Celsius might sue media personality for leaking confidential information
According to reports, the now-bankrupt Celsius Network is preparing to sue a creditor and media personality, Tiffany Fong, for disclosing confidential information.
Fong, however, claims she did nothing wrong by making public sensitive details related to the lender since a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) did not bind her.
What was disclosed?
The bankruptcy petition reveals that the crypto lender Celsius Network either planned to sue crypto blogger and Celsius creditor Tiffany Fong for disclosing confidential information or is considering doing so.
Fong has over $119,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and polygon (MATIC) locked on Celsius, according to a screenshot she provided. This was before the firm halted withdrawals in the middle of June 2022 before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the following month.
Since then, she has provided real-time updates on the bankruptcy case through YouTube and other online media platforms. Fong has repeatedly disclosed confidential material that she alleges was supplied in confidence by disgruntled former employees of Celsius.
Fong has reported on, among other things, purportedly leaked recordings of confidential business talks and the purported transaction activity of executives, including former CEO and founder Alex Mashinsky, bidding on Celsius assets.
On April 14, Celsius’s legal representation, Kirkland & Ellis International, submitted an itemized sixth-monthly fee statement to the Southern District of New York in bankruptcy court, indicating that they had charged 77 hours, or approximately $72,000, for their work on an invoice labeled “Tiffany Fong litigation.”
The petition indicates Celsius’ legal counsel was investigating the leaks of material Fong disclosed on her social media pages, albeit no actual legal action seems to have been planned.
The document also revealed that Celsius’s legal firm was preparing stop and desist letters for Fong and a petition to compel, which asks the court to make the production of evidence.
Fong won’t stop
Adding fuel to the flames, on April 15, Fong posted on Twitter that she had approached Alex and Krissy Mashinsky in public when they were in New York for the 2023 NYC non-fungible token (NFT) event.
Twitter video shows Fong and other crypto content artists, including Ben Armstrong, who is popularly known as BitBoy Crypto, approaching the Mashinskys to chit chat, but the pair quickly backs away.
