Celsius sues Prime Trust for the return of $17 million

Crypto lender Celsius is suing infrastructure provider Prime Trust for the return of $17 million worth of cryptocurrency amid the lender's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Prime Trust provided custody and other services for Celsius users in New York and Washington state at the direction of Celsius. The two firms terminated their relationship in June of 2021, at which point Celsius says Prime Trust returned about $119 million worth of crypto assets. Celsius is arguing that Prime Trust has not yet returned all the money it owes.

At the time the relationship dissolved, Prime Trust cut off Celsius's access to view its account activity. However, Celsius believes it is still owed 398 Bitcoin, 196,268 CEL tokens, 3,740 ETH, and 2,261,448 USDC. The complaint pegged the total value at around $17 million. 

Now, Celsius is requesting a court order that would compel Prime Trust to turn over the additional assets and any other crypto Celsius users might have transferred to Prime Trust after the dissolution of the relationship. It's also asking for damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

Celsius entered Chapter 11 proceedings in July after market turmoil led to liquidity issues causing the firm to declare bankruptcy. 

"Upon the commencement of these bankruptcy proceedings, Prime Trust was obligated under the Bankruptcy Code to deliver all property belonging to Celsius that is in Prime Trust’s possession to Celsius, including these remaining crypto assets, and should be ordered to turn them over now pursuant to section 542 of the Bankruptcy Code," said the filing.