Lawyers for Celsius investors file motion to have interests represented in court

cointelegraph.com:

An international law firm representing groups of Celsius investors has filed a motion to appoint a committee to represent their interests in the crypto lending firm’s bankruptcy case.

In a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, lawyers with the law firm Milbank requested the appointment of an "Official Preferred Equity Committee" to represent certain Celsius shareholders. According to the filing, the equity holders “urgently require their own fiduciary” for representation in court alongside Celsius debtors and an Unsecured Creditors Committee, or UCC.

“The need for a fiduciary to pursue the Equity Holders’ interests is particularly critical when one considers the practical realities of these cases: There are only two groups of real economic stakeholders — the retail customers and the Equity Holders,” said the court filing. “Not only is the UCC laser focused on maximizing value for the customers, without regard for the Equity Holders, but the Debtors also have made it abundantly clear that the UCC is their partner, and these cases are ‘all about the customer.’”

The legal team added:

The shareholders included investors in Celsius’ Series B $750-million funding round from November 2021, one of the last before the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022. A hearing on Milbank’s motion will be held on Oct. 6 — the same day the court was scheduled to decide on a motion allowing Celsius to sell its stablecoin holdings to generate liquidity to help “fund the Debtors’ operations.”

We expect to soon begin the Claims process. Our objective is to make the entire process simple and straightforward for all customers.

Related: Celsius co-founder declares his equity is ‘worthless’ in