawsuits against major crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase Global last month raised risks of further regulatory challenges for the sector.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Chizu Nomiyama)
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